Box Score I
Photo Gallery
PORTLAND, Ore. --- Portland sophomore Kari Luttinen scored a game-high 18 points, junior Alexis Byrd added 17 and the Pilots cruised to an 88-51 win over the Concordia Cavaliers in a women’s basketball exhibition game played on Monday night at the Chiles Center. The game is Portland’s lone exhibition game and the Pilots are set to open the regular season at Cal State Northridge on Friday night.
Portland opened up a big lead in the first half against the Cavaliers as both Luttinen (10 points) and freshman Ellen Nurmi (10 points) reached double figures in scoring during the game’s first 20 minutes. Sophomore Jasmine Wooton gave the Pilots their first double-digit lead when she hit a pull-up jumper at the left elbow to make it 17-6.
Moments later, Luttinen made a steal and an uncontested coast-to-coast lay-up to hand the Pilots a 21-6 lead.
A lay-up from Byrd made it a 20-point game (28-8), and Nurmi and fellow Finnish freshman Annika Holopainen both drilled three-pointers late in the first half to push the lead to 32 points. The Pilots shot 52 percent as a team during the first half and entered the locker room with comfortable 44-10 lead.
It was more of the same in the second half, and when Luttinen committed two straight steals which led to two straight uncontested fast-break lay-ups the Pilots had pushed the lead to 56-19.
Luttinen was six of 12 from the field and hit one of her two three-pointers. Byrd added eight rebounds, while Wooton led the way with a game-high nine boards. Nurmi was 2-for-3 from behind the three-point arc, and Holopainen put up nine points with eight rebounds in her first collegiate action. Sophomore Cassandra Thompson chipped in nine points and seven rebounds.
The Pilots shot 44 percent for the game, while the Cavaliers hit 25 percent from the field. Malori Dixon had a team-high nine points for Concordia.
Portland’s game against the Matadors on Friday in Northridge, Calif., is scheduled for a 5:00 p.m. tip-off. The Pilots follow that game with a trip to Louisville, Ky., for a match-up against the No. 9 Louisville Cardinals on Sunday.
