Pepperdine University’s women’s basketball team is set to face the Gonzaga Bulldogs in Spokane on Tuesday night, continuing their Washington road trip. The Waves enter the matchup with a 9-4 overall record and are 0-1 in West Coast Conference (WCC) play after a narrow loss to Washington State, 63-66.
In the previous game, sophomore Elli Guiney led Pepperdine with a career-high 26 points. Graduate student Meghan Fiso also posted a personal best with 20 points. Despite these performances, Pepperdine attempted 20 fewer shots than Washington State, which limited their scoring opportunities.
The Waves finished nonconference play at 9-3, marking their fourth-best start in program history and the best in 45 years. For the first time ever, they have been ranked No. 21 in College Insider’s mid-major top 25 poll. Their nine nonconference wins are the most by a second-year head coach since DeLisha Milton-Jones achieved that mark in 2018.
Sophomore guard Elli Guiney has started every game this season after transferring from UNLV, where she averaged just over four minutes per game last year. She currently ranks seventh in the WCC for scoring and has scored double digits ten times this season.
Freshman Seleh Harmon has come off the bench for all games so far and reached double figures seven times out of thirteen games played. With thirty three-pointers made already this season, Harmon is on pace to tie Pepperdine’s single-season record of seventy-five threes.
Australian transfer Shorna Preston is averaging nearly ten rebounds per game and ranks second in the conference for rebounding. Preston recently became Pepperdine’s first WCC Player of the Week recipient this season and is close to entering the program’s top ten for rebound averages—a list unchanged since 1986.
Graduate student Meghan Fiso transferred from San Diego State and averages over eleven points and nearly six rebounds per game. Her younger sister Katie plays for Oregon.
This year’s roster was built largely through transfers due to no players returning for next season—one of only two Division I teams facing such turnover. The squad includes four freshmen and eight transfers representing five countries: Canada, Romania, Germany, Australia, and Spain.
Pepperdine will not host San Francisco or Gonzaga at home this season but will play both teams on the road due to scheduling changes following Seattle’s addition to the WCC.
Historically against Gonzaga, Pepperdine holds a record of thirty wins and fifty-two losses overall; they have not won at Gonzaga’s arena since the 2006-07 season. Last year, Gonzaga won both matchups between these teams.
Gonzaga enters Tuesday’s contest with a record of nine wins and five losses; four defeats came against power-conference opponents. Freshman Lauren Whittaker leads Gonzaga with averages of nineteen points and nearly ten rebounds per game.
Tipoff is scheduled for Tuesday at 6 p.m., with streaming available via ESPN+ (subscription required) and live statistics provided on www.pepperdinewaves.com.
According to program information, Pepperdine women’s basketball has made four NCAA postseason appearances along with multiple conference titles and All-American selections. In recent years they reached as far as the Sweet Sixteen round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) in 2019.
For ticket details regarding upcoming home events visit here. Updates about Pepperdine women’s basketball can be found by following @PepperdineWBB on social media.
