MALIBU, Calif. — Playing in its first home game in almost two weeks, the Pepperdine women's basketball team hosts the Georgetown Hoyas on Friday at 6 p.m.
The Waves (2-4) will spend the next two games in the friendly confines of Firestone Fieldhouse, where they have a 2-1 record. From here, the Waves host Long Beach State on Monday before playing at North Texas next weekend.
GAME #7: Pepperdine vs. Georgetown | Friday, Nov. 25 | Firestone Fieldhouse | Malibu, Calif. | ESPN+ | 6 p.m.
SCOUTING THE WAVES
The Waves look to reverse course after taking a three-game road trip to Mountain West country, which resulted in an 0-3 record against Fresno State, Nevada and Boise State.
Over the three-game road trip, two different Waves led the team in scoring: Myra Gordon — Pepperdine's leading scorer at 11.2 points per game — had 14 points against Fresno State and nine at Nevada. Against Boise State on Monday, junior guard Ella Brubaker was the heroine, scoring a Pepperdine career-high 19 points on 7-for-14 shooting off the bench while her father, brother and former collegiate coach from The Master's University were in attendance. She scored all but two of Pepperdine's second-quarter points, plus she got to the line and converted on all four of her free-throw attempts.
Senior guard Jane Nwaba is Pepperdine's most consistent contributor, averaging 9.2 points per game (second on the team) and a team-high 7.0 rebounds per game, the latter of which ranks eighth among West Coast Conference players. Her 42 rebounds this season also rank 60th in the NCAA.
The Waves look to improve offensively on Friday, as they connected on only 33.8% of their shots and 18.8% (9-48) of attempts from three. In the loss against Boise State, Pepperdine trended in the right direction with ball security, as the team committed 15 turnovers to the Broncos' 18.
So far, Pepperdine has been out-rebounded once this year: Monday's loss to Boise State. The Waves average 37.7 rebounds per game, which ranks fifth in the WCC. As a team, Pepperdine is third amongst WCC teams with 5.0 blocks per game, thanks mostly to sophomore KK Brodie, who averages 2.0 blocks per game and is 16th in the nation with 12 rejections this season.
SCOUTING THE HOYAS
Friday's game kicks off a two-game Southern California road trip for the Hoyas, who will play at Cal State Fullerton on Sunday. This will be the first-ever meeting between Pepperdine and Georgetown.
Few teams have gone through more adversity than Georgetown this year. The Hoyas lost head coach Tasha Butts after a two-year battle with breast cancer on Monday, Oct. 23, one month after she stepped away from the team to focus on her health. Interim head coach Darnell Haney has led the Hoyas to a 3-1 record so far, with wins over Maryland-Eastern Shore, Temple and Fairleigh Dickinson.
Georgetown has relied heavily on its defense, which holds opponents to a mere 46.3 points per game on 29.1% shooting. Individually, senior Kelsey Ransom has led Georgetown on offense and defense. The do-it-all guard leads the team with 14.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.8 steals. Grad transfer Graceann Bennett bolsters the Hoyas down low with 9.5 points and 7.0 rebounds per game while making an impressive 66.7% of her field goals.
UP NEXT: Pepperdine hosts fellow Los Angeles-area school Long Beach State on Monday, Nov. 27 at 6 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at tickets.pepperdinewaves.com.
