PORTLAND PILOTS (20-10, 8-7 WCC)
WEEK 19: at Oregon State

at Oregon State Beavers
Day: Sunday
Date: March 20, 2022
Place: Corvallis, Ore.
Time: 4:00 PM
Gym: Gill Coliseum
Online Video: Pac-12.com
Stats: PortlandPilots.com

POR vs. OSU
Overall: 4-20  •  Last 5/10: 1-4/3-7
H: 3-7  •  A: 1-13  •  N: 0-0
Last: POR 45, @OSU 62 (Nov. 18, 2016)

THIS WEEK 
• The Portland Pilots have advanced to the second round of the WNIT and will face off against the Oregon State Beavers.
• The two teams will face off on Sunday, March 20 at 4 p.m.
• Check PortlandPilots.com for links to a live stream and live stats.

ABOUT THE PILOTS
• The Pilots currently sit at 20-10 after earning a win in the opening round of the WNIT against Colorado State.
• The win was Portland's first ever in the WNIT and just their third ever playoff victory.
• The win puts the Pilots at 20 wins for just the fifth time since Portland became an NCAA Division I program. It's their best record through 30 games since the 1996-97 season.
• The Portland Pilots finished the regular season with an 18-9 record overall and an 8-7 record in WCC play. That record was their best through 27 games since the 1997-98 season. That year, they finished third in the WCC.
• Their fourth-place finish marks Portland second top-five finish in three seasons under head coach Michael Meek. It's just the fourth time since 2010 they've finished in the top four.
• Three players earned All-WCC honors for their play this year, with Alex Fowler making All-WCC First Team, Haylee Andrews making All-WCC Second Team and Lucy Cochrane earning All-WCC Honorable Mention.
• Fowler -- who's earned WCC Player of the Week honors three times this year --  is first in the WCC in field-goal percentage (54.1%), fourth in points (17.3) and third in rebounds per game (8.1).
• Fowler moved to fifth all-time in program history in career points against the Rams, with her 16 points putting her at 1,551 career points. Her 13 rebounds also matched a season-high total and put her at eighth in program history in rebounds at 697.
• Among Pilots who only played NCAA Division I basketball, Fowler is fourth in career points and fifth in career rebounds.
• Fowler is just the third Pilot to earn first team honors three times in her career and the first since Laiken Dollente in 2010. She is the only Pilot besides Kristin Hepton to do so three times in a row.
• Rose Pflug has impressed ever since stepping in as a starter for Portland. She's averaged 11.4 points per game in each of her last 13 games. She's started the last 12 games.
• Pflug scored a career-high 23 points against Colorado State to help the Pilots secure the win. She also had a career-high seven rebounds.
• Lucy Cochrane has been one of the best defensive players in the country, leading the nation in blocks per game (4.0) and ranking second in total blocks (111). She already has the school record for blocks in a season.
• 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 nine 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.
• Despite suffering a knee injury in early February, Andrews averaged a WCC-leading 5.7 assists per game and finished seventh in total assists with 107.
• Portland ranks first in the WCC in blocks per game (5.0) and second in points per game (71.1), steals per game (11.1), assists per game (18.3), total assists (548) and total steals (334).
• Of the rankings above, nationally, they rank eighth in assists per game and 14th in steals per game, total assists and total steals.
• 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 (54.4%), third in scoring average (17.4) and fifth in rebounding average (7.8).
• 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.
• 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 270 total and in games played at 141.
• 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 17th in career winning percentage (285-69, .805) 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 Oregon State Beavers are 15-13 on the year and 6-9 in Pac-12 play.
• They most recently took down Long Beach State 70-59 in the opening round of the WNIT.
• Prior to this season, the Beavers had qualified for the NCAA Tournamnet in each of the past eight seasons.
• Scott Rueck serves as head coach of the Beavers, with this being his 12th season.
• Rueck was the previous head coach at George Fox University before taking the OSU job. Michael Meek was the coach that took over for Rueck at George Fox.