PORTLAND PILOTS (10-10, 2-7 WCC)
WEEK 12: at Saint Mary's / at Pacific
 
Saint Mary's Gaels (13-7, 6-3 WCC)
Day: Thursday
Date: Jan. 31, 2019
Place: Moraga, Calif.
Time: 6:30 PM
Gym: McKeon Pavilion
Live Video: PortlandPilots.com
Live Stats: PortlandPilots.com
 
POR vs. SMC
Overall: 21-46  •  Last 5/10: 1-4/1-9
H: 14-18  •  A: 6-25  •  N: 1-3
Last: SMC 98, @POR 91 (1/5/19)
 
Pacific Tigers (13-6, 6-3 WCC)
Day: Saturday
Date: Feb. 2, 2019
Place: Stockton, Calif.
Time: 4:00 PM
Gym: Spanos Center
Live Video: PortlandPilots.com
Live Stats: PortlandPilots.com
 
POR vs. PAC
Overall: 9-12  •  Last 5/10: 2-3/2-8
H: 4-5  •  A: 4-5  •  N: 1-2
Last: PAC 76, @POR 66 (1/3/19)
 
THIS WEEK
• The Pilots travel to Northern California this week to battle the Saint Mary's Gaels in Moraga on Thursday night and the Pacific Tigers in Stockton on Saturday afternoon.
• Tip-off for the Pilots and Gaels at McKeon Pavilion is set for 6:30 p.m., while Saturday's game with the Tigers at the Spanos Center is scheduled for 4 p.m.
• Live streams and live stats for both games can be found at PortlandPilots.com.
 
LAST WEEK
• The Pilots split their two games at home last week, dropping a close one to Santa Clara on Thursday night before claiming a comeback win over San Francisco on Saturday.
• The game with the Broncos was close throughout, and the Pilots surged in front by 13 early in the fourth quarter, but Santa Clara made up the deficit before escaping with the 72-66 win.
• Julie Spencer poured in 25 points against the Broncos as she surpassed 1,000 points for her career.
• On Saturday the Pilots were down 10 at the break before outscoring the Dons 42-27 in the second half en route to a 78-73 victory.
• Darian Slaga collected a season-high 25 points during the win, Haylee Andrews finished with 19 points, six boards, and five assists, and Spencer matched a season-high with 14 rebounds.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• With 25 points against Santa Clara last Thursday, Julie Spencer became the 26th player in program history, and the second this season, to reach 1,000 career points; she enters the weekend with 1,024 points
• Spencer also ranks No. 2 all-time at Portland with 463 defensive rebounds and she's eighth in overall rebounds with 681 career boards.
• Spencer is fourth in the WCC in rebounds (7.9), fifth in three-pointers made (39), and sixth in points (15.8).
• The senior has five double-doubles this year, ranking third in the WCC, and she corralled 14 boards in a game twice, at Weber State (Nov. 12) and vs. USF (Jan. 26).
• With 22 points against Pacific on Jan. 3, senior Darian Slaga became the 25th player in program history to reach the 1,000-career point milestone.
• Slaga currently has 1,118 career points, which ranks 18th all-time at UP.
• Slaga is also third all-time with an .807 career free throw percentage, and she's sixth in career three-pointers with 136.
• In the conference, Slaga ranks third three-pointers made (43) and is fourth in free throw percentage (.788), and the six three's she buried against Pacific are a career high and are tied for the most in a game this season by a WCC player.
• The Pilots lead the West Coast Conference in free throw percentage (.763) and they rank 16th nationally.
• Portland shot a perfect 17-for-17 at the line at Pepperdine (Dec. 29) to match a program record for most free throws made in a game without a miss.
• Sophomore Maddie Muhlheim has missed only on free throw this year, going 29-for-30 (.967); her only miss came on Jan. 5 against Saint Mary's.
• Last year Muhlheim set a program record for three-pointers by a freshman when she knocked down 48 from behind the arc.
• Sophomore Josie Matz just missed a program record by making all nine of her foul shots at Pepperdine; the program's DI record for most free throws in a game without a miss is 11, which happened in 2011 (Alexis Byrd).
• Portland's 7-2 record after nine games was the Pilots' best start to a season since 1997-98, while 8-3 was the program's best mark since 2010-11.
• The Pilots also opened the year with three straight road wins, which hadn't happened since 2010-11.
• The Pilots have already surpassed last year's win total of seven victories.
• Four different players (Andersen, Andrews, Slaga, Spencer) have registered a double-double this season for the Pilots, and four different players (Andrews, Muhlheim, Slaga, Spencer) have scored at least 20 points in at least one game.
• 2018-19 marks the fifth year for head coach Cheryl Sorenson, who was previously an assistant for the Pilots.
• 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 is fifth-year assistant coach Steve Lowe.
• Skyler Young and Tiffany Gibson, who spent the past three years as Portland's director of operations, are in their first years as assistant coaches.
• Alex Brown takes over director of operations responsibilities.
• Portland has been to four NCAA Tournaments (1994-97), two WNIT's (1998 & 2009) and one WBI (2010).
 
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
• The Saint Mary's Gaels have won four straight games.
• They feature a balanced offensive attack as they're out-scoring their opponents 76.0 to 70.3 this season.
• The Gaels rank ninth nationally and lead the league in field goal percentage (48.4), and they're also tops in the WCC in assists (17.6) and three-pointers (8.9).
• Sydney Raggio (12.0 ppg) leads three Gaels averaging double-digits in scoring, and Raggio is the No. 3 rebounder in the conference with an 8.2 per game mark.
• Paul Thomas is in his 13th year as head coach of the Gaels, and he's led Saint Mary's to seven straight 20-win seasons.
• The Pacific Tigers have won four of their last five games.
• The Tigers are scoring 73.7 points per contest, while allowing 69.1, and they lead the conference in turnover margin (+3.7) and steals (10.3).
• Sophomore Brooklyn McDavid (16.3 ppg) is the reigning two-time WCC Player of the Week, and fellow sophomore Valerie Higgins (15.5 ppg, 8.8 rpg) leads the WCC with eight double-doubles.
• Head coach Bradley Davis is in his fourth season at the helm of the program.