Complete Release (pdf) I @ San Diego:
Live Video Live Stats I @ Santa Clara:
Live Video Live Stats
PORTLAND PILOTS (6-12, 1-4 WCC)
at SAN DIEGO TOREROS (11-7, 2-3 WCC)
Date: Thursday, January 24, 2013
Tip-off: 7:00 p.m.
Location: San Diego, Calif.
Arena (Capacity): Jenny Craig Pavilion (5,100)
Live Video/Stats: USDToreros.com
POR vs. USD
Overall Series: 31-31
Here: 16-12
There: 10-16
Neutral: 5-3
Last 5/10: 0-5/2-8
Last 1: USD 69, @POR 63 (January 5, 2013)
PORTLAND PILOTS (6-12, 1-4 WCC)
at SANTA CLARA BRONCOS (12-6, 4-1 WCC)
Date: Saturday, January 26, 2013
Tip-off: 2:00 p.m.
Location: Santa Clara, Calif.
Arena (Capacity): Leavey Center (4,500)
Live Video/Stats: SantaClaraBroncos.com
POR vs. SCU
Overall Series: 27-34
Here: 14-12
There: 10-20
Neutral: 3-2
Last 5/10: 2-3/5-5
Last 1: SCU 59, @POR 58 (January 3, 2013)
THIS WEEK
• The Portland Pilots remain on the road this week as they head back to California for a pair of West Coast Conference games.
• First on Thursday night, Portland will be at the University of San Diego to face the Toreros at 7 p.m. at Jenny Craig Pavilion; the Toreros defeated the Pilots 69-63 at the Chiles Center back on Jan. 5 and have won five straight games against Portland.
• The Pilots then travel to Santa Clara University on Saturday for a 2 p.m. tilt; SCU overcame the Pilots 59-58 in Portland on Jan. 3 and the two teams have split their last 10 meetings.
LAST WEEK
• The Pilots executed down the stretch offensively last Saturday, came up with some crucial stops and corralled a few timely rebounds to win their first WCC game with a 63-59 decision over LMU in Los Angeles, Calif.
• Freshman Annika Holopainen hit the tie-breaking lay-up with six seconds remaining, on a perfect feed from junior Alexis Byrd, and freshman Jazmyn Johnson sealed the win with a late steal and a pair of free throws.
• Sophomore Kari Luttinen had a team-high 12 points, Holopainen had 11 and sophomore Jasmine Wooton chipped in with 10.
• Byrd, who was nursing a lingering hamstring injury earlier this season, had a solid outing with nine points, seven boards, four assists and zero turnovers.
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Sophomore guard Kari Luttinen nabbed two straight WCC Player of the Week awards in December; Luttinen is Portland’s leading scorer (12.9 ppg), she ranks seventh in the WCC in scoring and she’s scored at least 20 points three times this season.
• 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; the Pilots, who jumped from NAIA to NCAA DI in 1986, have an all-time record of 536-476 (.530).
• Portland does not have one senior on its roster.
• Junior Cassandra Brown is utilizing her redshirt year this season after undergoing off-season surgery.
• Junior Alexis Byrd missed six games in November due to a hamstring injury.
• 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 (160) than any other coach in the 24-year history of the league, has compiled 369 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 eight wins away from historic win No. 400 at the NCAA Division I level.
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 12.9 points per game and she averaged 20.0 points per contest during UP’s four-game winning streak in December.
• She was also named the WCC’s Player of the Week twice in December and she ranks seventh in the league in scoring.
• Luttinen, who was named to the WCC’s All-Freshman Team last year, 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
• Portland posts Amy Pupa and Cassandra Thompson have emerged this season as two of the premier rebounders in the WCC.
• Pupa, a junior, is Portland’s top rebounder and ranks seventh in the WCC with a 7.4 per game average.
• The native of Ventura, Calif., has recorded 10+ rebounds in game four times this season and she scored 12 points with 14 boards during a win at Idaho (Nov. 16) for her first career double-double.
• Thompson, a sophomore from Athol, Idaho, has registered career highs in both points (18 vs. Nevada) and rebounds (14 at Idaho) this winter, and on Dec. 29 she tallied her first career double-double with 14 points and 12 boards against Portland State.
• She also is fifth in the WCC in field goal percentage (.500) and she landed on the Washington Dental Thanksgiving All-Tournament Team earlier this season.
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 9.8 points per game, she has reached double figures nine times and she exploded for 29 points on 13 of 17 shooting at San Francisco (Jan. 12).
• Holopainen is the top freshman scorer in the WCC during league contests with a 12.4 per game mark against conference foes.
• Nurmi is tops on the Pilots in three-pointers made (26), she’s scored in double figures five times, scored a season & career-best 19 points against San Diego (Jan. 5) and is putting up 7.8 points per game.
• 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.
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 (160) than any other coach in the 25-year history of the league, has compiled 369 career wins at UP and has been named league coach of the year an unprecedented five times.
• He has 546 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 eight wins away from historic win No. 400 at the NCAA Division I level.
