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PORTLAND PILOTS (5-7, 0-0 WCC)
vs. PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (6-4, 0-0 Big Sky)
Date: Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012
Tip-off: 5:15 p.m.
Location: Portland, Ore.
Arena (Capacity): Chiles Center (4,852)
Video/Audio (free): PilotsVideo.com
Stats: PortlandPilots.com
POR vs. PSU
Overall Series: 25-24
Here: 15-9
There: 9-13
Unknown: 1-2
Last 5/10: 2-3/4-6
Last 1: @PSU 64, POR 49 (Dec. 2, 2012)
THIS WEEK
• The Portland Pilots, who have won four straight games, return to action this weekend when they host cross-town rival Portland State on Saturday at the Chiles Center.
• Tip-off for the Pilots and Vikings is set for 5:15 p.m., and the game is the first half of a double-header with the UP men.
• Next week the Pilots open play in the West Coast Conference when Santa Clara visits the Chiles Center on Thursday, Jan. 3.
LAST WEEK
• Sophomore guard and reigning two-time WCC Player of the Week Kari Luttinen scored a game-high 22 points and the Pilots clamped down defensively to claim a 68-49 win over the Oregon Ducks on Friday, Dec. 21 at the Chiles Center for Portland’s fourth straight W.
• Portland held the up-temp Ducks to just 14 second-half points and the Pilots ended the game with a 19-3 run that covered the final 12 and a half minutes.
• The Pilots also turned the ball over a season-low 10 times, compared to 25 miscues for the Ducks, and registered a sizeable 24-3 advantage in points off of turnovers.
• The win is just the fifth for Portland over Oregon in 29 all-time meetings.
• Luttinen was named the WCC Player of the Week for the second consecutive week following her 22-point outburst.
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Sophomore guard Kari Luttinen is the reigning two-time WCC Player of the Week.
• Portland’s game against Boston College on Nov. 24 marked the 1,000th game in the history of the women’s basketball program, which dates back to 1977-78; the Pilots, who jumped from NAIA to NCAA Division I in 1986, have an all-time record of 535-471 (.533).
• Portland does not have one senior on its roster.
• Three of Portland’s five freshmen originally hail from overseas, with Ellen Nurmi and Annika Holopainen both coming to The Bluff from Finland; Sara Ines Hernandez is from Italy.
• Portland has been to the post-season twice during the past four years, going to the WNIT in 2009 and the inaugural WBI in 2010.
• Head coach Jim Sollars has more WCC wins (159) than any other coach in the 24-year history of the league, has compiled 368 career wins at UP and has been named league coach of the year an unprecedented five times.
• Sollars, who was the head coach at Portland State before coming to The Bluff, is nine wins away from historic win No. 400 at the NCAA Division I level.
BALLIN
• Portland last won four straight games during the 2010-11 season when the Pilots accomplished the feat twice.
• UP’s last five-game winning streak came in 2009 when the Pilots strung together seven consecutive victories.
SOPHOMORE SURGE
• Kari Luttinen is following her stellar freshman season by leading the team in scoring as a sophomore.
• Luttinen, a native of Seattle, Wash., is putting up 13.5 points per game and she’s averaging 20.0 points per contest during UP’s current four-game winning streak.
• She is also the reigning two-time WCC Player of the Week.
• Luttinen, who was named to the WCC’s All-Freshman Team last year, ranks sixth in the league in scoring and she poured in a career-best 23 points during a win over Nevada on Dec. 14.
• During a win at Idaho on Nov. 16, Luttinen recorded her first career double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
OWNING THE PAINT
• Forward Cassandra Thompson is also enjoying her sophomore campaign by averaging 9.9 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.
• The native of Athol, Idaho, is third in the WCC in field goal percentage (.526) and she landed on the Washington Dental Thanksgiving All-Tournament Team earlier this season.
• Thompson has registered career highs in both points (18 vs. Nevada) and rebounds (14 at Idaho) this winter.
FROM ACROSS THE POND
• The Pilots have a well-established history of featuring Australians on their roster, but this season Portland features a trio of Europeans.
• Freshmen Ellen Nurmi and Annika Holopainen both came to The Bluff from Finland, while freshman Sara Ines Hernandez hails from Italy.
• Holopainen is averaging 8.1 points per game, has reached double figures four times and scored a career-best 15 points at Boise State.
• Nurmi is tops on the Pilots in three-pointers made (18), is fourth in scoring (8.0 ppg) and is averaging 10.3 points per game during Portland’s three-game winning streak.
• Holopainen and Nurmi were also teammates on the same club team in Helsinki, and they were teammates for Finland’s U-16 and U-18 National Teams.
• Hernandez has extensive playing experience in the Italian Junior National Team system.
CAREER MILESTONES
• Long-time head coach Jim Sollars, who’s in his 27th year at the helm of the Pilots, coached in his 1,000th career game at Santa Clara last season 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 (159) than any other coach in the 24-year history of the league, has compiled 368 career wins at UP and has been named league coach of the year an unprecedented five times.
• He has 545 wins total, he’s led the Pilots to three WCC titles and one WCC Tournament title, and he’s guided Portland to four NCAA Tournaments.
• Sollars is also just nine wins away from historic win No. 400 at the NCAA Division I level.
