Wednesday • Nov. 26, 2008 • 7:00 p.m.
Portland, Ore. (Stott Center - 1,500)
Live Video: bigskytv.org
Live Stats: goviks.com
Series: POR leads 23-20
Last Meeting: PSU 80, POR 71 (Nov. 20, 2008 - Chiles Center)
Pilots (2-3) vs. Sacramento St. (1-3)
Sunday • Nov. 30, 2008 • 2:00 p.m.
Portland, Ore. (Chiles Center - 4,852)
Live Video: pilotsvideo.com
Live Audio/Stats: portlandpilots.com
Series: POR leads 3-1
Last Meeting: POR 74, SAC 61 (Dec. 30, 2008 - Sacramento, Calif.)
This Week in Pilots Basketball
After opening with five games outside the state of Oregon, the Portland Pilots (2-3) finally play a game in the Rose City as they head across town to face the Portland State Vikings (2-1) at the Stott Center on Wednesday. The Pilots and Vikings are set to tip-off at 7:00 p.m. Portland then plays its first home game of the season on Sunday, when the Sacramento State Hornets (1-3) visit the Chiles Center for a 2:00 p.m. game.
Game Coverage
All women’s basketball home games are video streamed live at www.pilotsvideo.com. A season pass is available for $50, while single-game are $8. As usual, free audio streams and live stats are available at www.portlandpilots.com.
A Brief Look Back
The Pilots went 1-2 last week on a road trip that took them across the country. On Thursday, the 21st-ranked Purdue Boilermakers defeated Portland 70-50 in front of almost 9,000 fans in West Lafayette, Ind. Junior guard Laiken Dollente scored a game-high 19 points for the Pilots.
On Saturday, the Pilots took Providence to overtime before falling 68-61 on the first day of the Hawkeye Challenge in Iowa City, Iowa. Dollente once again scored 19 points, while senior Karlie Burris and sophomore Tara Cronin each grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.
The Pilots then concluded play in Iowa City with a 74-62 win over Boston University on Sunday. Dollente scored a game-high 27 points to lead four Pilots in double figures. She also handed out seven assists. Senior center Carly Koebel had a career day against the Terriers with 10 points, seven rebounds and six blocked shots.
About Portland State
The Vikings are coming off an 82-77 loss in overtime at Syracuse last weekend. PSU has posted wins over BYU (73-64) and Binghamton (62-52). Senior wing Kelsey Kahle leads four Vikings averaging double figures in scoring with a 14.3 per game mark. Junior guard Claire Faucher, who played high school ball with Laiken Dollente, led the nation in assists last year and is averaging almost seven assists per game this season. Sherri Murrell is in her 14th season as head coach at PSU. Murrell guided the Vikings to a 22-9 record last season. 11 letterwinners and four starters returned this year.
Pilots/Vikings Series
Portland State defeated UP 80-71 at the Chiles Center last year, but the Pilots still lead the all-time series 23-20. Portland has won 13 of the last 16 meetings and is 8-8 all-time against the Vikings at PSU.
About Sacramento State
The Hornets, who are set to play at San Jose State on Friday, lost 74-68 to Fresno State on Sunday. Sac State’s lone win this season was a 62-52 win at Santa Clara. The Hornets opened the season with losses to UNLV and Oregon State. Junior forward Charday Hunt leads the team in scoring with a 13.8 points per game average. Junior forward Erika Edwards is the leading rebounder at 8.5 boards per game. Head coach Dan Muscatell is in his sixth year at the helm of the Sacramento State program. The Hornets returned nine letterwinners and all five starters from a team that went 6-22 last season.
Pilots/Hornets Series
Portland has won three of four meetings all-time against the Hornets, with Sac State’s lone win coming in Sacramento, Calif., in 2006. Last season, the Pilots defeated the Hornets 74-61 in Sacramento.
