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PORTLAND PILOTS (0-0)
at OREGON STATE BEAVERS (0-0)
Date: Friday, November 14, 2014
Tip-off: 4:00 p.m.
Location: Corvallis, Ore.
Arena (Capacity): Gill Coliseum (9,604)
Video: Pac-12.com
Stats: OSUBeavers.com
 
POR vs. OSU
Overall Series: 4-17
Here: 3-6
There: 1-11
Neutral: 0-0
Last 5/10: 3-2/3-7
Last 1: OSU 79, @POR 73 (Dec. 6, 2013)
 
THIS WEEK
• The Portland Pilots open the 2014-15 season with a quick road trip to Corvallis, Ore., for a non-conference game against the Oregon State Beavers on Friday afternoon at Gill Coliseum.
• Tip-off is set for 4 p.m.
• This is the 22nd meeting all-time between the two in-state rivals, with Oregon State claiming a 17-4 advantage; the Pilots have won three out of the last four meetings, but the Beavers prevailed 79-73 last season at the Chiles Center.
 
LAST WEEK
• The Pilots easily won both their exhibition games at the Chiles Center.
• On Wednesday, Nov. 5, seniors Cassandra Brown and Kari Luttinen each scored 15 points and fellow senior Cassandra Thompson added 13 points and nine rebounds as the Pilots defeated the Western Oregon Wolves 70-60.
• This past Tuesday, Brown scored 19 points and Thompson registered a double-double with 11 points and 15 rebounds as the Pilots pulled away from the Concordia Cavaliers to win 83-46.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Head coach Cheryl Sorenson is in her first year at the helm of the UP women's basketball program; Sorenson spent three years as an assistant coach with the Pilots before replacing long-time head coach Jim Sollars, who retired after 28 years on The Bluff.
• Senior guard Jasmine Wooton was named to the All-West Coast Conference Preseason Women's Basketball Team and the Pilots were tabbed to finish seventh in the preseason coaches' poll.
• Wooton landed All-WCC Honorable Mention as a junior last season, averaging 13.1 points and 4.3 assists; last season Wooton exploded for a career-high 36 points during a 73-65 win at Pacific on Dec. 28; it's the most points scored by a Pilot since Martha Sheldon also scored 36 in 1991.
• Wooton (799 points), Kari Luttinen (941 points) and Cassandra Brown (863 points) are all quickly approaching the 1,000-career point plateau.
• Brown also earned All-WCC Honorable Mention last year and is Portland's top returning scorer (14.1 ppg).
 
A BRAND NEW ERA
• Cheryl Sorenson, a Portland native who has spent the past three years on The Bluff as an assistant coach, was named head coach of the University of Portland women's basketball program in April.
• Sorenson replaced long-time head coach Jim Sollars, who retired after 28 years at the helm of the Pilots.
• Sorenson is the fifth head coach in the program's 34-year history; she attended Clackamas High School and played collegiately at the University of Washington.
• Sorenson replaced coach Sollars, who compiled nearly 400 wins with the Pilots and won 565 games overall as a collegiate head coach; Sollars was a five-time WCC Coach of the Year and he led the Pilots to four consecutive NCAA Tournaments during the mid-1990's.
 
PRE-SEASON ALL-AWESOME
• Jasmine Wooton was named to the All-West Coast Conference Preseason Women's Basketball Team and the Pilots were tabbed to finish seventh in the preseason coaches' poll; Wooton earned All-WCC Honorable Mention as a junior last season.
• Portland returns its top four leading scorers from a year ago, led by redshirt-senior Cassandra Brown, who put up 14.1 points per game as a junior.
• Wooton, who averaged more than 13 points per game last year, is one of four returning starters for the Pilots, who return eight letterwinners overall.
• The Gonzaga Bulldogs were selected as the preseason favorite to win the conference regular season title after receiving seven first place votes and 78 points.