MALIBU, Calif. – The Pepperdine women's basketball team looks to get its first West Coast Conference win of the year against #23-ranked Gonzaga on Wednesday.
GAME #6: Wednesday (Dec. 30) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: Pepperdine (3-2, 0-1 WCC) vs. #23 Gonzaga (6-2, 1-0 WCC) at 5 p.m. PT.
COVERAGE: The game will be broadcast live on WaveCasts on the WCC Network with Darren Preston on the call. Links to the broadcast as well as live stats are available on the women's basketball schedule page on PepperdineWaves.com. Fans can also follow @WavesHoops on Twitter for live, in-game updates.
LAST GAME: The Waves fell in their WCC opener to defending WCC Tournament champion Portland 74-64.
Monique Andriuolo led the Waves with 13 points and nine rebounds.
SERIES VS. GONZAGA: The Bulldogs hold the overall series lead 44-30. Gonzaga has won the past eight meetings. The last time the Waves defeated the Bulldogs was in the 2016-17 season.
2019-20 WEST COAST CONFERENCE: Last year, the Waves reached the WCC Tournament semifinal for the second straight year after defeating Saint Mary's 87-72 in the opening round and BYU 62-51 in the quarterfinals. The Tournament was eventually won by Portland, defeating San Diego (who beat Pepperdine 59-44 in the semifinal) 64-63.
WCC PRESEASON TEAM/RANKINGS: The Waves were picked to finish seventh in the 2020-21 season. The entire poll is as follows: 1. Gonzaga, 2. BYU, 3. Portland, 4. San Diego, 5. Saint Mary's, 6. Pacific,
7. Pepperdine, 8. Loyola Marymount, 9. Santa Clara, 10. San Francisco.
RETURNERS: Pepperdine returns three starters from last year's team. Bambrick was the second-leading scorer on last year's team, scoring 10.4 points per game and shooting 34.2% from three, good for second on the team.
Monique Andriuolo also returns to Malibu, coming off a breakout year as a junior. She averaged 9.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.29 blocks per game, all while leading the team in shooting percentage (44%).
Jayla Ruffus-Milner had a stellar freshman campaign last year, being named to the WCC's All-Freshman team after scoring 5.5 points per game and bringing down 4.8 rebounds per game. She also had 26 steals, third-best on the team.
THE SQUAD: The Waves bring back seven returners and add eight newcomers to the team. The returners include a redshirt senior (
Tara Dusharm), two seniors (Andriuolo and
Mia Satie) two juniors (Bambrick and
Cheyenne Givens), and two redshirt sophomores (
Jayda and
Jayla Ruffus-Milner). Also returning to the team is redshirt senior
Haley Duren, who played during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons, and rejoins the team after taking two years off from playing collegiate basketball. New to Malibu are transfers
Eve Braslis (Utah Valley),
Rebekah Obinma (Texas Christian) and
Cydney Rivera (Collin College) and freshmen
Kendyl Carson, Rosemary Odebunmi, Jane Nwaba and
Isabel Montoya.
AT THE HELM: Kristen Dowling enters her second season as Pepperdine's head women's basketball coach. In her first year, she led the team to a 16-15 overall record, including an 8-10 WCC record. The team reached the semifinals of the WCC Tournament in Las Vegas before falling to San Diego. Prior to Pepperdine, Dowling was the leader of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps' program for seven years. She led the Athenas to six straight SCIAC regular-season championships as well four SCIAC Tournament championships and two NCAA Division III Tournaments. Along the way, the team had six straight 20-win seasons including five season with at least 23 wins.
THE STAFF: All five members of the staff return to Malibu for the 2020-21 season. Each are in their second season with the Waves.
Anthony Mason coached at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps with Dowling on two separate occasions, helping the team to two SCIAC championships and two straight NCAA Division III postseason berths. He also coached boys basketball at Upland High School in 2018.
̈Brian Rosario has some West Coast Conference experience, as he graduated from the University of San Diego in 1999, where he was a male practice player for the women's basketball team. He also coached at PCH Cup rival Loyola Marymount from 2007-12 before becoming the head coach at Chandler-Gilbert Community College in Arizona in 2017.
Grace Ricafranca was an assistant coach at Biola for five years before joining the Dowling's staff in Malibu.
Skye Barnett was a standout player for the Waves from 2009-12, playing under Dowling her last three years on campus. She was also the first-ever recipient of the Maurice Hilliard Award, given to a Pepperdine student-athlete that exemplifies the attributes of Christian faith, character and leadership, in 2012.
Both Rosario and Ricafranca have gone viral on the social media platform TikTok, garnering over 205,000 views combined on the platform.
COVID CANCELLATIONS: The Waves have had five games thus far postponed or cancelled due to COVID-19 regulations. First, CSUN cancelled its season, which pushed the Waves' season opener to Nov. 29 against UCLA. The game against UCLA was subsequently postponed after a day-of-game antigen test came back positive for Pepperdine. However, after another full round of testing, it was shown that it was actually a false positive, allowing the Waves to return to basketball activities. The Dec. 3 game against UCSB was also cancelled due to COVID-19 considerations on the Gauchos' end. Pepperdine was also scheduled to play Boise State on Dec. 19, but the Mountain West changed their schedule so the conference season would start that weekend, cancelling the Waves' game. Pepperdine's final non-conference game of the year against CSU Fullerton on Dec. 21 was cancelled due to positive tests from the Titans.
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 major 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 #49 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.
