Date: Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011
Location: Portland, Ore.
Tip: 7:00 p.m.
Arena: Chiles Center (4,852)
Series: POR leads 31-26
Last Meeting: POR 65, @USD 60 (Jan. 27, 2011)
PORTLAND PILOTS (15-12, 6-6) vs. SAINT MARY’S GAELS (17-10, 9-3)
Date: Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011
Location: Portland, Ore.
Tip: 2:00 p.m.
Arena: Chiles Center (4,852)
Series: SMC leads 30-20
Last Meeting: @SMC 78, POR 76 (Jan. 29, 2011)
This Week in Pilots Basketball
The Portland Pilots (15-12, 6-6 WCC) wrap-up the regular season this week with a pair of West Coast Conference games against the San Diego Toreros (14-12, 4-8 WCC) and the Saint Mary’s Gaels (17-10, 9-3 WCC) at the Chiles Center. Thursday’s tip-off against the Toreros is set for 7:00 p.m., while Saturday’s game with the Gaels will start at 2:00 p.m.
Saturday is UP’s annual Pink Zone game, when fans are encouraged to wear pink in support of breast cancer awareness. Any fan wearing pink will get into the game for free. Saturday is also senior day, as Portland’s Lauren Angel, Jessica Clemens, Tara Cronin and Egle Karolyte will be honored with a pre-game ceremony.
A Brief Look Back
Last week the Pilots went on the road and split two WCC games in the Bay Area. On Thursday night, UP junior Natalie Day just missed a career high with 27 points and grabbed 10 boards for her third straight double-double as the Pilots defeated the San Francisco Dons 69-55 at War Memorial Gym. Portland also got double-digit performances from ReZina TecleMariam and Alexis Byrd, who each had 10 points. Tara Cronin missed matching a career high in boards by one, finishing with a game-high 12 rebounds.
Day registered her fourth straight double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds on Saturday, but the Pilots would fall 77-55 to the Santa Clara Broncos at the Leavey Center. Day became the first player to record four straight double-doubles for the Pilots since Tami Standish in 2000.
The Toreros have won three out of their last five games. Last weekend, USD dropped a 77-69 decision to the Saint Mary’s Gaels in Moraga. Senior forward Emily Hatch led the Torero offense with 18 points and 11 rebounds against SMC. Three Toreros are averaging double figures in scoring, led by junior guard Dominique Conners at 14.0 points per game. Hatch is nearly averaging a double-double with per game marks of 9.5 points and 9.7 rebounds, which ranks second in the WCC. Head coach Cindy Fisher is in her sixth season at the helm of USD. Last season the Toreros went 15-14 overall and finished fifth in the WCC with a 7-7 league mark. Four starters returned.
All-Time Series
Overall: POR leads 31-26
Here: POR leads 16-8 (Neutral POR 5-2)
There: USD leads 16-10 (last UP W in 2010)
First Meeting: @POR 63, USD 49 (1983)
Last Meeting: POR 65, @USD 60 (1/27/11)
Last 5: USD 3-2
About Saint Mary’s
The Gaels have won four straight games and nine of their last 11. Most recently, Saint Mary’s defeated San Diego 77-69 at home. Junior guard Jasmine Smith, who ranks third in the WCC in scoring with an average of 17.0 points per game, scored 31 points against the Toreros. Senior post Louella Tomlinson continues to lead the nation in blocked shots (5.1 bpg) and is currently tied for the NCAA career triple-doubles record. She’s also averaging 14.1 points and 9.6 rebounds. Paul Thomas is in his fifth year as head coach at SMC. The Gaels went 21-10 last season and advanced to the WNIT after finishing second in the WCC with a 12-2 league mark. 12 letterwinners and four starters returned.
All-Time Series
Overall: SMC leads 30-20
Here: POR leads 13-10 (Neutral SMC 2-1)
There: SMC leads 18-6 (last UP W in 2009)
First Meeting: POR 71, @SMC 63 (1987)
Last Meeting: @SMC 78, POR 76 (1/29/11)
Last 5: SMC 3-2
A Brief Look Ahead
Next week the Pilots will head to Las Vegas, Nev., for the 2011 West Coast Conference Basketball Championships at the Orleans Arena. The tournament begins on Friday, March 4 and will conclude with the title game on Monday, March 7.
