PORTLAND PILOTS (3-1, 0-0 WCC)
WEEK 3: at Cal State Fullerton/vs. Portland State
 
Cal State Fullerton Titans (1-2, 0-0 Big West)
Day: Saturday
Date: Nov. 25, 2017
Place: Fullerton, Calif.
Time: 2:00 PM
Gym: Titan Gym
Live Video: BigWest.org
Live Stats: FullertonTitans.com
 
POR vs. CSF
Overall: 2-0  •  Last 5/10: 2-0/2-0
H: 1-0  •  A: 1-0  •  N: 0-0
Last: POR 67, @CSF 47 (12/28/00)
 
Portland State Vikings (1-3, 0-0 Big Sky)
Day: Tuesday
Date: Nov. 28, 2017
Place: Portland, Ore.
Time: 7:00 PM
Gym: Chiles Center Center
TV: NBC Sports Northwest
Live Video: TheW.tv
Live Stats: PortlandPilots.com
 
POR vs. PSU
Overall: 29-25  •  Last 5/10: 4-1/6-4
H: 17-10  •  A: 11-13  •  U: 1-2
Last: @POR 79, PSU 68 (11/30/2016)
 
THIS WEEK
• The Pilots return to Southern California this weekend to face the Cal State Fullerton Titans on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Titan Gym in Fullerton.
• Portland then comes back to The Bluff to host crosstown rival Portland State on Tuesday night, with tip-off set for 7 p.m. at the Chiles Center.
• The game with the Vikings will be broadcast live in the Portland area on NBC Sports Northwest, and will also be available online at TheW.tv.
 
LAST WEEK
• The Pilots suffered their first loss of the season when the UC Irvine Anteaters held off Portland to a claim a 63-52 win on Friday night at the Bren Events Center in Irvine, Calif.
• It was the first road game of the season for the Pilots, who were led by 12 points from senior point guard Rachelle Owens.
• The Pilots, who led early, trailed by seven at the break, and climbed within two points during the third quarter before the Anteaters pulled away for the win.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• At 3-0 and now 3-1, Portland is off to its best start to a season since the 2010-11 squad opened the campaign 4-0.
• Portland is the top defensive team in the West Coast Conference, holding their opponents to just 56.5 points per game.
• The Pilots are a young squad with seven newcomers, which features six true freshmen and a junior transfer.
• A newcomer has led the Pilots in scoring twice this year, with junior transfer Lisa-Marie Kaempf dropping 19 points on Willamette and freshman Maddie Muhlheim scoring 17 against Utah Valley.
• Portland also returned seven letterwinners from a year ago, including three seniors.
• Portland's top returning scorer and rebounder is junior forward Julie Spencer, who is coming off a break-out year; she averaged career bests of 9.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per contest as a sophomore, she claimed four double-doubles, and she corralled 18 rebounds during a game, which was the most boards by a Pilot since 2013.
• Spencer opened this season with a double-double (15 pts, 10 rebs) against Hawai'i.
• Making her return to Portland's backcourt is redshirt-senior Rachelle Owens, who only appeared in one game last year before an injury cut her season short; as a junior transfer in 2015-16, Owens appeared in 25 games, all off the bench.
• Against Utah Valley, Owens collected career highs of 13 points and seven assists.
• Junior guard Darian Slaga, who was third on the team in scoring last season, is also back after averaging 8.6 points per game as a sophomore; twice Slaga scored more than 20 points last winter, which included a 24-point outburst against the No. 24 Washington Huskies.
• Slaga is currently unavailable due to an injury.
• The Pilots were selected to finish 10th in the WCC, finishing just two points behind ninth-place Pepperdine in the preseason coaches' poll; Gonzaga was selected as the league favorite.
• 2017-18 marks the fourth year for head coach Cheryl Sorenson, who was previously an assistant for the Pilots; she assumed the reins of the program after long-time head
coach Jim Sollars retired following the 2013-14 season; Sorenson is approaching her 100th game as head coach.
• Sorenson, who starred collegiately at the University of Washington, was a high school
All-American at nearby Clackamas High School.
• Back on the Portland bench are fourth-year assistant coaches Steve Lowe and Brianna
Chambers, while assistant coach Drew Muscatell returns for his third year on the Portland bench.
• Portland has been to four NCAA Tournaments (1994-97), two WNIT's (1998 & 2009) and one WBI (2010).
 
ABOUT THE OPPONENT
• Cal State Fullerton enters the week with a 1-2 record, with their lone win coming over Santa Clara in the season opener.
• Junior guard Jade Vega (12.7 ppg) is one of three Titans averaging double figures in points, and junior post Daeja Smith (7.0 rpg) is the team's top rebounder.
• Jeff Harada, who was previously the head coach at Central Washington, is in his first year at the helm of the Titans.
• Portland has won the only two previous meetings with Cal State Fullerton, with the most recent meeting coming in 2000.
• The Titans were picked to finish 9th in the Big West.
• Portland State is 1-3 after defeating San Jose State in Cali last weekend.
• Junior guard Sidney Rielly is second in the Big Sky Conference in scoring at 21.8 points per game, and the Viks are putting up 73.0 points as a team.
• Junior forward Courtney West is averaging a team-high 8.3 board per contest.
• Head coach Lynn Kennedy is in his second season with the Vikings, who were picked sixth in the Big Sky.
• The Pilots and Vikings have a lengthy history, first meeting back in 1977.
• Portland has won four straight against PSU, including a 79-68 win last year at the Chiles Center; Darian Slaga had 18 points off the bench during the win, and Julie Spencer (14 points, 12 rebounds) registered a double-double.