MALIBU, Calif. - Both the Pepperdine men's and women's basketball teams have opened the West Coast Conference season with 3-0 records, and both programs were rewarded today with WCC co-Player of the Week honors. Sophomore guard Lorne Jackson shared the men's award while senior center Miranda Ayim earned half of the women's award.

Jackson (Simi Valley, Calif./Simi Valley HS) helped the Pepperdine men to home victories over Santa Clara and San Francisco as he averaged 18.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists.

Ayim (London, Ontario, Canada/Saunders Secondary) led the Pepperdine women to road victories over the same two teams. She posted averages of 23.5 points, 10.0 rebounds and 4.0 blocks.

Both squads will be involved in first-place showdowns on Thursday night (Jan. 21). Pepperdine and Gonzaga are the only programs that are unbeaten in conference play left for either the men or the women. The women's game is at Firestone Fieldhouse at 7 p.m. The men's game is in Spokane at 6 p.m. (it will be shown locally on a tape-delayed basis by Prime Ticket at 10 p.m.).

The Pepperdine men are 3-0 in the WCC for the first time since 2002 (the last time Pepperdine won part of a WCC regular-season title). The Pepperdine women are off to their best start since 2003 (the last time they won a WCC regular-season title).

Gonzaga earned the other half of both of the weekly awards: Elias Harris on the men's side and Heather Bowman for the women.

Jackson was the team's high scorer in both victories last week. He had a career-high 21 points, tied his career high with six rebounds and added three assists in Saturday's 83-68 win over San Francisco. Two days earlier, he led Pepperdine with 15 points and five assists in a one-point (61-60) win over Santa Clara. He also made a key defensive play at the end by stripping the Broncos' ball-handler as time expired. Over the two games, Jackson shot 60% from the field (9-for-15), 60% on three-pointers (6-for-10) and 92% on free throws (12-for-13). He played 71 of a possible 80 minutes.

Jackson is averaging 8.9 points per game overall this season, but is Pepperdine's leading scorer in conference play at 17.7 ppg.

Ayim scored a career-high 29 points and pulled down 11 rebounds at Santa Clara on Thursday for her fourth double-double of the season. She made 14 of 24 shots and connected on her only three-point attempt in the 83-67 victory. Then, she just missed another double-double with a game-high 18 points and a team-high nine rebounds at San Francisco in a 67-43 win. She also had six blocks at USF, her third time this season with at least six blocks. That moved her up to #3 on Pepperdine's career blocked shot list (134). Over the two games, she hit 58% of her shots from the field (23-for-40). She scored nearly a third of Pepperdine's points over the weekend (47/150).

Ayim leads Pepperdine this season in scoring (15.5), rebounding (6.8) and blocks (2.2) and ranks among the WCC's leaders in all three categories.

This is Jackson's first career WCC weekly honor. Mychel Thompson won a share of last week's award, giving the Pepperdine men two WCC Player of the Week honors in one season for the first time since 2004-05. The Waves haven't had back-to-back award winners since December 2002.

Ayim has shared the WCC award twice this season (the first two times of her career). She was also honored on Nov. 30.

On Thursday, fans can watch the women's game or listen to Al Epstein's broadcast of the men's game live at www.pepperdinesports.com with a subscription to Wave Casts.