The Pepperdine women's basketball team concludes regular season play at home this week with two games on deck.
 
GAME #28 – CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY –  Pepperdine (8-19, 3-15) vs. Washington State (18-12, 13-6) in Firestone Fieldhouse with the tip-off scheduled for 1 p.m.
 
GAME #29 – SENIOR DAY – Pepperdine vs. Oregon State (15-14, 11-7) in Firestone Fieldhouse with a tip-off time of 1 p.m. Senior day festivities will begin at approximately 12:40 p.m.
 
COVERAGE: The games will be streamed on ESPN+ (subscription required). Live stats can be found at www.pepperdinewaves.com
 
SERIES VS. WASHINGTON STATE: Overall, the Waves are 1-3 against the Cougars with the sole win coming in Malibu over three decades ago in the 1983-84 season. When Pepperdine went to Pullman earlier this season in December for the first time in conference play, three Waves scored double digits in the 46-67 loss. Senior Ella Brubaker (University Place, Wash.) showed out in her home state with 15 points, followed closely behind by senior Makena Mastora (Alameda, Calif.) who had 12 points on top of six rebounds.
 
SCOUTING THE COUGARS:  Since the Waves travelled to Washington in late December, the Cougars are 11-6, including an overtime loss in Spokane to Gonzaga 69-73. With two players averaging double digits on the season, sophomore Eleonora Villa and senior Tara Wallack lead the charge offensively for Washington State with 14.0 and 13.3 points  per game, respectively. Wallack also has the best defensive numbers for the squad, heads and shoulders above any of her teammates with an average of 7.0 rebounds per game, putting her at 10th overall in the conference.
 
SERIES VS.OREGON STATE: Through five games, Pepperdine is 2-3 against the Beavers, with neither of the wins coming in Malibu. The last time the Waves faced the Beavers as non conference opponents was in a 52-63 loss during the 2011-12 season at home. Going to Corvallis just one month ago, graduate Ornela Muca (Athens, Greece) led the Waves with 15 points in the 54-63 loss. The game was close nearly all forty minutes with Pepperdine headed into the fourth quarter down by just one possession with a score of 48-51. The Waves will look to cap off senior day and the finale of the regular season with a win over the Beavers Saturday afternoon.
 
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS: Oregon State is 5-1 since Pepperdine visited GIll Coliseum in Corvallis, their only loss coming at home vs. Gonzaga with a final score of 62-66. Senior Kelsey Rees leads Oregon State on both sides of the ball, averaging 12.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. The Beavers have won their five games since playing Pepperdine by a combined 90 points.
 
LAST TIME OUT: Headed down Pacific Coast Highway for part two of the PCH cup rivalry last Saturday, Pepperdine lost the lead held in the first half, falling to Loyola Marymount in the Gersten Pavilion 49-58. Brubaker led the team with 18 points, including scoring all the points for the Waves in the third quarter. Shooting .500, freshman Chloe Sotell (Samford, Conn.) hit three from beyond the arc, accounting for half the team's points from distance.
 
THE TOURNEY: Pepperdine is slated to play in the Thursday afternoon game of the 2025 Credit Union 1 WCC Basketball Championship at The Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. Tip-off is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. and the opponent has yet to be determined.
 
IN THE WCC: The sole freshman on the roster appears in multiple categories among the top 25, including points per game (#23), assists per game (#14), assist/turnover ratio (#9) and three's per game (#3). For threes per game, she is third amongst all players with an average of 2.1 a game as well as 4th in the same category when just regarding conference games. Senior Makena Mastora is 20th in rebounding for all games with an average of 4.9 a game. On the defensive side of the ball, senior Megan Harkey is 8th in the conference for blocks, averaging 1.1 a game.
 
SOARING SOTELL: As the only freshman on the team this season, Chloe Sotell is the Waves' leading scorer with 286 total points, serving a crucial role in her inaugural year playing collegiate basketball. Sitting fourth in the conference games with an average of 2.1 threes per game, Chloe is only one of two freshmen in the top 25 across the entire conference. The Connecticut native has 15 games with double digits, averaging 10.6 a game.
 
AT THE HELM: Katie Faulkner is entering her first year as the head coach of the Waves. Previously, Faulkner served as an assistant at the University of Washington for three seasons. During her tenure, Faulkner took Washington to the WNIT Final four in the program's first postseason berth in six years. Prior to joining the Huskies, the Montana alumnae served as an assistant coach at Oregon State from 2016-2021. In those five seasons, the Beavers garnered a 118-37 record while going to the NCAA tournament four years in a row, including a 2018 Elite Eight appearance.