UPCOMING — The Pepperdine women’s basketball team (5-2) plays University of Southern California this Saturday.

GAME #8 — Saturday (Dec. 15) at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, Calif., Pepperdine meets USC (4-4) at 2 p.m.

ON THE WEB — Pepperdine fans can catch all home women’s basketball games on the internet at www.pepperdinesports.com. Live video, audio and statistics will be provided. Go to the Pepperdine Athletics website and look for the WaveCasts button.

USC —Pepperdine looks for it's third win this season against a Pac-10 team when it meets USC on Saturday. The Waves defeated UCLA 91-79 (Nov. 28) and Washington 74-56 (Dec. 7).

USC’s Head Women’s Basketball Coach Mark Trakh, will meet his former team for the first time since leaving Pepperdine as the head coach in 2004. Trakh coached the Waves for 11 years and built a nationally recognized program that made six post season appearances at the NCAA’s. Pepperdine is 0-15 all-time against USC. The Waves haven’t played the Trojans since 2003 when Pepperdine was narrowly defeated by USC 64-63.

PEPPERDINE VS. FULLERTON RECAP — The Waves posted a 68-64 win over Fullerton (1-6) last Fri. (Dec. 7) at the Firestone Fieldhouse.

The Waves outscored the Titans 35-26 in the second half and limited Fullerton to 28.2% shooting in the second half after trailing 38--33 to begin the period. The Waves finished the game with 46-43 rebounding edge, shot 44.3% for the game compared to the Titans 34.7%, and scored 44 points in the paint compared to 14 for the Titans.

Miranda Ayim (London, Ont., Canada) scored a season-high 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting, Daphanie Kennedy (Oakland, Calif. / Kearney HS) notched 17 points and six rebounds and Teiosha George (Palmdale, Calif. / Palmdale HS) tied a season-high with 16 points and registered nine rebounds.

DAPHANIE KENNEDY HITS 1,063 AND COUNTING — Senior guard Daphanie Kennedy broke the 1,000 point mark for her career (Nov. 28,) against UCLA.. She becomes the 16th player in Pepperdine history to surpass the 1,000-point level. Kennedy scored a total of 915 points in her first three seasons.

ROSTER — All five starters and 10 letterwinners return from last year’s team, which went 14-17 overall and fifth in the WCC with a 6-8 record. The Waves added three new players (two true freshmen and one transfer) this year. The roster breakdown is as follows: four seniors, four juniors, three sophomores and two freshmen.

TOP SIX — The WCC’s coaches released a preseason "top six" of the best players in the conference, and senior guard Daphanie Kennedy and sophomore forward/center Teena Wickett earned two of the six slots. Kennedy earned All-WCC first team honors as a sophomore and honorable mention as a junior. Wickett was an All-WCC first teamer as a freshman.

WCC PRESEASON POLL — Pepperdine was picked to finish third in the West Coast Conference in a preseason vote of the league’s coaches. The predicted order is as follows: San Diego, Gonzaga, Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount, Saint Mary’s, San Francisco, Santa Clara and Portland.

JULIE ROUSSEAU — The fifth head coach in Pepperdine women’s basketball history, Julie Rousseau is now in her fourth season with the Waves. She is a former head coach of the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks and was an assistant coach at Stanford before joining the Waves. In just her second season, she led Pepperdine to a WCC Tournament title and a spot in the 2006 NCAA Tournament.

SERVICE — The women’s basketball team is one of the most involved teams at Pepperdine in community service. On Nov. 23, they hosted their second annual Time Out 4 HIV/AIDS Tournament to promote awareness and raise money to fight the disease. The tournament was also used as an avenue to raise funds for the rebuilding of the Malibu First Presbyterian Church. Unfortunately, the Malibu canyon fires forced the cancellation of the second day of the tournament. In October, they participated in a two-mile walk to support The Leukemia-Lymphoma Society, and on Thanksgiving, the team will spend the day feeding the homeless in downtown Los Angeles. All of this involvement, Rousseau believes, is the key to success in life and on the court – which is giving to others and making the world a better place.

PEPPERDINE HISTORY — Pepperdine has posted a winning record in 10 of the last 14 years and has registered six 20-win seasons over the past 10 years. The Waves captured the program’s first-ever West Coast Conference Tournament title in 2002 and followed that up with victories in 2003 and 2006. Pepperdine has also won at least a share of the regular-season championship in four of the last nine seasons. Pepperdine has made the postseason in seven of the last nine years, including the NCAA Tournament four times. The Waves also played in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament three times in recent years.

WAVES IN THE PROS — Rasheeda Clark, who played for the Waves from 1999-2001 and was the 2000 WCC Player of the Year, became the school’s first-ever player to be chosen in the WNBA Draft (however, she didn’t end up making a team). Then, Jennifer Lacy became the first WCC women’s basketball player to make a WNBA roster, as she won a spot with the Phoenix Mercury in 2006. Lacy was then part of the Mercury’s 2007 WNBA championship squad.

FIRESTONE FIELDHOUSE — Firestone Fieldhouse opened on Nov. 30, 1973. and it has long been the home of the Pepperdine women’s basketball program. Since the 1976-77 season, which spans the last 31 seasons, the Waves have won more than 63 percent of their home games. Pepperdine has posted 24 winning seasons at home and just six sub-.500 seasons.

TICKETS — A limited number of 2007-08 Pepperdine women’s basketball season tickets in the Lower Reserved section are available for purchase at a cost of $60 each. Individual game prices are $8 for adults and $5 for seniors and children. For more information please call 1-866-WAVE-TIX.