The Pilots are asking you to join the global, unified effort to raise breast cancer awareness and funding at its annual “Pink Zone” game, which is set for Saturday against Saint Mary’s. Fans are encouraged to join the Pilots and Gaels in wearing pink to the game. All fans wearing pink will receive free entry into the game.
The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association began the WBCA Pink Zone, formerly known as “Think Pink”, in 2007 as an initiative to raise breast cancer awareness in women’s basketball, on campuses and in communities. In 2010, over 1,800 participants came together to surpass $1,045,000 in donations and reach more than 922,000 fans across the nation.
The University will also use the game against the second-place Gaels as a chance to “Pack the House”, a national competition aimed to promote women’s basketball attendance and awareness. The goal is to set a season-high in attendance at a UP women’s basketball game.
Whelp... See You Later
Saturday marks the final regular season appearance at the Chiles Center for Portland’s four seniors. Lauren Angel, Jessica Clemens, Tara Cronin and Egle Karolyte will be honored with a pre-game ceremony. This senior class has helped lead the resurgence of women’s basketball on The Bluff, increasing their win total each of their first three years with the Pilots. Portland has also been to the post-season two years running, an accomplishment not matched since the mid 1990’s.
Double Down
Natalie Day’s career with the Pilots continues to become more and more impressive as the junior wing is the first UP player to record four straight double-doubles since 2000. Day, who is averaging 23.3 points and 11.5 rebounds during the past four games, is also just the third Pilot to register four straight double-doubles since UP began competing at the NCAA Division I level in 1986. Tami Standish was the last Pilot to accomplish the feat during the 1999-2000 season, while Amy Claboe did it twice during the 1994-95 campaign.
During her current streak, Day has scored a season-high in points (27 at USF) and grabbed a career-high in rebounds (16 vs. Pepperdine). She now has six total double-doubles on the season.
Books Smarts
Senior guard Tara Cronin was selected to the 2010-11 Capital One Academic All-District 8 Women’s Basketball First Team, which was released by CoSIDA. Cronin, who earned academic all-region third team honors as a sophomore, is now eligible to earn Academic All-America. Cronin, a native of Spokane, Wash., is a mechanical engineering major with a 3.70 GPA. She’s the first academic all-region first team selection for Portland since Whitney Grant in 2006.
A Little Something for the Effort
Junior guard ReZina TecleMariam was named the WCC’s Co-Player of the Week (Jan. 24) after helping lead the Pilots to a pair of home wins. TecleMariam, who averaged 17.5 points and 7.0 rebounds per game during the week, shared the honor with Gonzaga’s Courtney Vandersloot. TecleMariam also averaged 3.5 assists and 5.0 steals as the Pilots defeated San Francisco 74-57 on Jan. 20 and Santa Clara 70-62 on Jan. 22. She shot 11-for-17 (.647) overall, hit six of nine (.667) on three-pointers and went 7-for-8 at the foul line.
Career Building
Senior guard Tara Cronin has put together a remarkable career on The Bluff as she is close to becoming just the 19th player in UP program history to reach 1,000 career points. The native of Spokane, Wash., currently has 960 career points, which ranks 20th all-time at UP and is the fourth most scored by any Portland player since 2000. With at least three more games left to play this season, Cronin would need to average at least 13.3 points per game the rest of the way to reach the career milestone.
Cronin (9.1 ppg) is currently third in overall scoring for the Pilots, while she’s averaging 10.3 points per contest during WCC games. She’s also averaging 3.3 assists and 4.4 rebounds per game and is shooing .824 from the foul line. Cronin corralled a season-high 12 rebounds at San Francisco last Thursday, which missed matching her career high by one board.
Natalie Day, a junior from Germantown, Md., who leads the Pilots in scoring and rebounding, is dropping double-doubles like there’s no tomorrow. The wing has recorded four straight double-doubles, averaged 23.3 points and 11.5 rebounds during that span. During Portland’s improbable double-overtime win over Pepperdine on Feb. 10, she scored 23 points and grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds. Last Thursday, Day scored 27 points during a win at San Francisco, which was just one point shy of matching her career high.
Day ranks sixth in the WCC in scoring (14.3 ppg) and seventh in rebounding (6.6 rpg), she’s scored in double figures during 19 of 27 games and she’s reached at least 25 points four times.
