PORTLAND PILOTS (11-3, 1-1 WCC)
WEEK 11: vs. Gonzaga/Santa Clara

at Gonzaga Bulldogs (12-4, 3-0 WCC)
Day: Thursday
Date: Jan. 20, 2022
Place: Spokane, Wash.
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Gym: McCarthey Athletic Center
Online Video: PortlandPilots.com
Stats: PortlandPilots.com

POR vs. GU
Overall: 28-57 •  Last 5/10: 1-4/1-9
H: 14-26 •  A: 10-29 •  N: 4-2
Last: @POR 65, GU 76 (Jan. 6, 2022)

vs. Santa Clara Broncos (8-5, 2-1 WCC)
Day: Saturday
Date: Jan 22, 2022
Place: Portland, Ore.
Time: 2:00 PM
Gym: Chiles Center
TV: Portland's CW
Online Video: PortlandPilots.com
Stats: PortlandPilots.com

POR vs. SCU
Overall: 32-48  •  Last 5/10: 2-3/2-8
H: 16-18  •  A: 12-27  •  N: 4-3
Last: @POR 76, SCU 77 (Feb. 11, 2021)

THIS WEEK 
• The Portland Pilots are back in action with a road rematch against the Gonzaga Bulldogs and a home game against the Santa Clara Broncos.
• They'll play the Zags at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 20 and the Broncos on Saturday, Jan. 22 at 2 p.m.
• The game against Santa Clara will be broadcast on Portland's CW.
• Links to a stream and live stats for both games can be found at PortlandPilots.com.

ABOUT THE PILOTS
• The Portland Pilots are 11-3 this season, most recently defeating the San Francisco Dons 65-60 thanks to a determined fourth-quarter comeback.
• The Pilots trailed by as many as 14 points in the third quarter and stormed back to take their first WCC win of the year.
• The win gives Portland their best 14-game start since 1996-97.
• Alex Fowler led the Pilots with 18 points and eight rebounds. Emme Shearer had 16 points along with three steals while Haylee Andrews added 11 points, nine rebounds and five steals.
• Fowler is second in the WCC in field goals made (95) and field-goal percentage (54.6) and fourth in points per game (16.8).
• Andrews leads the WCC currently in both total assists (81) and assists per game (5.8).
• Andrews is the one of only three active four-year players who have career totals of 1,300 points, 450 rebounds, 350 assists and 100 steals.
• Both Fowler and Andrews have earrned WCC Player of the Week honors this year, winning the award in back-to-back weeks.
• Shearer earned WCC Freshman of the Week last week after scoring 17 against the Gonzaga Bulldogs. She's averaging 2.2 steals a game, good for second in the WCC.
• Lucy Cochrane has been a force defensively, leading the WCC in total blocks (49) and blocks per game (4.1). Those numbers rank fifth and first in the nation respectively.
• As far back as 2000, she is the only Pilot to put up at least five blocks three games in a row. She is the only Pilot in the 2000s to have five blocks in four different games, most recently doing so against San Francisco.
• Cochrane had nine blocks on Dec. 12 against Portland State. No Pilot in the 2000s recorded more than seven blocks in a game. The Pilots as a team haven't had a game where they've blocked at least nine shots since 2015.
• Portland ranks second in the conference in points per game (73.4), points allowed (58.8), assiststs per game (19.1), steals per game (12.4) and blocks per game (5.2).
• Nationally, Portland's assist average ranks fifth.
• 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 (17.7) 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 (54.7%), fourth in scoring average (17.3) and sixth in rebounding average (7.7).
• 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 second in assists all-time in program history among Pilots who only played Division I basketball (504). 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 1,266 (16th) and 1,377 (8th) 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.
• Andrews is already among the top-10 scorers who only played DI basketball at sixth.
• Among the other key returners is Maddie Muhlheim, who is the Pilots' career leader in three-pointers who currently sits at 249 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.
• 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.

THE HEAD COACH
• The Pilots are under the guidance of third-year head coach Michael Meek.
• Meek ranks sixth in career winning percentage (276-62, .817) 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 Gonzaga Bulldogs are 12-4 this year while the Santa Clara Broncos are 8-5.
• Gonzaga is undefeated in conference play while Santa Clara just took their first loss to San Francisco.
• The Zags boast the top defense in the WCC, allowing only 56.4 points per game.
• The Broncos are the top free-throw shooting team in the WCC at 76.8% as well as the top free-throw shooters in Lindsey VanAllen, this week's WCC Player of the Week.
• Lisa Fortier is in her eighth season as head coach of the Zags while Bill Carr is in his sixth at the helm for the Broncos.