Trakh the Dynasty Maker Building Foundation at Pepperdine

The numbers speak for themselves.

In 13 seasons as the girls’ basketball coach at Brea Olinda High in Orange County, Mark Trakh’s teams were 356-42 and won six Southern Section titles and four state championships.

He was in control of a dynasty with seemingly no end in sight.

Little wonder, then, that Trakh waffled on taking the Pepperdine women’s coaching job in 1993--first accepting the position, then rejecting it, then finally accepting it again.

“I was part of a community for 13 years and I was afraid to leave that comfort zone,” Trakh recalled. “I was going to go into the unexpected and the unknown.”

Three years later, the victories are not as plentiful as they once were for Trakh, 40, but the rewards are just as fulfilling.

Slowly but surely, Pepperdine has begun to show signs it is becoming a winner in Trakh’s third season at the helm. Despite a rash of injuries, the Waves (6-4) have won five of their last six games heading into a nonconference game at 7 tonight against San Diego State (7-2) at Firestone Fieldhouse.

Perhaps the highlight of the season, and Trakh’s tenure at Pepperdine, came last week when the Waves went down to the wire against visiting Kansas before losing, 60-59, on a last-second shot. Kansas was ranked in the national top 25 earlier this season.

“Good things can come from a game like that,” Trakh said. “It gives the kids confidence to see they can play against a top-25 team.”

For Trakh, the hard work involved in turning around a struggling program--the Waves have never won a conference title in women’s basketball--has rejuvenated his competitiveness. At Brea, where the Ladycats have lost only one league game since 1980, winning almost became too easy, he said.

“Coaching is more fun on this level because every game is a war,” he said. “At Brea, 90% of the games you don’t coach, you substitute.

“You’re not sharp, you don’t stay on top of your game. . . . I knew that I could work [at Brea] forever with no risks. But since there were no risks, you’re not really growing at all.”

At Pepperdine, Trakh said, “Fear is a great motivator.”

The fear of losing, that is. Trakh said he has received nothing but support from the Pepperdine athletic department after his teams were 13-13 and 10-16 in his first two seasons.

“The school has made a big-time commitment to women’s basketball,” he said. “It’s a great situation where you can build something. It would have been a mistake not coming here.”

Trakh believes Pepperdine’s recruiting success could make the Waves a contender for the West Coast Conference title next season, when they are planning to have 13 scholarship players. Among the newcomers in 1996-97 will be junior point guard Angie White, a touted transfer from Nevada Las Vegas.

This year’s promising freshman class has been nearly decimated by injuries. Forward Nikki Fields will use a redshirt year after undergoing back surgery Dec. 15. She will have four years of eligibility remaining. Center Jenny Frank is still recovering from a broken wrist suffered in the opener.

On the bright side, the Waves have received a big boost from freshman guard Samantha Rigley (Alemany High), who is averaging 11.2 points, third best on the team.

“We think we can get a lot of high school kids interested to go to Pepperdine,” Trakh said. “I read where [Cal State Northridge Coach] Michael Abraham wants to have an international flavor on his team. I feel if we can get it going, we can be an alternative to USC and UCLA someday in Southern California.

“All we need is one blue-chip kid to get it going. One of these days, we’ll sign one of those kids and I think it will open the doors.”

Until then, Trakh will keep knocking and hoping.

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Because of injuries, Pepperdine began the week with only seven healthy scholarship players.

Aside from the injuries to Fields and Frank, junior guard Jill Kennedy is out for the season after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery last week, and senior guard Beatrice Godoy is slowed by a strained Achilles’ tendon suffered against Kansas.

As if that wasn’t enough bad luck, Trakh watched one of his prized recruits go down with an injury in a game last week.

Trakh and assistant Greg Dinneen drove to San Diego on Friday to watch forward Jody Sackville, who signed with Pepperdine in November. Sackville, from Seattle, suffered a broken ankle only minutes into the contest.

“That was so weird, so strange,” Trakh said. “[Dinneen] just looked at me and said, ‘What is this?’ ”

Trakh and his staff were feeling better by Sunday, when Pepperdine shot 52% from three-point range in beating visiting Wyoming, 86-64. Rigley continued her impressive play with 21 points and five assists.

After tonight’s game against San Diego State, the Waves complete nonconference play Saturday night at 7:30 against visiting Idaho before beginning WCC play Jan. 12 against San Diego at Firestone Fieldhouse.

Pepperdine has been picked to finish fifth in a preseason poll of conference coaches.

“That’s about right,” Trakh said. “[But] we may surprise some people.”

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Guard Marques Johnson will miss the final nonconference game for the Pepperdine men’s basketball team Saturday because he will be attending his grandmother’s funeral in Alabama.

The Waves (7-4) will meet Boise State (3-7, they play Gonzaga tonight) at 5 p.m. in a game that will be televised by Prime Sports.

Johnson’s absence figures to hurt Pepperdine on two fronts. Not only is he the Waves’ top three-point shooter, making 43.5% of his attempts from beyond the arc and averaging 15.6 points, he is one of the team’s few decent free-throw shooters at 75.7%.

As a team, Pepperdine is making only 63.9% of its foul shots.