Complete Release (pdf)
PORTLAND PILOTS (8-12, 1-5 WCC)
at SAN DIEGO TOREROS (12-4, 3-1 WCC)
Date: Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012
Tip-off: 6:00 p.m.
Location: San Diego, Calif.
Arena (Capacity): Jenny Craig Pavilion (5,100)
Live TV: CBS College Sports
Live Online Video/Stats: USDToreros.com
POR vs. USD
Overall Series: 31-27
Here: 16-10
There: 10-15
Neutral: 5-2
Last 5/10: 2-3/4-6
2011: POR 65, @USD 60 (1/27); USD 78, @POR 77 (2/24)
PORTLAND PILOTS (8-12, 1-5 WCC)
at BRIGHAM YOUNG COUGARS (16-3, 5-1 WCC)
Date: Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012
Tip-off: 1:00 p.m. (Pacific)
Location: Provo, Utah
Arena (Capacity): Marriott Center (22,700)
Live TV: BYUtv
Live Audio: PortlandPilots.com
Live Stats: BYUCougars.com
POR vs. BYU
Overall Series: 4-9
Here: 2-5
There: 2-3
Neutral: 0-1
Last 5/10: 0-5/3-7
Last 1: BYU 79, @POR 53 (1/2/12)
THIS WEEK
• The Pilots play a pair of nationally televised games this week as they travel to San Diego, Calif., and Provo, Utah, for West Coast Conference contests against the San Diego Toreros and Brigham Young Cougars.
• Thursday night’s game against the Toreros at the Jenny Craig Pavilion is set for a 6 p.m. tip-off and will be shown live on the CBS College Sports Network.
• BYUtv will carry Saturday’s game against BYU at the Marriott Center, which is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. (Pacific).
LAST WEEK
• The Pilots overcame injuries to leading scorers and seniors Natalie Day and ReZina TecleMariam to earn a split at home against Saint Mary’s and San Francisco.
• On Thursday night, the short-handed Pilots gave the first-place Gaels all they could handle before SMC prevailed 75-71; sophomore Cassandra Brown led five Pilots in double figures with 15 points.
• Day returned on Saturday to score a game-high 24 points as the Pilots rallied past the Dons 78-76; Brown added 18 points, and freshman Kari Luttinen scored a career-high 13.
• Natalie Day is the WCC’s November Player of the Month and she has nabbed three WCC Player of the Week Awards.
• Alexis Byrd set a facility record by making all 11 free throws during a game against Portland State at the Chiles Center on Nov. 25.
• The Pilots have posted three straight winning seasons.
• Portland has been to the post-season during two of the past three seasons, going to the WNIT in 2009 and the inaugural WBI in 2010.
• UP was selected to finish sixth in the WCC this year, while Day and ReZina TecleMariam were voted to the pre-season all-conference team.
• Head coach Jim Sollars has more WCC wins (156) than any other coach in the 23-year history of the league, has compiled 358 career wins at UP and has been named league coach of the year an unprecedented five times.
#1,000
• Long-time Portland head coach Jim Sollars, who is in his 26th year at the helm of the Pilots, coached in his 1,000th career game at Santa Clara on Jan. 5.
• Sollars had stops at Wenatchee CC (seven years) and Portland State (three years) before settling in at UP.
• Sollars has more WCC wins (156) than any other coach in the 23-year history of the league, has compiled 358 career wins at UP and has been named league coach of the year an unprecedented five times.
• He has 535 wins total, he’s led the Pilots to three WCC titles and one WCC Tournament title, and he’s guide Portland to four NCAA Tournaments.
A NOVEMBER TO REMEMBER
• Natalie Day, who averaged 20.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game during November, was named the WCC Player of the Month.
• Day, who also nabbed all three league player of the week awards handed out in November, became the first UP player to be named the conference’s player of the month since Jamie Medley earned that distinction in February 2005.
• The native of Germantown, Md., shot 54.9 percent from the field, scored at least 20 points four times, and she had a game with 19 rebounds, which are the most by a Pilot during a single game since 1998.
THAT’S A LOT OF POINTS
• Day, who began her collegiate career at Howard before transferring to UP prior to the 2009-10 season, became Portland’s 20th 1,000-point scorer during the win over Cal State Northridge on Dec. 21.
• The senior forward has now scored 1,111 points in 77 career games for the Pilots, and she ranks 15th all-time in scoring at UP.
• Day, who scored 209 points as a freshman with the Bison, actually become a career 1,000-point scorer earlier this season, and she’s now scored a total of 1,320 points between UP and Howard.
• Day also currently ranks seventh all-time at Portland in career scoring average (14.4 ppg), is eighth in career three-pointers made (101) and 10th in blocked shots (75).
• She currently ranks second in WCC in both scoring (18.7 ppg) and rebounding (7.8 rpg).
THAT TOO IS A LOT OF POINTS
• Senior ReZina TecleMariam is also on pace to reach 1,000 career points this season as the native of Puyallup, Wash., currently sits at 962 career points.
• TecleMariam and Day would become the first Pilot teammates to reach 1,000 career points in the same season since Deanna Lansing and Wendy Toonen accomplished the feat back in 1997.
• Additionally, the Pilots have had a winning record during each of TecleMariam’s three years on The Bluff, and she is currently ranks fourth all-time at UP in career three-pointers made (124), while ranking seventh in three-point percentage (.351), eighth in assists (395) and 10th in steals (195).
• Z is second in the WCC in assists (4.8 apg), has four games with at least 20 points and she had 20 points and 10 assists against Boise State (Dec. 19) for her third career double-double.
$$$$$$$$$$$
• Against Portland State on Nov. 25, sophomore Alexis Byrd set a new Chiles Center record by going a perfect 11-for-11 at the free throw line.
• The 11 free throws without a miss tops the previous Chiles Center record by one; former Portland stand-out Laiken Dollente went 10-for-10 at the line in 2009, while Cal Poly’s Bria Fields accomplished the feat in 2006.
• Byrd scored a career-high 21 points against the Vikings.
STEPPING UP
• Portland sophomore Cassandra Brown appears to be hitting her stride in her second season on The Bluff.
• Brown, who is averaging 8.9 points per game this season, has upped her scoring to 11.2 points per contest during WCC games, and she’s averaging 15.5 points during Portland’s last four games.
• She scored a career-high 20 points at Santa Clara and has reached double figures 10 times.
A NEW LOOK
• For the first time in more than 30 years, the West Coast Conference has a new member as Brigham Young University formally joined the WCC last summer.
• With the change in membership, the WCC launched its new brand identity with a new logo.
THE BLOGGER... OR BLOGGERS
• The Pilots will combine efforts this year on a season-long blog, as members of the team and coaching staff will take turns sharing their thoughts on the season.
• Visit, and make sure to bookmark, PortlandPilots.com/WBBblog.
