LAS VEGAS (Interstat) — A pivotal West Coast Conference women’s basketball tournament matchup sees the Pepperdine Waves and San Francisco Dons set for a rubber game in the desert, squaring off Saturday at Orleans Arena.

The seed Waves (19-11) and seed Dons (17-13) split their regular-season series, with each team defending its home court. San Francisco won the most recent meeting 81-70 on Feb. 14 behind a dominant 28-point performance from Candy Edokpaigbe. Pepperdine aims to reverse that result and advance deeper into the postseason bracket.

San Francisco enters having snapped a two-game skid with a 61-52 victory over San Diego on Friday. Edokpaigbe, the Dons’ dynamic guard, continued her stellar late-season play with 25 points in 36 minutes. Over her last six games, she is averaging 21.7 points, including three outings of 28 or more. Her scoring burst will be critical for a Dons team that has struggled offensively at times, failing to reach 60 points in three of their last five contests.

Pepperdine arrives well-rested, having not played since a commanding 81-67 road win at Seattle on Feb. 28. Waves’ standout Lina Falk erupted for 25 points in that victory, highlighting a strong finish to her season. Falk averaged 17.2 points over her final five regular-season games, though she was held to 10 points in the loss at San Francisco last month. Her backcourt duel with Edokpaigbe will be a central storyline.

The Waves have been the more consistent team down the stretch, winning four of their last five, with the lone loss coming in San Francisco. Their defense, which held three of those final five opponents under 67 points, will be tested by Edokpaigbe’s hot hand.

According to Interstat’s ELO system, San Francisco holds a narrow projected win probability of 51.60%. Tipoff is set for Saturday, March 7, 2026, with the winner moving on to face the tournament’s top seed in the next round.