PORTLAND PILOTS (18-9, 8-7 WCC)
WEEK 17: vs. LMU/Pepperdine/Saint Mary's

vs. LMU/Pepperdine/Saint Mary's
Day: Saturday
Date: March 5, 2022
Place: Las Vegas, Nev.
Time: 1:30 PM
Gym: Orleans Arena
TV: ROOT Sports NW/BYU TV
Radio: 910-ESPN (Stream Only)
Online Video/Stats: PortlandPilots.com

Portland at the tourney...
All-Time: 19-28 
Best Finish: Champions in 1994 & 2020 
2021: L, POR 56, LMU 74 (March 5, 2021)

THIS WEEK 
• The WCC Tournament is here, and the Portland Pilots will get to wait until the quarterfinals of the tourney before they face their opponent.
• They'll play one of either Saint Mary's, Pepperdine or Loyola Marymount.
• The quarterfinal matchup will take place on Saturday, March 5 at 1:30 p.m.
• The game will be broadcast on ROOT Sports NW and BYU TV with a radio stream on 910-ESPN.
• Check PortlandPilots.com for more information.

ABOUT THE PILOTS
• The Portland Pilots finished the regular season with an 18-9 record overall and an 8-7 record in WCC play after rollicking the Pepperdine Waves 85-49. 
• That record is 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.
• With the Pilots finishing fourth, they advance straight to the quarterfinals of the WCC Tournament.
• 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 (55.9%) and fourth in points (17.6) and rebounds per game (7.8).
• Fowler hit the prestigous benchmark of over 1,500 points for her career. Only five other Pilots at the NCAA Division I level have hit that mark and only six all-time have done so.
• The power forward also sits at 666 rebounds, good for 10th all-time among all Pilots and seventh among Pilots who only played at the DI level.
• 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 10 games. She's started the last nine games.
• 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 (100). Her 100 blocks broke 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 eight 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 (71.9), steals per game (11.6), assists per game (18.4), total assists (498) and total steals (312).
• Of the rankings above, nationally, they rank eighth in assists per game, 10th in steals per game (11.6), 11th in total steals (312) and 13th in total assists (498).
• 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%), third in scoring average (17.5) and sixth in rebounding average (7.7).
• 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 1,505 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 267 total and in games played at 139.
• 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 (283-68, .806) 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 Saint Mary's Gaels are the No. 5 seed in the WCC Tournament after finishing with a 15-14 record overall and a 9-9 record in WCC play.
• Paul Thomas is in his 16th year in charge of the Gaels.
• The Pepperdine Waves finished the regular season eighth after dropping their only game against the Pilots last Saturday. They finished 8-16 and 4-11 in WCC play.
• Kristen Dowling is in her third season as head coach of the Waves.
• Finally, the Loyola Marymount Lions ended the year ninth in the WCC, finishing with a 9-18 record overall and a 4-13 record in WCC play.
• Aarika Hughes is in her first year in charge of the Lions. She also played high school and middle school basketball under Portland head coach Michael Meek.