Pepperdine University
San Francisco
Women's Basketball Begins Two-Game Home Stand Against San Francisco
1/31/2024 2:50:00 PM | Women's Basketball
MALIBU, Calif. — After spending most of January on the road, the Pepperdine women's basketball team begins a home-heavy February with a rematch against San Francisco on Thursday, Feb. 1. From here, Pepperdine will then host Santa Clara in Firestone Fieldhouse on Saturday at 2 p.m.
The first 25 students at Thursday's game will receive free, stainless-steel Pepperdine coffee mugs. All West Coast Conference games will be live streamed on ESPN+. Tickets can be purchased online at tickets.pepperdinewaves.com.
San Francisco has a 46-42 lead in the all-time series with its latest victory coming in a 83-64 win over Pepperdine in The Sobrato Center. Since then, the Dons have gone 2-2, while the Waves aim to snap out of a four-game losing skid since their first game against USF.
GAME #21: Pepperdine vs. San Francisco | Thursday, Feb. 1 | Firestone Fieldhouse | Malibu, Calif. | ESPN+ | 6 p.m. PT
SCOUTING THE WAVES
Pepperdine has fallen short in the last six WCC games since starting conference play with a win at San Diego. As the Waves approach the halfway point of WCC play, they rank eighth in the standings with a one-game lead over San Diego, while trailing two games back from Santa Clara and Saint Mary's — both of whom have 3-4 records in WCC action.
In the last meeting between the two teams, Pepperdine got out to a 19-13 first-quarter lead thanks to seven points from Mi'Cole Cayton off the bench. However, a massive 23-0 second-quarter run from the Dons flipped the script on the Waves, who trailed from that point forward. For the first time in conference play, the Waves turned to a full-court press and found some success in trimming the deficit, yet they could only pull within 13 points of the Dons in the final frame.
In the first matchup against USF, Jane Nwaba led Pepperdine in every statistical category with 11 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, the latter of which started a trend that has persisted throughout January. Nwaba has handled more distributing duties lately, averaging 4.2 assists in the last five games.
Fellow guard Helena Friend put together the best month of basketball of her season in January, averaging 8.7 points, 1.9 rebounds and 2.3 steals while starting in five of the six games. Against LMU, Friend had 12 points on perfect 3-for-3 shooting from the field and 4-for-4 from the charity stripe. Defensively, Friend reset her career-high with five steals at Pacific on Jan. 20 before tallying four against Portland.
Over the last five games, four different Waves have led the charge on offense: Nwaba (twice), Jorynn Ross, Megan Harkey and Holly Griffiths. Pepperdine ranks 67th in Division I with 22.8 bench points per game, which trails only Portland for the lead in the West Coast Conference.
SCOUTING THE DONS
San Francisco dominated the glass and saw contributions from all over its small rotation in its win over Pepperdine last month. Aya Keita scored a career-high 14 points off the bench and went 3-for-3 during the Dons' decisive second-quarter run. Thanks to a 16-point, 15-rebound outing from San Francisco's Debora dos Santos, the Waves were out-rebounded for the first time in WCC play.
Since the two teams last met, San Francisco guard Jasmine Gayles became one of eight Division I women's basketball players to score 40 points in a game, which she achieved with a 40-point night at Pacific on Jan. 13. She is the WCC's third-leading scorer at 17.5 points per game, plus she averages 1.7 made threes per game (7th-WCC).
The aforementioned Debora dos Santos averages a double-double with 14.0 points and a league-leading 10.6 rebounds per game. Her 11 double-doubles lead the WCC and rank 13th in the nation.
As a team, the Dons have gone 2-2 in WCC play with a win at Pacific and a home win over LMU, while falling at Santa Clara and against the #17 Gonzaga Bulldogs. Interestingly enough, none of USF's conference games have been close. The only game decided by two possessions or less was a 67-60 loss to Portland on Jan. 6; since then, the Dons' next five games have been determined by an average of 11.8 points per game.
UP NEXT: Pepperdine hosts Santa Clara on Saturday at 2 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at tickets.pepperdinewaves.com.
