MALIBU, Calif. – After a tough loss to open the season, the Pepperdine women's basketball team looks to notch its first victory of the 2019-20 season at home against Cal Poly on Sunday. The game against the Mustangs is the first game in Firestone Fieldhouse this season.
 
GAME #2: Sunday (November 10) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: Pepperdine (0-1) vs. Cal Poly (0-1) at 2:00 p.m. 
 
COVERAGE: Links to live stats and broadcasts will be available on the women's basketball schedule page at PepperdineWaves.com. Fans can also follow @WavesHoops on Twitter for live, in-game updates
 
SERIES VS. CAL POLY: The Waves have a 14-7 advantage over the Mustangs all-time. In last year's meeting, Pepperdine defeated Cal Poly 70-63 in San Luis Obispo. 
 
LAST TIME OUT: The Waves opened their season at Washington State on Tuesday. Barbara Sitanggan led the team with nine points in the 85-48 loss to the Cougars.
 
RECORD CHASING: Barbara Sitanggan is steadily climbing her way to the top of the all-time Pepperdine assists record. She currently sits in sixth with 361 assists, 12 behind Stephanie Turman in fifth and 91 behind the all-time mark. Sitanggan is also 10th all-time in free throws made with 285  ... Paige Fecske is looking to become the program's 24th member of the 1,000 point club, sitting at 799 points thus far. She also has made 127 3-pointers in her career, tied for ninth all-time at Pepperdine.
 
LAST YEAR: Last year was Pepperdine women's basketball's best season in a long time. The Waves posted their first winning season since 2012. Pepperdine had its best WCC finish (third) and WCC seeding (third) since 2011. The Waves also won 20 games for the first time since 2010, the 12th such season in program history. The Waves lost one of the all-time great women's basketball players in Yasmine Robinson-Bacote, who graduated as the fourth-leading scorer in Pepperdine history with 1,772 points as well as having the fourth highest scoring average, scoring 15.3 points per game.
 
RETURNERS: The Waves bring back the West Coast Conference's assist leader from last year in senior Barbara Sitanggan. Sitanggan had 176 assists last year, compared to just 46 turnovers, which was good for the third best assist-turnover ratio in the nation. She also scored 11.1 points per game, good for second on the team. Coming into this year, she sits in 10th place in Pepperdine history in free throws made with 283.
 
Also returning for the Waves is redshirt-senior Paige Fecske. Fecske was named an All-WCC honorable mention as a junior in 2018 and had a promising start last year, scoring 9.5 points per game in five games before suffering a season-ending injury.
 
Pepperdine also brings back senior Deezha Battle, who scored 8.5 points per game last year, mainly coming off the bench. She led the team with 47 made three-pointers, making just under 37% of her shots from beyond the arc. Battle was second on the team in assists, dishing out 68. 
 
Malia Bambrick returns for her sophomore season as a Wave coming off a WCC All-Freshman team designation last year. She scored 8.0 points per game and brought down 109 rebounds in 2018-19.
 
THE ROSTER: The Waves return a total of eight players from last year's squad: three seniors (Deezha Battle, Barbara Sitanggan, Paige Fecske), two juniors (Monique Andriuolo, Mia Satie) and three sophomores (Malia Bambrick, Jayda Ruffus-Milner, Jayla Ruffus-Milner). Joining the team this year are freshman Destiny McAllister, sophomore transfer Cheyenne Givens, and graduate transfers Danijela Milisic, Hannah Friend and Tara Dusharm.
 
THE STAFF: Head Coach Kristen Dowling brought in three new faces to the program to help lead the team:
 
Anthony Mason coached with Dowling at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on two separate occasions, most recently in 2018-19. He helped the Athenas a pair of SCIAC regular season and tournament titles, as well as two consecutive NCAA Division III Tournament appearances in 2013-14 and 2014-15. He also coached the Upland High School varsity boys team, leading the Highlanders to the 2018 CIF semifinal.
 
The second addition Dowling made to her staff was Grace Ricafranca. Ricafranca spent five seasons as the lead assistant at Biola University, helping the Eagles to three postseason appearances, including to the NAIA National Tournament. She helped Biola transition from an NAIA school to an NCAA Division II school during her tenure.
 
Brian Rosario was the final addition to the staff. Rosario has WCC basketball experience, as he was an assistant coach at PCH Cup rival Loyola Marymount from 2007-12. During his time with the Lions, he worked with multiple All-WCC honorees. He spent the past three years as the head coach of Chandler-Gilbert Community College in Chandler, Ariz., where he took a zero-win team in 2017 and won 16 games in 2019, earning the team's first playoff berth in five years and first national ranking in nine years.
 
PRESEASON RANKINGS: The Waves were picked to tie for sixth with Loyola Marymount in the annual WCC preseason poll. The entire poll is as follows: 1. Gonzaga, 2. BYU, 3. Pacific, 4. Saint Mary's, 5. Santa Clara, T6. Pepperdine, T6. Loyola Marymount, 8 San Diego, 9. San Francisco, 10. Portland.
 
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 18 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 #50 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.