PORTLAND PILOTS (11-14, 3-11 WCC)
WEEK 15: at San Francisco / Santa Clara
 
San Francisco Dons (6-19, 2-12 WCC)
Day: Thursday
Date: Feb. 21, 2019
Place: San Francisco, Calif.
Time: 7:00 PM
Gym: War Memorial at the Sobrato Center
Live Video: PortlandPilots.com
Live Stats: PortlandPilots.com
 
POR vs. USF
Overall: 32-35  •  Last 5/10: 1-4/1-9
H: 20-12  •  A: 12-19  •  N: 0-4
Last: @POR 78, USF 73 (1/26/19)
 
Santa Clara Broncos (11-14, 4-10 WCC)
Day: Saturday
Date: Feb. 23, 2019
Place: Santa Clara, Calif.
Time: 2:00 PM
Gym: Leavey Center
Live Video: PortlandPilots.com
Live Stats: PortlandPilots.com
 
POR vs. SCU
Overall: 30-45  •  Last 5/10: 0-5/0-10
H: 15-17  •  A: 11-25  •  N: 4-3
Last: SCU 72, @POR 66 (1/24/19)
 
THIS WEEK
• The Pilots hit the road this week for a pair of West Coast Conference games in the Bay Area, first playing the San Francisco Dons on Thursday night before visiting the Santa Clara Broncos on Saturday afternoon.
• Tip-off with the Dons is set for 7 p.m. at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center in San Francisco on Thursday, while Saturday's contest with the Broncos is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Leavey Center in Santa Clara.
 
LAST WEEK
• The Pilots nearly pulled off a weekend WCC sweep at home, narrowly falling 70-69 to BYU at the Chiles Center on Thursday before pulling away from San Diego on Saturday to win 96-74.
• Against the Toreros, sophomore Maddie Muhlheim buried a program-record nine three-pointers en route to a career-best 27 points; eight of Muhlheim's three's came in the second half, and the Portland native connected on six three's in the third quarter alone.
• The win gave the Pilots their first regular season sweep of the Toreros since the 2003-04 season.
• Senior Julie Spencer had a big night against BYU with 25 points and nearly won it for the Pilots in the closing seconds last Thursday, but the Cougars forced a miss just before the final buzzer; on the final possession, Spencer drove to the hoop where there appeared to be some contact, but no foul was called as the lay-in was off, and the Cougars secured the win by controlling the rebound.
• Spencer added 12 rebounds for her sixth double-double.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Last Saturday during the win over San Diego at the Chiles Center, sophomore guard Maddie Muhlheim hit six three-pointers in the third quarter, connected on eight in the second half, and finished with nine in the game to set a new program record.
• Muhlheim, a Portland native who scored a career-best 27 points against the Toreros, topped the previous UP record of seven three-pointers, which was held by Jennifer Wassom (2005) and Holly Blades (2016).
• The win gave Portland its first regular season sweep of USD since 2003-04.
• Senior guard Darian Slaga was named UP's US Bank Student-Athlete of the Month for January, along with Portland runner Logan Orndorf; Slaga averaged 19.1 points per contest during the month, which included back-to-back 25-point games against USF and at Saint Mary's, and she scored her 1,000th career point.
• With 22 points against Pacific on Jan. 3, Slaga became the 25th player in program history to reach the 1,000-career point milestone.
• Slaga currently has 1,171 career points, which ranks 16th all-time at UP.
• Slaga is also third all-time with an .813 career free throw percentage, and she's sixth in career three-pointers with 142.
• In the conference, Slaga ranks fourth in three-pointers made (49) and in free throw percentage (.813), and she's sixth in scoring (15.3 ppg), and the six three's she buried against Pacific are a career high and are tied for the second most in a game this season by a WCC player.
• With 25 points against Santa Clara on Jan. 24, 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 1,086 points
• Spencer also ranks No. 7 all-time at Portland with 701 career boards, and she's 10th in free throw percentage (.767).
• Spencer is fourth in the WCC in rebounds (7.9) and is ninth in points (15.1).
• The senior has six double-doubles this year, and she corralled 14 boards in a game twice, at Weber State (Nov. 12) and vs. USF (Jan. 26).
• Guard Haylee Andrews is the No. 2 scoring freshman in the WCC, putting up 12.2 points a game.
• The Pilots lead the West Coast Conference in free throw percentage (.756) and they rank 26th nationally; they're also second in the WCC in scoring (75.0) and three-pointers (8.3).
• 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.
• 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 starred collegiately at the University of Washington and was a high school All-American at nearby Clackamas High School.
• Portland has been to four NCAA Tournaments (1994-97), two WNIT's (1998 & 2009) and one WBI (2010).
 
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
• The San Francisco Dons are scoring 66.5 points per contest and allowing 72.9.
• Senior guard Shannon Powell leads the team in both scoring (15.8) and rebounds (5.8), while freshman forward Julia Nielacna is also averaging double digits in points with a per game mark of 10.0.
• The Dons were selected to place eighth in the WCC, and head coach Molly Goodenbour is in her third season at the helm of the USF program.
 • The Santa Clara Broncos are coming off a win at Pacific.
• The Broncos rank ninth in the WCC in scoring offense (62.2) and they're allowing 66.3.
• Junior guard Tia Hay leads the team in scoring (15.3), sophomore forward Ashlyn Herlihy is averaging 11.4 points and 7.5 boards per contest, and junior forward Lauren Yearwood is 14th nationally in blocks (2.6)
• Head coach Bill Carr is in his third year at Santa Clara, and the Broncos were picked to finish sixth in the WCC.