Pepperdine University
Saint Mary's
Pepperdine Hosts Saint Mary's for Senior Day
2/29/2024 9:30:00 AM | Women's Basketball
MALIBU, Calif. — After taking nearly a week off since its last game, the Pepperdine women's basketball team hosts Saint Mary's for Senior Day on March 2 for the Waves' regular-season finale. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.
Saturday's game doubles as a Hall of Fame induction ceremony for Pepperdine great Miranda Ayim, who will be honored in the Jones Trophy Room before the game, and then at center court during halftime. Additionally, a Waves women's basketball alumnae reception will take place in the Jones Trophy Room after the game.
Like all West Coast Conference games, Saturday's game will be broadcasted on ESPN+. Tickets can be purchased at tickets.pepperdinewaves.com.
The Waves trail in the all-time series 36-47 while the Gaels have won four out of the last five meetings. Pepperdine's last win over the Gaels was a 70-65 overtime win in Firestone Fieldhouse during the 2021-22 season.
In the teams' last meeting in Moraga, the Gaels jumped out to an 11-0 lead and held Pepperdine without a made field goal until the final two minutes of the first quarter. Saint Mary's maintained its double-digit lead for most of their 75-47 win thanks to redshirt freshman Maia Jones' career-high 31-point showing, earning her WCC's Freshman of the Week honors the following Monday. Meanwhile for the Waves, Jane Nwaba led the team with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Jorynn Ross recorded her first collegiate double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
GAME #29: Pepperdine vs. Saint Mary's | Saturday, March 2 | Firestone Fieldhouse | Malibu, Calif. | ESPN+ | 2 p.m. PT
SCOUTING THE WAVES
The Waves are coming off a 75-41 home loss to the #16 Gonzaga Bulldogs last Saturday, in which Nwaba recorded her third-straight double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds to lead the team. Megan Harkey chipped in nine points, while Helena Friend and Ross scored eight points apiece.
Prior to the game, the Waves will honor seniors Nwaba, Mi'Cole Cayton and Lexi Griggsby. Nwaba, a four-year contributor for the Waves, has led the Waves in scoring (10.4 points), rebounding (7.8 rebounds), assists (2.9 per game) and steals (1.3 per game) during her senior season. So far, her nine double-doubles are one away from breaking into Pepperdine's single-season top-10 rankings, while her 11 double-doubles are one away from entering the program's top-10 career rankings.
Both Cayton and Griggsby are graduate students playing in their first years at Pepperdine. Despite missing the non-conference portion of the season due to an injury, Cayton came back to average 3.6 points in 12.2 minutes per game, while finishing in double-figures once against Pacific (10 points). Coincidentally, Cayton's best games as a Wave came against her hometown team, the Pacific Tigers: In both games, Cayton averaged 7.0 points, 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals against the Tigers. She is the only known eighth-year senior in women's college basketball.
Griggsby, a seventh-year senior, has not been able to suit up for Pepperdine due to injuries this season.
SCOUTING THE GAELS
The Gaels will head to Malibu after hosting San Francisco for their senior day on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
Last week against LMU and USD, Saint Mary's held off the Lions in a 70-66 win, then lost 69-52 to USD, which complicated the Gaels' potential WCC Championship seeding scenarios. Tied with LMU at sixth with 5-9 records in conference play, the Gaels are in danger of falling into the 8-9 game should they lose out and San Diego goes 2-0 against Pacific and San Francisco this week. As it stands, the Gaels would be the 7-seed and play 6-seed LMU in the second round of the tournament next Friday.
Reigning WCC Freshman of the Week Zeryhia Aokuso continues to lead the Gaels with 11.3 points and 2.8 assists per game and has made a strong case for the WCC's Freshman of the Year honors as of late. She scored 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the team's loss to San Diego and flirted with a triple-double with a 9-4-5 stat line against LMU, yet the Waves held her to just six points two weeks ago.
Elsewhere, the Gaels have five more players averaging more than 5.0 points per game, including Ali Bambarger, who rounds out the double-figure scorers at 10.2 points per game.
Over the last three games, the Gaels have had career nights from several different players. The aforementioned Jones had her scoring explosion against the Waves two weeks ago, while Tayla Dalton scored a career-high 27 points in the team's win over the Lions last Thursday. Five different players have finished in double-figures over the last five games: Aokuso, Dalton, Jones, Bambarger and Emily Foy.
UP NEXT: From here, Pepperdine will play the 8-seed at the 2024 Credit Union 1 West Coast Conference Basketball Championship, held at the Orleans Arena on March 7, 2024. Tip-off is scheduled for noon.
As of press time, the Waves will likely play San Diego, which is 4-10 in the conference standings and one game back from 5-9 LMU and Saint Mary's with two games to go.
