PORTLAND PILOTS (4-1, 0-0 WCC)
WEEK 4: vs. Evergreen State/Warner Pacific
vs. Evergreen State Geoducks (0-3, 0-0 CCL)
Day: Sunday
Date: Nov. 28, 2021
Place: Portland, Ore.
Time: 4:00 PM
Gym: Chiles Center
Online Video: PortlandPilots.com
Stats: PortlandPilots.com
POR vs. ESU
Overall: N/A
• Last 5/10: N/A
H: N/A
• A: N/A
• N: N/A
Last: N/A
vs. Warner Pacific Knights (1-2, 0-0 CCC)
Day: Tuesday
Date: Nov. 30, 2021
Place: Portland, Ore.
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Gym: Chiles Center
Online Video: PortlandPilots.com
Stats: PortlandPilots.com
POR vs. WPU
Overall: 11-2 •
Last 5/10: 4-1/9-1
H: 8-1 •
A: 2-0 •
N: 1-1
Last: @POR 78, WPU 36 (Nov. 13, 2019)
THIS WEEK
• The Portland Pilots will host the Evergreen State Geoducks and the Warner Pacific Knights.
• They'll play Evergreen State on Sunday, Nov. 28 at 4 p.m. and Warner Pacific on Monday, Nov. 28 at 7 p.m.
• Links to streams and live stats can be found at PortlandPilots.com.
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• The Portland Pilots are 4-1 after taking both of their games at the Bank of Hawaii Classic and losing to No. 7 Stanford last week.
• Portland beat both Hawaii (91-77)and Prairie View A&M (80-54) by double digits. Every game so far this season has been decided by double digits.
• The win against Hawaii was one filled with milestones for the Pilots.
• They set a program record for assists against a Division I opponent by accumulating 27 on the night.
• Haylee Andrews and Alex Fowler led the way for Portland, with Andrews notching a double-double with 16 points and 11 assists while Fowler added 20 points and nine rebounds.
• Andrews became the second Pilot this season to earn a double-double while Fowler became the first Pilot to score at least 20 in a game so far.
• Fowler and Andrews also impressed against Prairie View, with Fowler putting up a team-high 14 points and nine rebounds while Andrews had 11 points with six assists and six rebounds.
• Andrews currently leads the conference in both total assists (34) and assists average (6.8). She ranks fifth and 11th nationally in those categories respectively.
• Fowler is tied for first in the WCC in total points (70).
• Cochrane had the first double-double of the season when she put together 14 points and 12 boards against the Weber State Wildcats. She added four blocks that night as well.
• Cochrane's performance last week helped her earn WCC Player of the Week honors.
• Cochrane had 17 points against Hawaii on 8-of-11 shooting. She had nine blocks over three games last week and is averaging a conference-leading three blocks a game.
• The Pilots have the top scoring offense in the WCC at 76.8 points per game.
• Portland's 19.2 assists per game ranks first in the WCC. Their 96 total assists is also ninth in the nation.
• The Pilots have forced an average of 22.8 turnovers per game, second in the WCC.
• Portland's 202 total rebounds ranks first in the WCC.
• The Pilots went 14-13 overall last season and finished 9-8 in WCC play, marking the second season in a row the team has finished above .500.
• It is the first time that Portland has earned back-to-back seasons above .500 since the 2010-11 season.
• The team also earned a postseason berth for the second year in a row, receiving an invite to play in the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) for the third time in program history.
• It is the first time the Pilots have earned back-to-back postseason berths for the first time since 2010, when the team made the WNIT and the WBI in back-to-back years.
• Portland finished second in the WBI, marking their deepest postseason run since becoming an NCAA Division I program back in the 1986-87 season.
• The Pilots ranked first last season in both total assists (477) and assists per game as well as steals (284) in the WCC. They also ranked second in steals per game (10.5) and turnovers forced (18.9) and third in points per game (68.4) and field-goal percentage (44%).
• Of the stats above, they ranked 10th nationally in assists per game and 11th nationally in total steals and assists.
• The Pilots return nine players from last season as well as their top eight scorers.
• Among those returners are Fowler and Andrews, who were both named to the All-WCC Preseason Team this season. It's the first time the Pilots have ever had two players named to the preseason team two years in a row.
• The Australian duo also were both named to the All-WCC First Team last year, becoming the first Pilot duo to earn the top honors since 2002.
• Andrews was one of the most dominant guards in the WCC last year, ranking fifth in the WCC in points per game (16.2) and first in assists (5.8).
• During just WCC play, Andrews led the conference in points per game (18.4) and assists (6.2). She is the first Pilot to ever lead the WCC in both and just the fourth player in WCC history to do so.
• Her 106 assists in WCC play was 26 more than the next closest player. She ranked ninth nationally in total asssist (152) and 12th in assists per game.
• Fowler finished third in the conference in scoring (16.8), fifth in total rebounds (200) and sixth in rebounds per game (7.4). She was also first in field goal attempts (336), field goals made (184) and field-goal percentage (54.8).
• That field-goal percentage for Fowler breaks her own Pilot record she set last season for field-goal percentage by a Pilot for a season at the DI level.
• A former WCC Newcomer of the Year winnner, she is the first Pilot to make back-to-back All-WCC First Teams since Natalie Day did so in 2010 and 2011.
• Fowler is second all-time in field-goal percentage (54.3%), fifth in scoring average (17.2) and sixth in rebounding average (7.6).
• At her current rebounding pace of 227.5 rebounds per season, she is on track to break into the top 10 all-time in total rebounds this year.
• Andrews is fourth in assists all-time in program history among Pilots who only played Division I basketball (457). She is second in assist average (5.2).
• Similar to Fowler, Andrews can break into the top two in career assists for a Pilot if she were to maintain her average of 141 assists per season.
• Both Fowler and Andrews eclipsed the 1,000-point threshold for their careers last year, with Fowler being the fastest Pilot ever to the career mark.
• If both Fowler and Andrews -- who have 1,101 (23rd) and 1,272 (15th) points respectively -- maintain their season scoring total averages (402.7 for Andrews, 515.2 for Fowler), they will each have a chance to break into the top five in scoring all-time for the Pilots.
• Among the other key returners is Maddie Muhlheim, who is the Pilots' career leader in three-pointers who currently sits at 235 total.
• Muhlheim broke the record in the WBI semifinal matchup against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks. She hit six threes in the 80-65 win over NAU and had a team-high 22 points.
• Muhlheim also averaged a team-high 2.2 steals per game, which was fifth in the WCC.
• Emme Shearer was the only other Pilot to earn All-WCC honors last year, making the All-WCC Freshman Team. She averaged seven points a game along with two rebounds and 1.4 assists.
• She has a conference-leading 15 steals through five games.
THE HEAD COACH
• The Pilots are under the guidance of third-year head coach Michael Meek.
• Meek ranks seventh in career winning percentage (269-60, .818) among active DI coaches with five-plus years of experience.
• He had the best record for a UP coach through the first two seasons ever at 35-24.
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
• The Evergreen State Geoducks are 0-3 to start the 2021 season.
• Most recently they were blown out by the Eastern Washington Eagles 101-38.
• The matchup with the Pilots will be the first ever between the two sides.
• Jackie Robinson is in his third season as head coach of the Geoducks
• The Warner Pacific Knights are 1-2 so far this season.
• Their lone win came against the Lewis & Clark College Pioneers, who they beat 68-59.
• Matt Gregg is in his 13th season as head coach of the Knights.
