PORTLAND PILOTS (17-8, 7-6 WCC)
WEEK 16: vs. San Diego/Pepperdine

vs. San Diego Toreros (14-13, 6-9 WCC)
Day: Thursday
Date: Feb. 24, 2022
Place: Portland, Ore.
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Gym: Chiles Center
Online Video: PortlandPilots.com
Stats: PortlandPilots.com

POR vs. USD
Overall: 36-46 • Last 5/10: 2-3/4-6
H: 18-18 • A: 12-24 • N: 6-4
Last: POR 68, @USD 55 (Jan. 27, 2022)

vs. Pepperdine Waves (8-14, 4-9 WCC)
Day: Saturday
Date: Feb. 26, 2022
Place: Portland, Ore.
Time: 12:00 PM
Gym: Chiles Center
Online Video: PortlandPilots.com
Stats: PortlandPilots.com

POR vs. PEP
Overall: 34-38 • Last 5/10: 5-0/8-2
H: 22-12 •  A: 11-24  •  N: 1-2
Last: @POR 101, PEP 94 OT (Feb. 27, 2021)

THIS WEEK 
• The Portland Pilots are set for their final home regular season games against the San Diego Toreros and the Pepperdine Waves.
• They'll play USD on Thursday at 7 p.m. and Pepperdine on Saturday at noon.
• The game against Pepperdine will be televised 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 17-8 after winning their shootout against the Saint Mary's Gaels.
• The win helped the Pilots snap a three-game skid -- their only losing streak of the season -- and gave them their best record through 25 games since the 1997-98 season.
• Alex Fowler led the way with an impressive 26 points, eight rebounds and five assists. It's her eighth time this season scoring 20 points or more and her 18th time leading the Pilots in scoring.
• She moved up to sixth all-time in career points among all Pilots. She has 1,469 points.
• Fowler -- who's earned WCC Player of the Week honors three times this year --  is first in the WCC in field-goal percentage (56.3%) and fourth in points (17.5) and rebounds per game (7.6).
• Three other Pilots scored in double digits against Saint Mary's, with Maddie Muhlheim scoring 19, Rose Pflug scoring 16 and Maisie Burnham adding 10
• Muhlheim's 19 points and five threes were both season-highs.
• Pflug's 16 matches her career-high as a Pilot, making this the third game she's hit that mark this year. She's averaged 11.4 points and 3.6 assists over the last eight games.
• Burnham led the Pilots in scoring in the five games prior to Monday's game. She's scored in double digits in each of the last six games, averaging 16.3 points per contest.
• Lucy Cochrane has been one of the best defensive players in the country, leading the nation in blocks per game (3.9) and ranking second in total blocks (89). Her 89 blocks are the second most from any Pilot at the DI level over the course of a season, and she is only eight blocks away from tying the school record.
• 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 five different games.
• Cochrane's career-high of nine blocks in a game -- which she's done twice -- is more than any Pilot in the 2000s. The Pilots as a team hadn't had a game where they'd blocked at least nine shots since 2015.
• Portland ranks second in the WCC in points per game (71.4), assists per game (18.6), total assists (464), steals per game (11.1) and blocks per game (4.8).
• Nationally, Portland's assist average ranks sixth while their total number is ninth.
• 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 winner, 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 (55.1%), third in scoring average (17.5) and sixth in rebounding average (7.6).
• Andrews is second in assists all-time in program history among Pilots who only played Division I basketball (525). She is second in assist average (5.2). Andrews is fourth in assists all-time.
• 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.
• Fowler -- who sits at 1,469 points currently -- has a chance to break into the top five in scoring by the end of the year.
• Andrews currently sits at sixth all-time.
• Among the other key returners is Maddie Muhlheim, who is the Pilots' career leader in three-pointers at 266 total and in games played at 137.
• 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.
• Among other notable accomplishments for Muhlheim, this year she became the 30th Pilot to score 1,000 points for her career, doing so in Portland's overtime win over Santa Clara.
• 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.
• Shearer took WCC Freshman of the Week honors earlier this season.

THE HEAD COACH
• The Pilots are under the guidance of third-year head coach Michael Meek.
• Meek ranks seventh in career winning percentage (282-67, .808) 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 San Diego Toreros are 14-13 with a 6-9 record in WCC play while the Pepperdine Waves are 8-14 with a 4-9 record in WCC play.
• Both teams took losses in their most recent bouts, with the Toreros falling to the Saint Mary's Gaels and the Waves losing against the San Francisco Dons.
• Cindy Fisher is in her 18th season as head coach of the Toreros while Kristen Dowling is in her third.