MALIBU, Calif. – Pepperdine women's basketball (19-12, 10-8 WCC) will host for the first time ever in the opening round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) against UC Davis (23-10, 15-5 Big West) Thursday night in Firestone Fieldhouse at 6 p.m.
 
LAST TIME OUT
• The Waves lost in the third round of the West Coast Conference tournament as the No. 6 seed to the seventh-seeded San Francisco Dons.
• Four Waves scored in double digits, led by Elli Guiney who dropped 22.
• Pepperdine has gone 7-3 in the past ten games.
• It was the Waves' first time in the third round of the conference tournament since the 2018-19 season.
 
GAME NOTES
• Hosting the first round of the WNIT, it is the program's first postseason appearance in seven years and the first time ever hosting a postseason game.
• Securing eight conference wins so far, it is the most for the program in six years, last doing so when posting an 8-10 conference record in the 2019-2020 season.
• With nine nonconference wins, it is the most for a second-year head coach since DeLisha Milton-Jones in 2018.
• Through conference play, the Waves lead the conference in field goal percentage, shooting .444 as a team.
• Nationally, Pepperdine is 16th in defensive rebounds at 28.9 per game.
• Elli Guiney, the sole sophomore on the Waves squad, has emerged as the team's leading scorer this season, averaging 14.6 per game.
• Guiney earned All-WCC first team for her performance this season, the first Wave to recieve the honor since 2020.
• Tenth in the WCC in scoring, Guiney has set four new career-highs in her sophomore year, dropping at least twenty in eight different games this year.
• With a three-point percentage of .405, Guiney currently sits tied for third in the record book for threes in a single season with 62.
• Through the past five games, junior Lina Falk leads the team in scoring at 15.2 ppg and is second in field goal percentage with .450.
• Overall on the season, leads in accuracy from the field, shooting .470. 
• Athletically and academically a junior, Lina Falk comes to Malibu from Sacramento State.
• In the last five games, graduate Ivory Finley has emerged as a leader, scoring the most off the bench with 6.8 points per game.
• Averaging 16.0 minutes per game, the Minneapolis, Minn. native is shooting .500 from the field, including .545 from deep.
• Graduate Meghan Fiso comes to Pepperdine from San Diego State and is third on the team in scoring with an average of 11.2 points per game and 4.9 rebounds.
• Fiso's younger sister, Katie, is a sophomore at the University of Oregon leading her team with 15.3 points per game.
• Being just one of two teams at the DI level without a single player returning for the 2025-26 season, Coach Faulkner and her staff hit the transfer portal to build a team from scratch.
• Four freshmen are joined by eight transfers to make up the squad of 12.
• Five transfers come from Division one schools with a DII guard as well as a forward from a junior college in Dodge City, Kan.
• Outside of the United States, the Waves represent five different countries in Canada, Romania, Germany, Australia, and Spain.
• Irune Orio, a transfer from Xavier, is the Spanish representative while Ilinca Belegante comes from Romania. Lina Falk is the sole German and Taija St. Maria represents the north as the Canadian on the Waves.
• The three Australians all come from different areas with one from Perth, one from Melbourne, and the final from the Gold Coast.
• Makena Mastora, a graduate transfer into the Pepperdine women's basketball program last year, is now on the other side as an assistant coach.
• In her second year at the helm, this season will be Faulkner's first curated of players originating from her and her staff.
• Faulkner has led one of the best program turnarounds in the entire country, in just one year's time turning an eight-win program into a 19 (and counting) game-wiinning program.
• Last season, the Waves were undefeated in nonconference play at home for the first time in five years. 
• Having her third child and second girl at the beginning of the month, Faulkner returned to coaching just 10 days after the birth of Cali Jo.
 
SERIES HISTORY WITH UC DAVIS
• All-time, Pepperdine is 4-2 against UC Davis.
• In Malibu, the Waves are 1-1 when playing the Aggies. 
• The last meeting between the two squads resulted in a 70-67 win in Firestone for the Waves back in the 2019-2020 season.
• The first meeting between the two teams was in the 1976-77 season at a neutral site.
 
SCOUTING THE AGGIES
• Sitting at 23-10, including 15-5 through the regular season in Big West play, UC Davis lost in the semi-finals of their conference tournament to the eventual-champion UC San Diego. 
• The Aggies are 9-6 on the road this season.
• Offensively, Ryann Bennett leads the squad as one of four Aggies to average double digits with 15.1 points per game.
• Defensively, Megan Norris leads UC Davis with 12.7 boards per game, leaps and bounds ahead of the next Aggie at 4.3 rebounds per game.
 
Pepperdine hosts UC Davis for the program's first appearance in the postseason in seven years. It is also the program's first time ever hosting any kind of postseason game. With tip-off scheduled for 6 p.m., the game will be streamed on ESPN+ (subscription required) with live stats available on www.pepperdinewaves.com.
 
ABOUT PEPPERDINE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Pepperdine women's basketball has made four NCAA postseason appearances in its history, having won the WCC regular-season four times and the WCC Tournament on three occasions. With six All-American selections in program history, the Waves have also seen success in the WNIT Tournament which included a run to the Sweet Sixteen in 2019.
 
TICKETS
For more information and to purchase tickets to upcoming home events, visit here.
 
FOLLOW
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