MALIBU, Calif. – The Pepperdine women's basketball team opens West Coast Conference play this week, hosting San Diego on Saturday and BYU on Monday.
 
GAME #11: Saturday (December 28) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: Pepperdine (6-4) vs. San Diego (6-5) at 2 p.m.
 
GAME #12: Monday (December 30) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif: Pepperdine vs. BYU (5-5) at 2 p.m.
 
COVERAGE: Both games will be live broadcast through the WCC Network, with links to live stats and broadcasts 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. SAN DIEGO: The Waves own a 47-35 advantage all-time over the Toreros. Last year, Pepperdine swept the season series, defeating San Diego 74-55 in San Diego and 88-65 in Malibu.
 
SERIES VS. BYU: The Cougars have a 19-3 advantage all-time. Last year, the two teams split conference games, each winning at home. The Waves defeated the Cougars 79-65 in Malibu. BYU then defeated the Waves 68-63 in the WCC Tournament semifinal en route to winning the conference tournament. 
 
LAST TIME OUT: The Waves fell to Boise State, a team that has made the NCAA Tournament each of the past three years, 76-74. Malia Bambrick led the Waves in a valiant comeback with 20 points.
 
RECORD CHASING: Barbara Sitanggan is steadily climbing her way to the top of the all-time Pepperdine assists record. She currently sits in fifth with 396 assists, 22 behind Stephanie Menezie in fourth and 56 behind the all-time mark. Sitanggan is also ninth all-time in free throws made with 302  ... Paige Fecske is looking to become the program's 24th member of the 1,000 point club, sitting at 907 points thus far. She also has made 141 3-pointers in her career, tied for fifth all-time at Pepperdine.
 
WCC LEADERS: Paige Fecske is near the top of the West Coast Conference in a few offensive categories. She is 12th in the conference in scoring, putting up 12.4 points per game. She is also second in the conference in free throw percentage, making 93.3 percent of her foul shots.
 
Monique Andriuolo is also at the top of the conference thus far. She is tied for 13th in the conference in rebounding, bringing six boards down per game. She is also 13th in the WCC in shooting percentage, as she is making 50 percent of her shots. After picking up three blocks against Boise State, she is fourth in the conference with 13.
 
Barbara Sitanggan is currently third in the conference in assists with 37, and fourth in steals with 19.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.