Complete Release (pdf) I
Weekend Preview (Video) I
The Pilot Report
PORTLAND PILOTS (14-13, 7-9 WCC)
vs. PACIFIC TIGERS (16-10, 11-5 WCC)
Date: Thursday, February 27, 2014
Tip-off: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Portland, Ore.
Arena (Capacity): Chiles Center (4,852)
Online Coverage: Live Video Live Stats
POR vs. PAC
Overall Series: 7-2
Here: 3-0
There: 3-2
Neutral: 1-0
Last 5/10: 4-1/7-2
Last 1: POR 73, @PAC 65 (Dec. 28, 2013)
PORTLAND PILOTS (14-13, 7-9 WCC)
vs. SAINT MARY'S GAELS (20-7, 10-6 WCC)
Date: Saturday, March 1, 2014
Tip-off: 2:00 p.m.
Location: Portland, Ore.
Arena (Capacity): Chiles Center (4,852)
Online Coverage: Live Video Live Stats
POR vs. SMC
Overall Series: 20-37
Here: 13-13
There: 6-21
Neutral: 1-3
Last 5/10: 0-5/0-10
Last 1: @SMC 80, POR 65 (Dec. 30, 2013)
THIS WEEK
• The Pilots wrap up the regular season this week and celebrate the career of head coach Jim Sollars with a pair of home games at the Chiles Center.
• First the Pacific Tigers visit on Thursday night for a 7 p.m. game.
• Saint Mary's then comes to The Bluff for the regular season finale at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
• UP will celebrate senior day on Saturday and the Pilots will honor coach Sollars, who is retiring after 28 years.
LAST WEEK
• The Pilots shot 61 percent in the second half and 51 percent for the game, but the No. 24 Gonzaga Bulldogs prevailed 72-61 in Spokane last Saturday.
• The Pilots never did allow the Bulldogs to pull away, and Cassandra Brown hit all four of her three-pointers en route to a game-high 16 points.
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Head coach Jim Sollars, who is in his 28th year at the helm of the Pilots, will retire following the 2013-14 season.
• Senior Amy Pupa is quickly climbing up Portland's all-time rebound charts, currently ranking sixth with 702 career boards; she's also third all-time for Portland at the NCAA DI level (since 1986-87) and will move up to second with just four more rebounds.
• Junior Kari Luttinen is approaching the 1,000 career point plateau, entering the weekend with 899 career points; Luttinen is looking to become the 22nd career 1,000-point scorer in program history.
• Luttinen is also currently ninth all-time at UP with 103 career three-pointers.
• The 72-51 win over No. 24 San Diego on Jan. 8 was Portland's first win over a ranked opponent since Dec. 6, 2003, when the Pilots topped No. 20 Oregon 76-58 at the Chiles Center.
• Jasmine 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.
• Cassandra Brown has scored 20 or more points a team-best six times this season; Brown, who mainly comes off the bench for the Pilots, is averaging a career-best 13.9 points per game, which ranks 11th in the WCC.
• Brown, a redshirt-junior, missed all of last season while recovering from off-season surgery.
• Earlier this season Kari Luttinen became the first UP player to score 20 points or more in three straight games since January of 2012; Luttinen posted 20 points against Columbia (Nov. 29), 21 against Oregon State (Dec. 6) and a career-high 25 points vs. Boise State (Dec. 8).
• Five different Pilots (Brown, Luttinen, Wooton, Byrd, Thompson) have scored 20 or more points in a game this season.
• Portland leads the WCC with 174 three-pointers made this season.
• On Nov. 15 in Seattle, Portland notched the program's first ever win against the Washington Huskies with a 91-77 victory.
• The Pilots matched a program record with 15 three's against the Huskies, while the 91 points were the most for the Pilots since also scoring 91 against Washington State in 2010.
CELEBRATING SOLLARS
• Jim Sollars, who is in his 28th year as head coach of the Pilots, will retire following the 2013-14 season, and the Pilots will honor coach before, during and after the Saint Mary's game on Saturday.
• Sollars, who also served the university as a history professor during his first 11 years on The Bluff, ranks second all-time in WCC wins (171) and he's been named league coach of the year five times.
• He has won 388 games at UP, 411 victories overall at the NCAA Division I level, has posted a 565-510 career record as a collegiate head coach and he led the Pilots to four straight NCAA Tournaments (1994, 1995, 1996 & 1997) in the mid-1990's.
• Under Sollars' leadership at Portland, 39 players have earned All-WCC honors, four players have been named the WCC Player of the Year, and he has coached two Pilots (Laura Sale and Deana Lansing) to honorable mention All-America status.
• He's also guided 42 WCC All-Academic Team selections, 14 CoSIDA Academic All-Region Team picks and one WCC Scholar Athlete of the Year, while two athletes earning first team CoSIDA Academic All-America honors.
THE WCC TOURNEY
• The WCC Championships return to the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., for the sixth straight season, and the tournament is set to run from Thursday, March 6, until Tuesday, March 11.
• The Pilots, who will most likely grab the #6 seed at the tourney, are 16-21 all-time at the WCC Championships in 22 seasons.
• Last season the Pilots received the seventh seed and defeated Santa Clara 70-64 in the second round; Saint Mary's then eliminated the Pilots in the quarterfinals.
• The Pilots won their only tournament championship in 1994.
CHASING HISTORY
• Senior Amy Pupa will go down in history as one of Portland's all-time best rebounders.
• The forward enters the weekend with 702 career boards, which is the sixth most rebounds in the history of the UP program, and she's only four shy of the fifth spot on that list.
• Pupa has the third most rebounds for Portland at the NCAA Division I level (since 1986-87) and she has a chance to catch UP's top DI rebounder Khalila O'Rielly-Williams (2000-04), who amassed 755 career boards.
THAT'S A LOT OF POINTS
• Junior guard Jasmine Wooton had a historic day when she erupted for 36 points during a 73-65 win at Pacific on Dec. 28.
• The 36 points are the most scored by a Pilot since Martha Sheldon also scored 36 back in 1991, and Wooton is the first Portland player to score 30 or more points since Cassandra Brown dropped 32 on Santa Clara at the WCC Tourney on March 1, 2012.
• Wooton also hit 10 free throws against the Tigers, the most by a Pilot since Alexis Byrd in 2011, and she hit a career-best six three-pointers.
THAT TOO IS A LOT OF POINTS
• Portland has scored 80 or more points six times this year after accomplishing that feat just once last year.
• The 91 points against Washington were the most points scored by the Pilots since also putting up 91 points against Washington State in 2010.
• Cassandra Brown, Alexis Byrd, Kari Luttinen, Cassandra Thompson and Jasmine Wooton all have games of 20 or more points this season; CB has reached the 20-point plateau six times, while Luttinen has scored 20 or more points five times.
DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK
• Cassandra Brown is enjoying a break-out season after missing all of last year while recovering from off-season surgery.
• The redshirt-junior guard leads the Pilots and ranks 11th in the WCC in scoring (13.9 ppg) and she's scored 20 or more points a team-best six times.
• During the 91-77 win at Washington, she registered her first career double-double with 28 points and 12 boards, while also burying six three-pointers.