A Brief Look Ahead
Portland opens the month of December with a home game against Seattle on Sunday, Dec. 7 at 2:00 p.m. at the Chiles Center. The Pilots then return to the road for games at Montana on Dec. 13 and at Eastern Washington on Dec. 15.
1,000 Points of Light
Junior Laiken Dollente enters Wednesday night’s game at PSU just four points away from reaching 1,000 points for her career. The guard from Yakima, Wash., has scored 996 points during her two-year, five-game career. Dollente will become the 18th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point mark and the first since Whitney Grant concluded her career in 2006 with 1,138 points. Lorena Legarde (1981-85) is Portland’s all-time leading scorer with 2,568 points. Martha Sheldon (1988-1992), who racked up 1,953 career points, is UP’s all-time leading NCAA DI scorer, as Portland competed at the NAIA level during Legarde’s career.
The Century Club x 2
The next win at the Chiles Center will be Portland’s 200th all-time. In the 24-year history of the facility, the Pilots have compiled a 199-116 record for a winning percentage of .631. Portland will get its first shot at win number 200 on Nov. 30 against the Sacramento State Hornets. The Pilots went 9-6 at the friendly confines last season.
Assaulting the UP Record Books
In her third season on The Bluff, junior guard Laiken Dollente has already established herself as one of the most prolific scorers in program history. As a sophomore, she led the Pilots and ranked seventh in the WCC in scoring with a 14.6 points per game mark, scored in double figures in all but seven games, scored at least 20 points eight times and led the Pilots in scoring 18 times. Dollente also finished second in the nation and set a UP single-season record in free throw shooting, hitting 139 of 152 (.914) from the line.
Dollente has been a scoring machine this season, leading the Pilots in points every game this season. She is averaging 20.8 points per game and dropped 27 on Boston during a win last Sunday. She currently ranks second in the conference in scoring.
Dollente is just four points shy of 1,000 for her career. She also ranks first all-time at UP in free throw shooting (.892) and three-point accuracy (.415), ranks fourth in free throws made (332) and ranks fifth in career points per game (15.3) and three-pointers made (108).
Among the Conference Elite
Junior Laiken Dollente, who ranks second in the WCC in scoring with a 20.8 points per game average, is one of a handful of Pilots making an appearance among the conference’s statistical leaders. Dollente also ranks second in free throw accuracy (.833) and is fifth in assists per game (3.2). Senior Karlie Burris is sixth (2.8) in assists. Sophomore guard Tara Cronin has been a rebounding force this season and ranks fifth in the WCC in boards per game (8.0). Cronin, who ranks fourth in free throw percentage (.783), is tied with Burris for fifth in steals per game with a 2.2 average. Burris is also the third most accurate three-point shooter with a .545 percentage, while senior Carly Koebel is second in blocks per game (2.7).
Portland, which set a program record and ranked tenth in the country last season in free throw accuracy, once again leads the conference in free throws with a percentage of .711.
A Rough Road
Portland head coach Jim Sollars calls this season’s schedule one of the most difficult in program history. The Pilots open the year with six straight games away from the friendly confines of the Chiles Center. Included in those six games are trips to Boise State, Purdue and Iowa, who all reached the postseason last year. Purdue is currently ranked 19th in the Associated Press Preseason Poll.
After the brutal stretch of six straight games on the road, Portland still has to face perennial powers Montana and Oregon in December. January brings one more non-conference game (BYU) before the Pilots open WCC play against four-time defending regular season league champion Gonzaga.
Montana and Gonzaga are both receiving votes in the AP or ESPN/USA Today Coaches preseason polls.
WCC Coaches Pick Pilots to Finish Seventh
The Gonzaga Bulldogs were chosen as the favorite to win their fifth straight WCC women’s basketball regular season title. Loyola Marymount received one first place vote and totaled 40 points to come in at second in the voting. The Pilots were tabbed to finish seventh, while junior guard Laiken Dollente was voted to the WCC’s preseason all-conference team.
