MALIBU, California – The #8-seeded Pepperdine women's basketball team opens up the University Credit Union West Coast Conference Basketball Tournament by taking on #9 seed Loyola Marymount at 12 p.m.
GAME #25: Thursday (March 3) at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.: #8 Pepperdine (8-16, 4-11 WCC) vs. #9 Loyola Marymount (9-18, 4-13 WCC) at 12 p.m.
TV COVERAGE: Thursday's game will be televised locally on Bally Sports SoCal, nationally on BYUtv and regionally on Bally Sports San Diego, NBC Sports California and ROOT Sports Northwest. It will also be streamed via the WCC Network. 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.
WAVECASTS: All Pepperdine WCC Tournament games, men's and women's, can be listened to online via WaveCasts at PepperdineWaves.com. Veteran play-by-play man Al Epstein, a 2015 Pepperdine Athletics Hall of Fame inductee who is now in his 37th season, will be behind the microphone.
SERIES VS. LOYOLA MARYMOUNT: The Waves hold the overall series lead at 59-32. Pepperdine defeated LMU twice this season including a 61-55 win inside Firestone Fieldhouse and a 64-60 win at the Gersten Pavilion. The Waves and Lions are 3-3 against each other in the WCC Tournament.
2020-21 WCC TOURNAMENT: Last year, the Waves fell in the first round of the West Coast Conference Tournament to Loyola Marymount 85-73. The tournament was eventually won by Gonzaga which defeated BYU 43-42.
KEN POMEROY/WCC RANKINGS: The WCC partnered with renowned college
basketball statistical analyst Ken Pomeroy, for the second year in a row, to develop a comprehensive model that was utilized to seed the 2022 University Credit Union West Coast Conference Basketball Tournament. The model uses a proprietary algorithm that best reflects conference games completed and yields an adjusted conference winning percentage for each team. The seedings are as follows: 1. BYU, 2. Gonzaga, 3. San Francisco, 4. Portland, 5. Saint Mary's, 6. San Diego, 7. Santa Clara, 8.
Pepperdine, 9. LMU, 10. Pacific.
WCC TOURNAMENT HISTORY: The Waves have an overall record of 27-26 in their
30th WCC Tournament. They won three championships in 2002, 2003 and 2006.
Pepperdine has reached the semifinal twice in the past three seasons.
WCC LEADERS: Pepperdine has multiple players in the top-20 in WCC stats.
Becky Obinma is ninth in the conference in rebounding (6.4) and third in blocked shots (1.8).
Ally Stedman ranks 14th in scoring (11.3) and ninth in minutes (31.5).
Malia Bambrick is fourth in the conference in minutes (32.5).
Meaali'i Amosa is 11th in the conference in rebounding (6.3) and tied for 15th in blocked shots (0.5).
Kendyl Carson ranks sixth in the conference for assists (3.9).
LAST GAME: Pepperdine dropped the regular-season finale to Portland 85-49 in the Chiles Center last Saturday afternoon. Freshman
Meaali'i Amosa collected a career-high 13 rebounds. The Waves were led by senior
Cheyenne Givens who had a new season high of 16 points by shooting 7-for-11. Senior
Malia Bambrick notched 10 points against the Pilots.
AT THE HELM: Kristen Dowling is in her third season as Pepperdine's head women's basketball coach. During her first two seasons with the Waves, she has a record of 21-33. 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, the team had six straight 20-win seasons including five seasons with at least 23 wins.
POSTPONEMENTS: The Waves had six games postponed due to COVID-19 regulations. Pepperdine was supposed to open up West Coast Conference play on Dec. 30 hosting Pacific, but due to COVID-19 considerations on the Tigers' end, the game was moved to Feb. 15. The Waves also were intended to play host to Saint Mary's on Jan. 1, but due to COVID-19 considerations with the Waves, the game was moved to Jan 31. Additionally, Pepperdine was supposed to travel to play San Diego on Jan. 6, but due to COVID-19 regulations, the game has been declared no contest by both schools and the WCC, respectively. The Waves intended to host Loyola Marymount on Jan. 8, but the game was postponed to Tuesday, Jan. 18 and also postponed again to Tuesday, Jan. 25. Pepperdine was scheduled to host BYU on Thursday, Jan. 20, but due to COVID-19 considerations with the Waves, the game was declared a no contest by the WCC. The Waves were supposed to host Portland on Jan. 29, but due to COVID-19 protocols within the Pilots, the game was declared no contest by the WCC.
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 10 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.
