MALIBU, Calif. — Embarking on its 38th season in West Coast Conference play, the Pepperdine women's basketball team heads to San Diego on Thursday, Jan. 4 at 4:30 p.m. Like all WCC games in the 2023-24 season, it will be broadcasted on ESPN+.
A new season begins for the Waves, which aim to not only out-perform their eighth-place ranking in the WCC Preseason Poll, but also improve on last year's 5-13 WCC record. The Waves have a 48-42 lead in the all-time series over the Toreros, yet Pepperdine hasn't beaten USD since the 2019-20 season. San Diego has won the last three games at home.
Thursday's game will pit two similar teams against each other. Pepperdine and USD are both 4-9, they lean on defense to win low-scoring games and they rely on their size advantages in the frontcourt. Both teams have taken their lumps in non-conference play and are looking to redeem themselves in conference play: The Waves had a challenging, road-heavy slate in November and early December, while the Toreros played at two Pac-12 teams and welcomed tough mid-major foes to the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
GAME #14: Pepperdine at San Diego | Thursday, Jan. 1 | Jenny Craig Pavilion | San Diego, Calif. | ESPN+ | 4:30 p.m. PT
SCOUTING THE WAVES
Heading into conference play, Pepperdine steered out of a seven-game losing skid and went 2-3 in December. Winners of two out of their last three games, the Waves made progress on offense in December by averaging 66.8 points per game on 43.4% shooting. Both figures were improvements from November's 53.3 points per game on 38.8% shooting. Five different players have led the Waves in scoring in the last five games.
While several constants remain on Pepperdine's roster, several others have stepped up at different points over the past month.
Addi Melone is coming off her best Division I game against Cal State LA, in which she scored 17 points on 6-for-13 shooting. Melone has finished in double figures in back-to-back games, averaging 13.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.0 assists and just 1.0 turnovers per game over that span.
Helena Friend registered career highs against Cal State LA as well with 15 points on 75% shooting off the bench.
The consistent contributors for Pepperdine have been
Ella Brubaker (10.0 points per game, team-best 46.5% from three),
Jane Nwaba (9.7 points and a team-best 7.7 rebounds per game) and freshman forward
Jorynn Ross (5.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game), who averaged 10.2 points (on 61.1% shooting) and 5.4 rebounds per game in December en route to winning back-to-back WCC Freshman of the Week honors.
As a team, Pepperdine has an above-average three-point defense (league-leading 26.3% per game), crashes the defensive glass (26.8 rebounds per game) and is second in the WCC with 4.3 blocks per game.
SCOUTING THE TOREROS
Although the Toreros come into conference play on a three-game home losing streak, their record is misleading. USD scheduled aggressively for its non-conference slate: Four of its losses were at #9 USC and Arizona, plus two more were to UNLV and Princeton, the latter of which made the second round of the NCAA Tournament last year.
Defense has been the calling card under head coach Cindy Fisher, and this year is no exception. While Toreros have regressed a bit since last year's fringe-top-100 scoring defense, USD's counting stats have held up, as the team ranks second in the WCC in blocks (4.38 per game) and steals (8.23 per game).
Offensively, USD scores most of its points in the paint — mostly in part due to its size advantage with 6-foot-4 junior Harsimran Kaur (7.8 points per game) and 6-foot-1 senior Kasey Neubert (9.3 points per game). On the flip side, USD is one of the most three-point-averse schools in Division I, taking 10.9 threes per game (358th in Division I) while making only 3.4 triples (349th) per game.
USD's lone double-figure scorer is sophomore guard Veronica Sheffey, who leads the team with 12.9 points, 5.3 assists and 1.5 steals per game. She is joined in the backcourt by Florida A&M's transfer Dylan Horton, who averages 7.7 points on 40.6% shooting this year.
Last year, the Toreros went 19-14 to place third in the WCC standings. They earned a berth in the WNIT, where they fell in the Super 16 to Oregon.
UP NEXT: Pepperdine hosts PCH Cup rival Loyola Marymount on Saturday, Jan. 6 at 2 p.m. The game is the first half of a split doubleheader with the men's team, which plays Santa Clara in its home conference opener at 7 p.m. Tickets for both games can be purchased at tickets.pepperdinewaves.com.
