Pepperdine University
Saint Mary's
Waves Head North for Two WCC Games
12/31/2019 2:51:00 PM | Women's Basketball
MALIBU, Calif. – The Pepperdine women's basketball team has its first West Coast Conference road trip this week, traveling to Saint Mary's on Thursday and Pacific on Saturday.
GAME #13: Thursday (January 2) at University Credit Union Pavilion in Moraga, Calif.: Pepperdine (7-5, 1-1 WCC) vs. Saint Mary's (7-6, 2-0 WCC) at 6:30 p.m.
GAME #14: Saturday (January 4) at the Alex G. Spanos Center in Stockton, Calif: Pepperdine vs. Pacific (8-5, 1-1 WCC) at 4 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. SAINT MARY'S: The Gaels own the overall advantage over the Waves, 41-32. Last year, the two teams split the regular season series, with each team winning at home. The Waves and Gaels then met in the WNIT, where the Waves defeated the Gaels in Moraga 65-61.
SERIES VS. PACIFIC: The Tigers have won 11 out of the 18 overall meetings between the teams. Last year, the home team won both regular-season meetings. The Waves then defeated the Tigers in the WCC Tournament 87-84.
LAST TIME OUT: The Waves split their first two WCC games last week. On Saturday, the Waves defeated San Diego 73-57 on the back of Hannah Friend, who scored a season-high 27 points.
In their second game of the week, the Waves fell to BYU at home 65-47. Barbara Sitanggan led the Waves with 12 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 409 assists, nine behind Stephanie Menezie in fourth and 43 behind the all-time mark. Sitanggan is also ninth all-time in free throws made with 313 ... Paige Fecske is looking to become the program's 24th member of the 1,000 point club, sitting at 919 points thus far. She also has made 143 3-pointers in her career, 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 17th in the conference in scoring, putting up 11.3 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 10th in the conference in rebounding, bringing 6.7 boards down per game. Andriuolo also has 19 blocked shots, good for third in the WCC.
Barbara Sitanggan is currently third in the conference in assists with 50, and fifth in steals with 22.
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.
