Pepperdine University
Santa Clara
Road Trip to Santa Clara Awaits Pepperdine Women's Basketball
1/16/2024 8:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
MALIBU, Calif. — The Pepperdine women's basketball team hits the road for a two-game, West Coast Conference road trip, starting this Thursday at Santa Clara. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. and the game will be livestreamed on ESPN+.
Pepperdine's game at Santa Clara kicks off the first of two, two-game road trips the Waves will take in WCC play this season. From here, the Waves head to Stockton, Calif. to take on Pacific on Saturday, Jan. 20 at 6 p.m. Aside from the Pacific Northwest swing in February and the WCC Tournament in Las Vegas, this will be one of the last road trips of the year for Pepperdine.
Thursday's game pits two WCC teams against each other that are looking to snap two-game losing skids. It will also be a battle of strengths, pitting the Waves' (5-11, 1-2 WCC) league-leading field goal percentage defense against the Broncos' (13-5, 1-2 WCC) bevy of sharpshooting Aussies that comprise the league's best offense outside of Gonzaga.
Pepperdine leads the all-time series by a slim 44-42 margin, with a 16-22 record in the Leavey Center. However, Pepperdine swept the season series with Santa Clara and knocked the Broncos out of the WCC Tournament last season. In Vegas last March, Jane Nwaba led the Waves with 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
GAME #17: Pepperdine at Santa Clara | Thursday, Jan. 18 | Leavey Center | Santa Clara, Calif. | ESPN+ | 6 p.m. PT
SCOUTING THE WAVES
After a weeklong break since the Waves' last game at San Francisco, Pepperdine looks to get back in the win column against the Broncos. Despite starting off the conference slate with a win at San Diego, the Waves are on a two-game skid with losses against LMU and at San Francisco.
Last Thursday against the Dons, Pepperdine was undone by a 21-0, second-quarter USF run that put the Waves behind the eight-ball for the second half in an 83-64 loss. Individually, the Waves were led by Nwaba's near triple-double with 11 points, eight rebounds and eight assists; all three stats were team highs. So far, Nwaba has been Pepperdine's leading scorer in four games, the team's leading rebounder in 10 games and the team's leader in assists in six games.
The Waves also saw two players have their best nights in Pepperdine uniforms. Eighth-year guard Mi'Cole Cayton scored a season-high nine points — seven of which came in the first quarter — while junior forward Maggie Vick scored a career-high 10 points to go along with five rebounds and a block.
Santa Clara will be the biggest test for the Waves' defense, which continues to rank in the top half of WCC schools in several defensive categories. The Waves lead the league in field goal percentage defense (37.9%) and three-point field goal percentage defense (27.9%), both of which will be relied upon while playing Santa Clara's hot-shooting offense.
SCOUTING THE BRONCOS
Like the Waves, Santa Clara is on a two-game skid as well, albeit with losses to Gonzaga and Portland — two of the top teams in the WCC this season. Head Coach Bill Carr's squad was picked tied for third in the WCC Preseason Polls because of returning several promising young stars from last year's 15-17 campaign.
Santa Clara boasts two of the conference's leading scorers in Tess Heal (17.9 PPG) and Olivia Pollerd (13.9 PPG), the league's best scoring defense (57.8 PPG) and the WCC's most prolific three-point shooting team that doesn't play in Spokane (7.6 threes per game on 33.9% shooting — both rank second in the WCC).
Heal, the reigning WCC Freshman of the Year, has shown no signs of a sophomore slump. She has won the WCC's Player of the Week honors three times, upped her scoring average from 17.6 PPG last year and has been a more effective three-point shooter. Heal shoots 41.5% from deep on an average of 2.3 attempts this season, which is better than her 27.3% clip from last year on virtually the same number of attempts. She has also connected on 90.8% of her free throws — a four-percent increase from last year — which leads the league.
Fellow Aussie Olivia Pollerd has also become one of the league's most effective stretch forwards, averaging 2.3 made threes per game (on 38.3% shooting) while also leading the team with 17 blocks this year.
The Broncos have an Australian pipeline of sorts, as five players hail from Melbourne. Aside from Heal and Pollerd, graduate transfer guard Keeley Frawley, has fared well in her first season as a Bronco. The Portland transfer is the team's second-leading rebounder at 5.9 boards in 23.7 minutes per game.
UP NEXT: Following Thursday's game, Pepperdine travels to Stockton, Calif. to take on the Pacific Tigers on Saturday, Jan. 20 at 6 p.m.