On Point
Junior ReZina TecleMariam, who recently nabbed the WCC’s Co-Player of the Week honor, has played both guard positions this season and has been perhaps Portland’s most consistent player. TecleMariam, who is second on the team in scoring (11.7 ppg), has two games with 10 assists and is second in the WCC in assists per game (5.2). Against Washington State on Nov. 18, Z registered her first career double-double with 16 points and 10 assists. She nearly posted back-to-back double-doubles in unorthodox style, putting up 16 points and a career-best seven steals against Air Force on Nov. 20. At Saint Mary’s on Jan. 29, TecleMariam set another milestone with a career-high 23 points.
TecleMariam has stepped up her play during the conference slate, averaging 12.3 points per contest.
He Keeps Going... And Going... And Going...
Portland’s game against Oregon on Nov. 22 was Jim Sollars’ 700th game as UP’s head coach, while last week’s game at USF was his 800th at the NCAA Division I level. In 25-plus years, Coach has compiled a 350-372 (.485) overall record with the Pilots. .
Last season, coach Sollars notched career win No. 500 when the Pilots defeated the Idaho Vandals 67-56 on Nov. 11 in Moscow, Idaho. In 35-plus years as a head women’s basketball coach, Sollars has compiled 527 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.
With 155 WCC wins, Sollars has won more league games than any other coach in the 23-year history of the conference.
Up, Up Here We Go
Freshman point guard Alexis Byrd has been playing like a veteran during the second half of the season as her minutes increase seemingly every week. The native of Las Vegas, Nev., who is averaging 6.2 points overall, is just shy of averaging in double figures during WCC games with a per game mark of 9.8 points. She’s reached double figures five times this season, all coming during league games, and she notched a career-high 19 points at Saint Mary’s on Jan. 29. She also has season bests of six assists (at LMU on Jan. 13), seven rebounds (at USF on Feb. 17) and five steals (vs. Idaho on Dec. 30).
The Record Books
Senior Tara Cronin currently ranks 20th all-time in scoring at Portland with 950 career points. She also recently climbed to third all-time in career free throw percentage (.798), ranks sixth in career three-pointers made (104), eighth in three-point percentage (.349) and tenth in assists (310).
Junior Alexis Gannis is fourth all-time with a career field goal percentage of .497, while junior ReZina TecleMariam’s career three-point percentage of .365 ranks fifth and her 89 three-pointers are good for seventh. Natalie Day is ninth in career free throw percentage (.760), while her career average of 12.8 points per game is tenth all-time.
For Openers
The Pilots opened the season at 4-0 for just the third time in program history and for the first time since 2001-02. UP also won its first six games on the road to open with a 6-0 record away from the Chiles Center for the first time in program history.
20/20
During Portland’s 91-80 win over Washington State on Nov. 18, juniors Natalie Day and Nakeisha Brown became to first UP teammates to score at least 20 points in the same game since 2005. Day scored 25 against the Cougars, while Brown registered a career-high 22. During a win against UC Davis on Nov. 27, 2005, Whitney Grant (25) and Rose Sauer (20) both reached the 20-point mark.
WCC Coaches Pick Pilots to Finish Fifth
The Gonzaga Bulldogs were chosen as the favorites to claim the West Coast Conference women’s basketball title for the third straight year, while the Portland Pilots were picked to finish fifth in the 2010-11 preseason coaches poll. The Pilots are coming off an 18-win season and will be looking to make their third straight trip to the post-season.
Social Networking
Fans can now follow the Portland Pilots like never before. Just visit Twitter (@PortlandPilots), facebook (facebook.com/PortlandPilots) and YouTube (youtube.com/UPPurplePride) for access to everything Pilots.
Virtually Awesome
The University of Portland also unveiled online Virtual Guides for the 2010-11 season. The University teamed with Pursuant Sports for production of the new guides, which includes an All-Sports Guide as well as sport-specific guides for men’s and women’s basketball and both soccers. The Virtual Guides are another resource for fans, media and recruits to learn about University of Portland Athletics, its rich history, and to hear from coaches and administrators on campus. The addition of extensive video interviews and highlights has been incorporated into the new Virtual Guides, which can be accessed through PortlandPilots.com.
