Saturday • Jan. 9 • 2:00 p.m. • Spokane, Wash. (McCarthey Center - 7,500)
Live Audio: PortlandPilots.com
Live Stats: GoZags.com
Series: GON leads 31-27
Last Season: GON 60, @POR 49 • POR 70, @GON 67
This Week in Pilots Basketball
The Portland Pilots (11-4, 0-0 WCC), who are off to the program’s best start since the 1996-97 season, open play in the West Coast Conference this week with a game against the Gonzaga Bulldogs (11-4, 0-0 WCC) in Spokane, Wash., on Saturday. The Pilots and Bulldogs, who both sit on top of the league standings with identical 11-4 non-conference records, are set to tip-off at 2:00 p.m. at the McCarthey Center.
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 games are $8. As usual, free audio streams and live stats are available at www.PortlandPilots.com.
Gonzaga will provide free live stats for Saturday’s game, while the University of Portland will offer a free audio broadcast. Links to both the live stats and live audio can be found at PortlandPilots.com.
A Brief Look Back
Portland concluded its non-conference schedule by going 2-1 on the road last week. On Tuesday, Dec. 29, the Pilots held Utah Valley to just 40 points and 27.8 percent shooting during a 78-40 rout in Orem, Utah. The win was Portland’s seventh straight, the program’s longest winning streak since the 1996-97 season. Senior Laiken Dollente notched her second career double-double with 19 points and 10 assists. She became the first Pilot since 2000 to hand out 10 assists in a game. Sophomore Alexis Gannis tallied her third double-double of the season with 10 points and a career-high 13 rebounds, while junior Jessica Clemens corralled a career-high 10 boards.
On Thursday, Dec. 31, the BYU Cougars ended UP’s seven-game winning streak with a 69-57 win in Provo, Utah. The Pilots bounced back with a dramatic 74-69 overtime win against the Seattle Redhawks in Seattle, Wash., on Sunday, Jan. 3. The Pilots overcame a 15-point deficit in the second half and junior Lauren Angel scored six points in overtime, including the go-ahead lay-up with 47 seconds left to play. Angel led five players in double figures with a team-high 16 points. Sophomore ReZina TecleMariam continued her solid sophomore season with 13 points, a game-high nine rebounds and seven assists, while committing just one turnover in 43 minutes of action.
About Gonzaga
Three of Gonzaga’s four losses this season have come against nationally ranked opponents. The Bulldogs are working off of two straight home wins against UC Irvine and UCSB. The Zags lead the WCC in scoring (77.5) and are led by senior post Heather Bowman (15.4 ppg), who is just 57 points away from becoming the league’s all-time leading scorer. Junior guard Courtney Vandersloot leads the nation in assists (9.3 apg). Former UP assistant coach Kelly Graves is in his 10th year at the helm of the GU program. The Zags, who have won or shared five straight WCC titles, returned 12 letterwinners and four starters from a team that was 27-7 last year and advanced to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament.
Pilots/Bulldogs Series
GU has won 16 of the last 17 meetings with UP and lead the all-time series 31-27. Gonzaga defeated the Pilots 60-49 at the Chiles Center last season before UP returned the favor with a 70-67 win in Spokane. Spokane native Tara Cronin led the Pilots with 22 points and 13 boards during the win.
A Brief Look Ahead
The Pilots return home to play their first home game in more than three weeks when they welcome the San Diego Toreros to town for a WCC tilt on Thursday, Jan. 14 at 7:00 p.m. The Saint Mary’s Gaels then visit on Saturday, Jan. 16 for a 2:00 p.m. game. Portland then heads back on the road for WCC games at LMU on Thursday, Jan. 21 and at Pepperdine on Saturday, Jan. 23.
Career Builder
With 11 points at Seattle on Sunday, Jan. 3, senior guard Laiken Dollente moved up to No. 3 all-time in career scoring at the University of Portland. Now with 1,612 career points, Dollente surpassed Khalila O’Rielly-Williams (1,602) on the list and she sits behind only Martha Sheldon (1,953) and UP’s all-time overall leading scorer Lorena Legarde (2,568). Sheldon (1988-92) is Portland’s all-time leading scorer at the NCAA Division I level as Legarde’s (1981-85) career took place when UP was still competing as an NAIA school.
Dollente, a native of Yakima, Wash., also currently ranks first all-time at UP in free throw shooting (.879) and three-point accuracy (.414), is second in free throws (499) and three-pointers made (183), is fifth in career points per game (15.2) and is eighth in assists (339). She recently cracked the top 10 in field goals made with 465 career makes, which rank tenth.
The Laik Show
This season, Dollente is scoring, spreading the wealth and crashing the glass. She leads the team and ranks second in the WCC in both scoring (16.4 ppg) and assists (5.2 apg). She also leads the league in free throw percentage (.926) and three-point percentage (.484), while ranking fifth and 13th nationally, respectively.
Dollente is averaging a career-best 4.3 rebounds per game and her 31 points against Montana State on Dec. 21 are the most scored in a game by a WCC player this season. It’s the third time in her career to score at least 30 points and the first since scoring 30 at San Francisco on Jan. 27, 2007. Dollente’s career high of 32 points came at Portland State on Dec. 9, 2006.
