University of Portland Athletics

PORTLAND, Ore. --- Portland senior Cassandra Brown scored her 1,000th career point and finished with a season-high 26 points as the Pilots cruised to a 91-63 win over the Portland State Vikings on Friday night at the Chiles Center. Brown needed just 19 points to reach the milestone, which she did in the first half.
 
Brown becomes the 23rd player in program history to score 1,000 career points, and she's the second Pilot to accomplish the feat this season, joining her senior teammate Kari Luttinen. Brown ended the night with 1,007 points for her career.
 
Brown was feeling it during the first half after the Pilots (2-6) found themselves trailing the Vikings (1-7) 7-6 early. She'd hit three three-pointers to help the Pilots make a 23-6 run to jump ahead 29-13.
 
Portland State would then pull with 12 before the Pilots embarked on an 11-3 run, this time stretching the lead to 43-23. Brown scored seven points during the outburst, which included two free throws to push her over the 1,000-point plateau.
 
The second half began much like the first half ended as the Pilots scored seven straight points after the break to claim a 50-25 lead. The Vikings would briefly cut the deficit to 15 points before Portland made a quick 8-2 run to nudge the lead back over 20 points. Jasmine Wooton and Cassandra Thompson each had buckets down low during the surge.
 
Meanwhile on the other end, freshman post Sara Zaragoza was solid in the paint, blocking seemingly everything the Vikings put up. The native of Madrid, Spain, also corralled a career-best 14 rebounds, which included a board with 9:24 remaining that led to a corner three for Luttinen to make it a 24-point game.
 
The lead would grow to 36 points before the final buzzer.
 
Brown was 10 of 13 from the floor and 4-for-5 on three-pointers. Her hot hand helped the Pilots to a season-best 50.8 percent (32-for-63) shooting on the night.
 
Wooton added 15 points and five assists, while sophomore Kaylie Van Loo scored a career-high 10 points off the bench.
 
Zaragoza matched a career-high with six blocked shots and her efforts on the glass helped the Pilots to a sizable 44-24 edge in rebounds. Portland also claimed a 48-16 advantage in points in the paint and the UP bench outscored PSU's 29-10.
 
Portland State's Emily Eason led three Vikings in double figures with 20 points. The Vikings shot 17-for-52 (32.7 percent) overall, connected on six three-pointers and were 23-for-30 on free throws.
 
The Pilots had seven three's out of 14 tries and went 20-for-26 at the foul line.
 
Next up for the Pilots is a visit from the Montana Lady Griz on Sunday with tip-off set for 2 p.m.