FRANKFORT, Ky. – Senior Maddie Muhlheim broke the Portland career three-pointers made record and sophomore Alex Fowler became the fastest Pilot to score 1,000 points in an 80-65 victory against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks in a Women's Basketball Invitational semifinal Saturday night at the William Exum Center.
The Pilots (14-12) advance and will face Cleveland State Sunday at 4:30 p.m. in the WBI championship game.
Muhlheim scored a game-high 22 points and knocked down 6-of-11 three-pointers to pass Portland Hall of Famer Deana Lansing for school record. Lansing made 223 for her career and Muhlheim passed her with her final three of the day early in the fourth quarter.
Fowler recorded her 1,000th point just minutes earlier in the third quarter. By reaching the milestone in her 58th career game, Fowler became the fastest Pilot to reach the mark at the Division I level and only player to do it in two seasons at the NCAA level.
Fowler finished with 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting and added eight rebounds and five assists.
Junior point guard Haylee Andrews added 18 points, while freshman Emme Shearer chipped in 12.
The Pilots trailed by eight late in the first quarter, but used a 15-0 run to take the lead for good. Portland scored the first nine points of the second quarter and outscored the Lumberjacks 16-7 in the period to take a 42-31 lead into the half.
An 8-0 run midway through the third quarter pushed the margin to 19 and the Pilots maintained a double-digit edge the rest of the way.
Portland owned the paint with a 54-36 scoring advantage and racked up a 25-18 margin in points off of turnovers.
The Pilots shot 56 percent from the field, while NAU was 50 percent overall but just 1-for-11 from three-point range.
Khiarica Rasheed recorded a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds for NAU.
Cleveland State (13-9) advanced out of the other side of the bracket with wins over Manhattan (68-55) and Stetson (64-54).