MALIBU, Calif. – The Pepperdine women's basketball team is back in action after the holiday break and will host #20 Gonzaga and Portland this week.
GAME #13: Thursday (Dec. 29) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: Pepperdine (6-6, 1-1) vs. #20 Gonzaga (12-2, 2-0) at 4 PM.
GAME #14: Saturday (Dec. 31) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: Pepperdine (6-6, 1-1) vs. Portland (8-5, 2-0) at 1 PM.
TICKETS: Patrons must have an e-ticket prior to arriving on campus. Pepperdine students, staff and faculty just need their Pepperdine ID card for entry. Tickets can be found at pepperdinewaves.com/tickets.
COVERAGE: Both games will be live on the WCC Network with Darren Preston on the call. Links to live stats and broadcasts will be available on the women's basketball schedule page on PepperdineWaves.com. Fans can also follow @WavesHoops on Twitter for live, in-game updates.
SERIES VS. GONZAGA: Gonzaga has won 48 out of the 78 matchups between the two schools. Pepperdine's last win against Gonzaga was in the 2016-17 season when the Waves won by a 10-point margin inside Firestone Fieldhouse.
SERIES VS. PORTLAND: The Waves hold the overall series lead 38-35 with the Pilots. Portland has won six out of the last seven meetings.
LAST TIME OUT: In the opening weekend of West Coast Conference play the Waves went 1-1. On Dec.17, in the conference opener Pepperdine downed Santa Clara at the buzzer 75-74. After 21 lead changes throughout the game,
Marly Walls inbounded the ball with 0.3 seconds left on the clock, finding
Theresa Grace Mbanefo under the hoop to sink the winning bucket. Walls led the Waves with a career-high 26 points by shooting 10-for-14. She dished out five assists and had three rebounds. On Dec. 19, the Waves traveled across the city and fell 73-63 to San Francisco.
Ally Stedman led Pepperdine with 23 points to go with three assists, three rebounds, a block and a steal.
THIS YEAR: Pepperdine ranks top five in two categories in the WCC. The Waves are ranked second in rebounds per game (40.6) and third in blocks per game (3.2).
The Waves have been led by sophomore
Ally Stedman who averages 16.5 points per game, ranking her third in scoring on the WCC leaderboard. She also is ranked second in steals per game (1.9) and 14th in assists per game (2.6).
Theresa Grace Mbanefo is the second-leading scorer on the squad averaging 12.8 points per game, which is good for 14th in the WCC. Mbanefo ranks third in the WCC in shooting percentage at 55.0%. She also ranks eighth in blocks per game (0.9) and 12th in rebounds per game (5.9).
Marly Walls leads Pepperdine in assists and ranks fourth in the WCC averaging 4.7 per game. She averages 1.8 steals per game which is good for fourth in the WCC. Walls is averaging 10.8 points per game.
Meaali'i Amosa leads the Waves in rebounds with 6.5 and ranks ninth on the WCC leaderboard. Amosa averages 5.9 per game.
Becky Obinma is one of the top three rebounders for the squad and averages 5.9 per game which ranks 13th on the WCC leaderboard. She also averages 0.8 blocks per game, ranking tied for 10th in the WCC.
THE SQUAD: The Waves bring back eight returners and add six newcomers to the team. The returners include a redshirt senior (Obinma), two juniors (Carson and
Jane Nwaba), a redshirt junior (
Isabel Montoya), three sophomores (Amosa,
Helena Friend and Stedman) and redshirt sophomore (
Rosemary Odebumni)
. New to Malibu are graduate student transfers
Theresa Grace Mbanefo and
Marly Walls, and four true freshmen in
KK Brodie,
Drea Brumfield,
Hailey Hoff and
Hailey Johnson.
LAST YEAR: In her fourth year, Dowling led the Waves to a 8-17 overall record, including a 4-11 WCC record. The Waves fell in the opening round of the West Coast Conference Tournament 65-54 to Loyola Marymount.
AT THE HELM: Kristen Dowling is in her fourth season as Pepperdine's head women's basketball coach. During her first three seasons with the Waves, she had a record of 29-50. Her first year at the helm, she led the team to a 16-15 overall record, including an 8-10 WCC record. The team reached the semifinals of the 2020 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 four NCAA Division III Tournaments. Along the way, thåe team had six straight 20-win seasons including five seasons with at least 23 wins.
WCC PRESEASON TEAM/RANKINGS: The Waves were picked to finish 10th in the 2022-23 season. The entire poll is as follows: 1. Gonzaga, 2. Portland, 3. BYU, 4. San Francisco, 5. Saint Mary's, 6. San Diego, 7. Loyola Marymount, 8. Santa Clara, 9. Pacific, 10.
Pepperdine.
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 20 schools to have accomplished this feat — and 10 overall. Of this elite group, Pepperdine has the smallest undergraduate enrollment, is the only school without football and is the only university that has not been affiliated with a "major" conference. The Waves have won a total of 26 team or individual national championships in their history. Pepperdine has also 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 2021-22). Located in scenic Malibu, California, 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 #55 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.
