PORTLAND PILOTS (13-16, 5-13 WCC)
WEEK 17: The WCC Tourney / First Round
 
San Francisco Dons (6-23, 2-16 WCC)
Day: Thursday
Date: March 7, 2019
Place: Las Vegas, Nev.
Time: 12:00 PM
Gym: Orleans Arena
TV: BYUtv
Online Video: PortlandPilots.com
Live Stats: PortlandPilots.com
 
POR vs. USF
Overall: 33-35  •  Last 5/10: 2-3/2-8
H: 20-12  •  A: 13-19  •  N: 0-4
Last: POR 69, @USF 66 (2/21/19)
 
THIS WEEK
• The eighth-seeded Pilots travel to Las Vegas, Nev., this week for the 2019 West Coast Conference Basketball Championships, where they'll open with a first-round game on Thursday against the No. 9 seed San Francisco Dons at the Orleans Arena.
• Tip-off is set for 12 p.m. for the Pilots and Dons, and the game will be broadcast live on BYUtv.
• A stream for the game is also available on TheW.tv.; links for the stream and live stats can be found at PortlandPilots.com as well.
 
LAST WEEK
• The Pilots split their two WCC games at home, coming up short to LMU on Thursday night before rebounding for a decisive win against Pepperdine on Saturday.
• Against the Waves, the Pilots scored 30 points in the fourth quarter and 55 points in the second half en route to the 85-63 win.
• Julie Spencer and Darian Slaga each scored 20 points during the win, and Spencer added a season-high 15 rebounds to collect her seventh double-double of the year.
• Portland held Pepperdine to just seven points in the first quarter, and they limited the Waves to 31 percent shooting from the field.
• Spencer scored a team-high 16 points against the Lions on Thursday, and the game was close early before LMU prevailed 70-54.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Senior Julie Spencer was named to the All-WCC Second Team earlier this week after landing league honorable mention accolades last year.
• Haylee Andrews was selected to the WCC's All-Freshman Team; Andrews is the first Pilots to land on the conference all-freshman team since 2012-13.
• Previously Maddie Muhlheim was named to the WCC All-Academic Team, while Spencer, Lisa Kaempf, and Josie Matz earned all-academic honorable mention.
• The 13 wins by the Pilots are the most since the 2013-14 season, when they put together 14 wins; Portland's five WCC wins are also the most since winning seven that same season.
• The Pilots have already set a program single-season record with 243 three-pointers, which easily tops the previous mark of 227 (2010-11).
• Individually, sophomore Maddie Muhlheim's 69 three-pointers this season rank third all-time on Portland's single-season charts; she's six shy of moving up to second on that list, and Deana Lansing holds the program record with 80 three's, which came back in 1995-96.
• On Saturday. Feb. 16, during the win over San Diego at the Chiles Center, 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).
• This year Portland recorded its first regular season sweep of USD since 2003-04, and they seep of USF was the first since 2011-12.
• 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 1,204 career points, which ranks 16th all-time at UP.
• Slaga is also third all-time with an .802 career free throw percentage, and she's sixth in career three-pointers with 146.
• In the conference, Slaga ranks fifth in three-pointers made (53), is seventh in free throw percentage (.776), and she's 10th in scoring (14.3 ppg); the six three's she buried against Pacific are a career high.
• 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 1,156 points, which ranks 17th all-time at UP.
• Spencer also ranks third all-time at Portland with 751 career boards, and she's 10th in free throw percentage (.770).
• Spencer is fourth in the WCC in rebounds (7.9) and is sixth in points (15.4), and she's tied with Slaga with 53 three's.
• The senior has seven double-doubles this year, and she corralled a season-best 15 boards last weekend against Pepperdine.
• Guard Haylee Andrews is the No. 2 scoring freshman in the WCC, putting up 11.6 points a game.
• The Pilots lead the WCC in three-pointers per game (8.4), are second in scoring (74.1), and rank third in free throw percentage (.744).
• 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.
• 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 OPPONENT
• The San Francisco Dons are scoring 65.2 points per contest and allowing 72.6.
• Senior guard Shannon Powell leads the team in both scoring (15.6) and rebounds (5.87).
• Head coach Molly Goodenbour is in her third season at the helm of the USF program.
• The Dons finished tied with San Diego for ninth place in the WCC, but USF was awarded the No. 9 seed based on RPI rankings.
• The Pilots won both meetings against the Dons this season, winning 78-73 in Portland on Jan. 26 and prevailing 69-66 at USF on Feb. 21.