SAN DIEGO – The San Diego women's basketball program (8-8, 2-3 WCC) heads just up the coast for a pair of WCC matchups, facing Pepperdine (6-10, 1-5 WCC) on Thursday at 6 p.m., and Loyola Marymount (5-12, 2-4 WCC) on Saturday at 3 p.m.
 
LAST TIME OUT

• San Diego fell behind early and could not recover despite a very even final three quarters, falling 63-49, at BYU on Jan. 7.
• Kiera Oakry and Kasey Neubert each went into double figures in the loss, with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

 
OPPONENT HISTORY

• San Diego trails 40-46 in the all-time series against Pepperdine, but has made rapid gains in recent years, winning the last five matchups.
• The Toreros lead Loyola Marymount 51-31 in the all-time series, owning their largest winning streak against any WCC opponent currently, taking the last six meetings.  

 
WHAT TO WATCH FOR

• Already a WCC Freshman of the Week in the first week of the new year, Veronica Sheffey continues to see her scoring rise and now sits at a season best 5.5 points per game, including 7.8 points per game over her last eight contests.
• One of the primary reasons the Toreros have won games in recent days is the improved handling of the basketball. San Diego now leads the WCC in turnover margin (1.75), while ranking third in turnovers forced per game (16.81).
• Five of the six lowest turnover performances from the Toreros have come in WCC play, which also happen to be the last five games for the team.
• The Toreros continue to find success on the glass, ranking in the top-100 nationally in offensive rebounds per game (13.9) and rebounding margin (4.0).
• San Diego is hoping to jump out to an early lead, where they tend to have the most success. San Diego is 7-2 when leading or tied at halftime, while 1-6 when they trail. The team broke their 0-5 start when they trail with a 16-point comeback victory over Saint Mary's on Dec. 29.

 
TORERO TIDBITS

• Oakry has been adept at drawing contact all season and has gotten to the free throw line frequently, ranking third in the WCC and in the top-100 nationally in free throws made (56). As a unit, the Toreros lead the league in free throw attempts per game and rank second in makes per game.
• Myah Pace is closing in on several milestones in her highly successful Torero career, sitting just 18 points away from 1,000 and 28 steals away from 250 in her career.
• In addition, Pace ranks fourth all-time in career steals with 222 and needs 18 to match Amanda Rego (240) for third place.
• Pace is also tenth all-time in assists at 325 and is two away from passing Angie Straub (326) for ninth and moving into a tie for eighth with Amy Kame at 327.

 
HOW TO FOLLOW
The games will be streamed via the WCC Network, with live stats provided by statbroadcast. To stay up to date with Toreros women's basketball, follow the team on Instagram & Twitter by searching "USDwbb".