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NO. 7 PORTLAND PILOTS (11-19, 5-11 WCC)
vs. NO. 3 SAINT MARY’S GAELS (19-9, 11-5 WCC)
Date: Friday, March 8, 2012
Tip-off:  2:30 p.m. (Appx.)
Location: Las Vegas, Nev.
Arena (Capacity): Orleans Arena (7,845)
Live TV: BYUtv
Live Video/Audio/Stats: PortlandPilots.com
 
POR vs. SMC
Overall Series: 20-35
Here: 13-13
There: 6-20
Neutral: 1-2
Last 5/10: 0-5/2-8
Last 2: @SMC 58, POR 53; SMC 49, @POR 43


THIS WEEK
• The Portland Pilots are in Las Vegas, Nev., this week for the West Coast Conference Championships at the Orleans Arena.
• After opening with a win over Santa Clara on Thursday, the No. 7 seeded Pilots will next play the No. 3 Saint Mary’s Gaels on Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m.
• The game will be broadcast live nationally on BYUtv, while live video, audio and stats will be provided on WCCSports.com and PortlandPilots.com
• Both meetings between the Pilots and Gaels this season were close with the outcome not decided until the closing minute; SMC won both games, 58-53 in Moraga and 49-43 in Portland.
 
THE WCC TOURNEY
• The WCC Championships return to the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., for the fifth straight season, and the tournament is set to run from Wednesday, March 6, until Monday, March 11.
• The Pilots are 16-20 all-time at the WCC Championships in 21+ seasons.
• Last season the Pilots also received the seventh seed and defeated No. 6 Santa Clara 90-76 behind 32 points from Cassandra Brown in the second round; USD eliminated the Pilots in the quarterfinals.
• The Pilots won their only tournament championship in 1994.
 
LAST WEEK
• The Pilots opened the WCC tourney with a hard-fought 70-64 win over the Santa Clara Broncos on Thursday afternoon.
• The game was close throughout and a lay-up by Jasmine Wooton with 56 seconds remaining broke a 64-64 tie; Kari Luttinen, who led the way with 17 points, sealed the win with four free throws during the closing seconds.
• Wooton had 16 points, Cassandra Thompson added 14, Amy Pupa had eight points and 10 rebounds and Alexis Byrd finished with nine points and nine rebounds.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Freshman Annika Holopainen was named the WCC’s Player of the Week on Feb. 11 after dropping 26 points at Saint Mary’s (Feb. 7); Holopainen averaged 15.5 points per game that weekend, shot 57.1 percent from the floor and grabbed a career-best eight boards at Pepperdine (Feb. 9).
• Sophomore Kari Luttinen nabbed two straight WCC Player of the Week awards in December.
• Junior Amy Pupa’s 19 rebounds against Pepperdine (Jan. 31) are a career-high and missed tying a program single-game record by one.
• Junior Alexis Byrd’s eight steals at Saint Mary’s also missed tying a program record by one.
• Seven different players have scored in double figures this season, six players have led the team in scoring and three Pilots, Annika Holopainen, Kari Luttinen & Amy Pupa, have games with at least 20 points; Holopainen scored a team season-high of 29 points at USF (Jan. 12).
• 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.
• Portland does not have one senior on its roster.
• Junior Cassandra Brown is utilizing her redshirt year 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.
• Head coach Jim Sollars, who was the head coach at Portland State before coming to The Bluff, is three wins away from historic win No. 400 at the NCAA Division I level.
• Sollars ranks second all-time in WCC wins (164) and he’s been named league coach of the year an unprecedented five times.
 
WCC ACCOLADES
• Forward Annika Holopainen was named to the 2012-13 West Coast Conference Women’s Basketball All-Freshman Team, while also garnering league honorable mention accolades.
• Holopainen, a native of Helsinki, Finland, was Portland’s second leading scorer during conference play, averaging 10.9 points per game.
• She tied for the team-high with 23 three-pointers against WCC foes and she shot .447 overall from the field.
• Holopainen, who was named the WCC’s Player of the Week on Feb. 11, scored 29 points at San Francisco (Jan. 12), had 26 points at Saint Mary’s (Feb. 7) and grabbed a career-best eight rebounds at Pepperdine (Feb. 9).
 
SOPHOMORE SURGE
• Sophomore Kari Luttinen is putting up a team-best 12.4 points per game, she’s led the team in scoring 14 times, she’s scored at least 20 points three times and she’s tied for the team-high with 42 three-pointers.
• She was also named the WCC’s Player of the Week twice in December and she ranks eighth 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.
 
CLEANING UP THE GLASS
• Junior Amy Pupa had a historic night at the Chiles Center on Jan. 31 when she had 19 rebounds against Pepperdine, which missed tying a UP program record by one.
• Sarah Green holds the program single-game record at the NCAA DI level, which she set back in 1998 when she grabbed 20 boards.
• Lorena Legarde holds the all-time record of 24 rebounds, which she accomplished in 1982 when the Pilots played at the NAIA level.
• Pupa, a junior, is Portland’s top rebounder and ranks third in the WCC with an 8.0 per game average and she’s recorded 10+ rebounds in a game 10 times this season.
• Against USF (Feb. 4), Pupa scored a career-best 21 points, to go along with 11 boards for her second career double-double.
 
FROM ACROSS THE POND
• Finland natives and freshmen Ellen Nurmi and Annika Holopainen are both adapting quite well to the Pacific Northwest.
• Holopainen, a native of Helsinki, his averaging 10.9 points per game against WCC foes, she’s reached double figures 13 times and she has games of 26 and 29 points.
• From Turku, Nurmi is tops on the Pilots in three-pointers made (42), she’s scored in double figures 10 times, scored a career-best 19 points against San Diego (Jan. 5) and is putting up 8.2 points per game.