UP junior guard Laiken Dollente lands on the All-WCC First Team as a league-high five Pilots earn honors
SAN BRUNO, Calif. --- Portland Pilots head coach Jim Sollars is the 2009 West Coast Conference Coach of the Year, while junior guard Laiken Dollente was named to the all-conference first team. This is the fifth coach of the year honor for Sollars, which is the most in WCC history. Dollente was named to the All-WCC First Team as a freshman in 2007 and earned all-conference honorable mention last season.
Portland senior guard Karlie Burris, sophomore guard Tara Cronin and sophomore center Lauren Angel earned All-WCC Honorable Mention, while forward Alexis Gannis landed on the all-freshman team. The Pilots placed a league-high five players total on the all-conference teams.
Gonzaga’s Courtney Vandersloot was named the WCC Player of the Year, Louella Tomlinson of Saint Mary’s was voted the Defensive Player of the Year and LMU freshman Alex Cowling took home Newcomer of the Year honors.
This season, Sollars guided the Pilots to their most successful season in more than ten years. The Pilots, who are 17-12 overall and 10-4 in the WCC heading into this weekend’s conference tournament, are guaranteed their first winning season since 1998-99. That squad went 16-13 and advanced to the WNIT, Portland’s last postseason visit. The 17 wins are the most in a season since the Pilots went 19-9 in 1997-98.
Portland finished second in the WCC, its best conference finish since 1996-97 when the Pilots won the league regular season title with a perfect 14-0 record. The 10 conference wins are also the most for UP since that same year. The Pilots defeated every conference team this season and went a remarkable 6-1 in WCC road games.
Dollente leads the team and is sixth in the conference in scoring this year with a 15.1 points per game average. Earlier this season, she became the 18th player in program history to score 1,000 career points. The native of Yakima, Wash., currently ranks eighth all-time at UP with 1,329 career points.
Burris leads the team in steals and assists, with averages of 2.07 and 3.76 respectively. She ranks third in the WCC in assists and assist-turnover ratio (1.60). On the Portland career charts, she ranks seventh with 337 career assists. The Tucson, Ariz., native is also averaging 5.4 points and 3.4 rebounds per game.
Cronin is second on the team in scoring (9.3 ppg) and is Portland’s top rebounder (5.9 rpg). The native of Spokane, Wash., has two double-double’s this season and was named the WCC Player of the Week (Feb. 9) after scoring 22 points with 13 rebounds to help the Pilots win at Gonzaga.
Angel is third on the team in scoring with an 8.9 per game mark, while pulling down 3.5 boards per game. The Wollongong, Australia native has upped her game offensively during conference play by averaging 10.5 points in league contests.
Gannis, who leads the Pilots with a field goal percentage of .481, was named the WCC Player of the Week on Feb. 1 after a career performance during the previous weekend. During a 74-66 win at San Diego on Jan. 29, the Phoenix, Ariz., native shot a perfect nine of nine from the floor en route to a career high 20 points. Two days later she scored 13 points and grabbed a career-high eight rebounds during a 64-63 win at Saint Mary’s.
The Pilots are the No. 2 seed heading into the WCC Championships (March 6-9) at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. Portland automatically advances to the tournament’s semifinals, which are set for Sunday, March 8.
WCC Coach of the Year
Jim Sollars, Portland
Player of the Year
Courtney Vandersloot, Gonzaga
Defensive Player of the Year
Louella Tomlinson, Saint Mary’s
Newcomer of the Year
Alex Cowling, LMU
2009 All-Conference Team
Miranda Ayim, PEP - SO - F
Heather Bowman, GON - JR - F
Laiken Dollente, POR - JR - G
Vivian Frieson, GON - JR - F
Kiva Herman, USD - SR - F
Shay Rollins, USF - SR - G
Amber Sprague, USD - SR - C
Louella Tomlinson, SMC - SO - F
Courtney Vandersloot, GON - SO - G
Renahy Young, LMU - SO - G
Honorable Mention
LMU: Alex Cowling, Cassady Moore
POR: Lauren Angel, Karlie Burris, Tara Cronin
PEP: Nakeya Isabell, Jazmine Jackson
SCU: Lena Gipson
2009 All-Freshman Team
Kelly Bowen, GON - G
Dominque Connors, USD - G
Alex Cowling, LMU - F
Alexis Gannis, POR - F
Jazmine Jackson, PEP - G
