Game Notes

THIS WEEK FOR THE WAVES: The Pepperdine women's basketball team opens play at the WCC Tournament against the Pacific Tigers at 12 p.m. on Thursday.

GAME #30: Thursday (March 3) at The Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.: Pepperdine (6-23, 2-16) vs. Pacific (13-16, 6-12) at 12 p.m. (PT).

COVERAGE: Thursday's game will be nationally televised on BYUtv and streamed live on TheW.tv. There will also be an audio only broadcast on WaveCasts via PepperdineSports.com with veteran broadcaster Al Epstein on the call.

FOLLOW AND LIKE WAVES WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Be sure and join Pepperdine's growing communities on Facebook and Twitter. Follow and like the Waves today. Facebook: Waves Hoops / Twitter: @WavesHoops

COMPETING WITH PURPOSE BLOG: Pepperdine is providing more insider content to its fans this season via the Competing With Purpose blog, which can be accessed at www.pepperdinesports.com.

LAST WEEK: The Waves dropped their regular-season finale at home against LMU, 83-77, despite a furious fourth-quarter comeback. The Waves honored seniors Kelsey Brockway, Keitra Wallace, Krista Pettepier and Whitney Williams before the game.

DOWNING THE GAELS: The Waves pulled off a thrilling upset of Saint Mary's two weeks ago, beating the second-place team in the WCC 62-58 at home. Pepperdine trailed by as much as 12 points in the second half and by as much as six with just under two minutes to play, but came storming back for the win. The Waves' were led by Erica Ogwumike's 30 points, eight rebounds and four steals, Devin Stanback's nine points and Paige Fecske's five assists.

1,000 POINTS: Senior Keitra Wallace hit the 1,000 point mark with her first basket against San Francisco last week. She became the 21st player in program history to reach the milestone and the first to do it since Katie Menton and Lauren Bell in 2012. After scoring 24 points on the week, Wallace is now at 1,023 for her career.

Erica Ogwumike NOTES:
- Was named to the All-WCC first team and All-Freshman team.
- Leads the team with 18.4 points per game and 7.5 rebounds per game.
- Is second in the conference in scoring and nationally is fifth among all freshmen.
- Scored season-high 34 points against Portland, tying the ninth best total in program history. That was the most a Wave has scored since Bria Richardson's 44 points against Santa Clara (Jan. 2, 2014).
- 30 points in Waves' win over Saint Mary's and has 13 total 20+ point games.
- Has recorded seven double-doubles this season.

HOOPS HERITAGE: The Waves' Erica and Olivia Ogwumike come from a prestigious basketball line, with their two older sisters currently playing in the WNBA. Older sisters Chiney and Nneka Ogwumike played together at Stanford, where they both earned All-American recognition. The sisters where then both selected first overall in the WNBA draft, with Nneka being selected in 2012 by the Los Angeles Sparks and Chiney being picked by the Connecticut Sun in 2014.

MAUREEN FORMICO-CALOIARO: Former Waves great Maureen Formico-Caloiaro will be inducted into the WCC's Hall of Honor this weekend in Las Vegas. Formico-Caloiaro is the eighth Wave to be inducted into the WCC Hall of Honor. Thirty years after gracing Firestone Fieldhouse, Maureen Formico-Caloiaro is still the greatest scorer in Pepperdine women's basketball history as well as being one of just three Waves to earn All-American status. She was inducted into the Pepperdine Athletics Hall of Fame in 2011. The 6-foot forward set a school record for both the boys' and girls' programs at Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, Calif., by scoring more than 1,800 career points. She bettered that at Pepperdine, scoring a program-record 2,190 points in 114 career games, while averaging a double-double for her career with 19.2 points and 10.4 rebounds.

NEW STAFF: The Waves brought in three new assistant coaches this season after last year's assistants moved onto other opportunities, including a head coaching job for former assistant Tricia Raniewicz.
Darron Larsen comes to Pepperdine after coaching with Weisenberg in New Zealand and also serving as a head coach following Weisenberg for the Manawatu Jets.
Lacey Burns comes to Pepperdine after a very successful stint as a prep head coach at San Clemente High School and tenures at both Vanguard and Cal Poly Pomona in the collegiate ranks.
Josh Pace is coming off a 10-year professional playing career both in the U.S. and abroad. Pace was a collegiate standout at Syracuse as well, winning an NCAA Championship with the Orange under head coach Jim Boeheim in 2003.

Ryan Weisenberg ERA: The start of the 2013-14 season marked the opening of the Ryan Weisenberg era at Pepperdine. Weisenberg has made stops on the professional, collegiate and prep level during his coaching tenure, most recently coaching the Manawatu Jets in the New Zealand National Basketball League. Weisenberg has also spent time on the staffs of the Los Angeles Lakers and Sparks, winning a total of five titles with the teams from 2000-05. He is the sixth coach in program history.

RULE CHANGES: NCAA women's basketball has adopted several new rule changes for the 2015-16 season. Here are some of the notable changes:
Games will consist of four 10-minute quarters instead of the two 20-minute halves.
There will be one media timeout per quarter and teams will have four timeouts per game (one full, three :30).
Teams will be able to advance the ball in the final minute of a game.

ABOUT PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY: Pepperdine boasts a one-of-a-kind athletic department with unprecedented success for a school of its size. The Waves have won NCAA Division I championships in five different men's sports - one of just 16 schools to have accomplished this feat - and nine overall. Of this elite group, Pepperdine has the smallest undergraduate enrollment and is the only school not affiliated with a BCS-level conference. The Waves have earned the Division I-AAA All-Sports Trophy, an award based on postseason success that's given to the top non-football school, three times (most recently in 2011-12). Located in scenic Malibu, Calif., the university overlooks the Pacific Ocean and its campus and athletic facilities are regularly voted among the nation's most beautiful. Pepperdine, which is affiliated with the Church of Christ, ranks #57 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.