She also handed out a career-high 10 assists during the win at Utah Valley on Dec. 29, becoming the first UP player to dish 10 assists in a game since Trisha Felts accomplished the feat on Feb. 26, 2000.
Dollente has been named the West Coast Conference Player of the Week twice this season.
To New Beginnings
Portland’s 11-4 start is the program’s best beginning to a season since the 1996-97 squad raced out to a 14-1 record after 15 games. That team finished 27-3 on the season and advanced to the First Round of the NCAA Tournament.
500 and Counting
Head coach Jim Sollars notched career win No. 500 when the Pilots defeated the Idaho Vandals 67-56 on Nov. 11 in Moscow, Idaho. In 34-plus years as a head women’s basketball coach, Sollars has compiled 505 wins at three different schools. He began his head coaching career in 1976 at Wenatchee Valley Community College, where he tallied 154 wins in seven years. During three years (1983-86) at the helm of Portland State, Sollars added 23 more wins to the resume before moving to The Bluff. While at UP, the native of Longview, Wash., has posted 328 wins. He’s 505-433 (.538) overall, 351-408 (.462) at the NCAA Division I level and 328-351 (.483) at Portland.
He’s easily the most winningest coach in UP program history and with 142 West Coast Conference wins, Sollars has won more WCC games than any other coach in the 22-year history of the conference. During the 2007-08 season, Sollars picked up his record-breaking 130th WCC win against Saint Mary’s on Feb. 2, moving him past former USF head coach Mary Hile-Nepfel for first place on the league’s all-time list.
On Point
It’s no secret that Portland’s recent success has coincided with the improved and consistent play of sophomore point guard ReZina TecleMariam. Z is averaging career bests of 8.2 points per game, 6.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists. After grabbing nine rebounds during UP’s win at Idaho (Dec. 11), the native of Puyallup, Wash., ripped down a career-high 11 boards in the victory at Washington State (Dec. 13). She had 10 rebounds by halftime against the Cougars and she scored a career-high 18 points during a 98-63 win over Sacramento State on Nov. 22.
Perhaps her most impressive stat-lines were at Idaho (10 pts, 9 rebs, 6 assts, 0 TO’s, 40 mins) and at Seattle (13 pts, 9 rebs, 7 assts, 1 TO, 43 mins).
Seize the Day
Before the season began, the NCAA waived its one-year residence requirement for sophomore transfer Natalie Day and she is taking full advantage. Day is second on the Pilots in scoring with a 12.4 per game mark, while averaging 4.1 rebounds per game. She has scored in double figures 10 times this season, including a current run of six straight games, and she poured in a career-high 19 points at Air Force on Nov. 20. She drained five three-pointers during the win over the Falcons.
The guard/forward from Germantown, Md., transferred to UP from Howard University and was expected to sit out the entire year. She has three years of eligibility remaining.
A Career Year
Junior post Lauren Angel, who ranks third on the ream in scoring (11.9 ppg), has been a steady presence down low for the Pilots. She’s scored in double figures 11 times this season, while she scored eight points in the other four games. Angel, a native of Wollongong, Australia, has matched career highs this season in points (18 vs. Portland State) and assists (3 vs. Pacific) while setting career highs in rebounds (11 vs. Utah State), steals (4 vs. Utah State) and blocks (4 vs. Sacramento State). She also recorded her first career double-double with 15 points and 11 boards against Utah State on Nov. 16.
Alexis: The Pursuit of Perfection
After earning WCC All-Freshman honors last season, sophomore forward Alexis Gannis has taken her game to a new level. Gannis has reached double figures in rebounding five times this season and she dropped a career-high 21 points against Eastern Washington on Nov. 14. The native of Phoenix, Ariz., has also recorded her first three career double-doubles with 10 points and 12 boards at Air Force (Nov. 20), 19 points and 10 rebounds against Portland State (Nov. 24) and 10 points and a career-high 13 rebounds at Utah Valley (Dec. 29).
She currently ranks third in the West Coast Conference with a 8.1 per game mark and she is fourth on the team in scoring (9.6 ppg).
WCC Coaches Pick Pilots to Finish Fourth
Portland senior guard Laiken Dollente was voted to the WCC’s Preseason All-Conference team, while Gonzaga was chosen as the favorite to claim the West Coast Conference women’s basketball title for the second straight year in the 2009-10 preseason coaches poll. The Pilots were picked to finish fourth.
Nearly a Chalupa
Portland just missed reaching the century mark for the first time in 12 years when it defeated the Sacramento State Hornets 98-63 at the Chiles Center on Nov. 22. The point total is the highest for the Pilots since a 107-74 win over Idaho on Jan. 4, 1997, while it’s the first time scoring 90 points since 2003. It’s also the highest point total in the WCC this season.
Five Pilots reached double figures during the win, with Dollente leading the way with 19 points. UP outscored Sac State 55-33 during the second half.
Two Sports? No Problem
Junior Jessica Clemens is now in her third year as a two-sport athlete at the University of Portland. Clemens, who is an outside hitter on the UP volleyball team, joined the Pilots in early December and is averaging career bests of 5.2 points and 5.0 rebounds in 10 games. Clemens has also made five starts for the Pilots and she recorded a career high with 10 rebounds against Utah Valley on Dec. 29.
