Complete Release (pdf)

at #19 GONZAGA BULLDOGS (19-3, 8-1 WCC)
Date: Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012
Tip-off: 6:00 p.m.
Location: Spokane, Wash.
Arena (Capacity): McCarthey Center (6,000)
Live Video/Audio: GoZags.com ($)
Live Stats: GoZags.com
 
POR vs. GON
Overall Series: 27-37
Here: 14-16
There: 10-19
Neutral: 3-2
Last 5/10: 0-5/1-9
Last 1: GON 80, @POR 65 (Dec. 29, 2011)
 
THIS WEEK
• The Portland Pilots travel to Spokane, Wash., this week for a West Coast Conference game against first-place and 19th-ranked Gonzaga on Thursday night at the McCarthey Center.
• Tip-off between the Pilots and Bulldogs is set for 6 p.m.
 
LAST WEEK
• The Pilots nearly came all the way back from a 16-point, second-half deficit against LMU on Saturday, but the Lions prevailed 68-60 in a WCC game at the Chiles Center.
• Portland pulled within four points with 2:45 left, but the Pilots couldn’t connect on the clutch shot down the stretch, and LMU made enough free throws to seal the win.
• Seniors Natalie Day and ReZina TecleMariam each scored 14 points to lead four Pilots in double figures.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Natalie Day was the WCC’s November Player of the Month and she’s been named the WCC’s Player of the Week three times.
• 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; Byrd missed matching a program record by one free throw.
• 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 24-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 1,157 points in 80 career games for the Pilots, and she ranks 13th 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 1,366 points between UP and Howard.
• Day also currently ranks seventh all-time at Portland in career scoring average (14.5 ppg), is eighth in career three-pointers made (107) and 10th in blocked shots (76).
• She is second in the WCC in scoring (18.2 ppg) and is third in rebounding (7.7 rpg).
 
THAT TOO IS A LOT OF POINTS
• ReZina TecleMariam is just nine points away from reaching the 1,000 career-point milestone; with 991 career points, Z currently ranks 22nd on the all-time charts.
• TecleMariam and Day would become the first UP teammates to reach 1,000 career points in the same season since Deanna Lansing and Wendy Toonen accomplished the feat in 1997.
• Additionally, the Pilots have had a winning record during each of TecleMariam’s three years on The Bluff, and she currently ranks fourth all-time at UP in career three-pointers made (129), while ranking sixth in assists (402), seventh in three-point percentage (.354) and 10th in steals (196) and free throw percentage (.756).
• Z is second in the WCC in assists (4.5 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 third on the team in scoring with a 9.3 points per game average, has upped her scoring to 11.6 points per contest during WCC games, and she’s averaging 14.1 points during Portland’s last seven games.
• She scored a career-high 20 points at SCU and has reached double figures 12 times.
• And after hitting just nine three-pointers as a freshman, CB has a team-best 33 three’s this year.
 
STEPPING IN
• Freshman Kari Luttinen has seen her playing time increase recently and she is making the most of her time.
• The guard out of Seattle, Wash., received her first three collegiate starts, and she responded by scoring 11, 13 and 13 against Saint Mary’s, San Francisco and San Diego, respectively.
• Luttinen is averaging 8.1 points during WCC games, and she’s putting up 11.2 points during Portland’s last five games.
 
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.