MALIBU, Calif. – THIS WEEK: The Pepperdine women's basketball team's final two games of the regular season are this weekend, heading to the Pacific Northwest to take on Gonzaga and Portland before the UCU West Coast Conference Basketball Tournament in Las Vegas.
GAME #20: Thursday (Feb. 25) at McCarthey Athletic Center in Spokane, Wash.: Pepperdine (5-15, 2-14 WCC) vs. #21 Gonzaga (18-2, 14-1 WCC) at 7:30 p.m.
GAME #21: Saturday (Feb. 27) at Chiles Center in Portland, Ore.: Pepperdine vs. Portland (10-11, 7-8 WCC) at 2 p.m.
COVERAGE: Thursday's game against Gonzaga will be broadcast on the WCC Network, and Saturday's game in Portland will be broadcast on NBC Sports Northwest, and on the WCC Network for those not in the Northwest. Links to the broadcasts 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 WEEK: The Waves had their final two games in Firestone Fieldhouse last week, taking on Pacific and Saint Mary's. Pepperdine fell to Pacific 74-63 on Thursday. On Saturday, Pepperdine celebrated its four seniors: Monique Andriuolo, Tara Dusharm and Hayley Duren. The Waves gave the seniors a nice sendoff, defeating Saint Mary's 62-42. Freshman Kendyl Carson had a career-high 18 points.
SERIES VS. GONZAGA: The Bulldogs have a 45-30 overall advantage over the Waves, and have won the last nine meetings. The last time the Waves defeated the Gonzaga was at home during the 2016-17 season. Earlier this year, Gonzaga defeated Pepperdine 58-42.
SERIES VS. PORTLAND: The Waves have a 38-33 overall advantage over the Pilots. Last year, the Pilots defeated the Waves in both games, but both games were decided by a total of four points. Earlier this year, the Pilots defeated the Waves 74-64.
2021 WEST COAST CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT: The 2021 University Credit Union West Coast Conference Basketball Tournament will be held in Las Vegas again this year at the Orleans Arena from March 4-9. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament will be held without fans in attendance.
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. Malia 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.
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.
