PORTLAND, Ore. – Before the start of the 2021-22 season, Portland Pilots women's basketball head coach Michael Meek admitted that there was a sense of "What if?" stemming from the untimely end to the 2019-20 season. The Pilots had qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1997 after winning the WCC Championship, only to have it ripped away by a global pandemic.

It's not as strong, but that pervasive feeling looms slightly over this year. Portland's season was heavily disrupted by a tragic injury suffered by Haylee Andrews on Feb. 3 against BYU. Andrews was an All-WCC First Team selection the year prior, a team leader and one of the best point guards in the WCC. Then she tore her ACL, forced to sit out the rest of the season.

It was a turning point for the Pilots.

"At that point, we were 14-4 and, we didn't know it at the time, but we'd actually beaten or had wins against three teams that ended up being in the NCAA Tournament," Meek said. "I really feel like we were on a great path at that point."

Andrews's injury changed things. Instead of getting to fully celebrate a huge win over the then No. 16 team in the nation, Meek and company had to figure out how to adjust to life without one of their best players. Meek saw Andrews as a legitimate league MVP candidate, which isn't far-fetched for a player who led the WCC in scoring and assists in conference play last year. How do you replace that kind of production?

"I think from the whole program and from the coaches there was also an emotional letdown," Meek said. "A lot of that emotional letdown was because everyone felt so bad for her and also understood what a key component she was at that time."
 
Despite the injury, the Pilots put together a stellar year. They finished 20-11 overall and fourth in the WCC, earning a bid to the WNIT. They hosted – and won – a playoff game for the first time against Colorado State. It's just the fifth year they've hit 20 wins as a program and their second time doing so under Meek. Even with the adversity they've faced the past three years – missing out on the big dance, Andrews's injury, and more – everything is trending upward for Portland.

"I'm so proud of our players and our team," Meek said. "I feel like that in three years we've just come a long ways… If you would have told me that in year three that we would have been in the position we were in this year and play in the WNIT, win a game and be competitive all season long… I feel like the great thing is we can see a lot of things that we still can grow into."

In Andrews's absence, the burden of ball-handling duties fell to Rose Pflug, and the senior flourished in her new role. She averaged 11.1 points and 3.2 assists per game over the 13 games that Andrews missed. She put up a career-high 23 points with seven rebounds and four assists in Portland's opening round WNIT victory over Colorado State. She matched or bested her previous scoring high as a Pilot of 16 points four different times.

Pflug may have stepped up late in the year, but Meek says that work to stay ready started well before the start of the season. Few players stood out more for their improvements than Pflug, who had one of the strongest offseasons Meek has ever seen for a returning player.

"I don't know if I've ever seen anybody come in so prepared and really put herself in such a different place than she had been," Meek said. "I obviously thought she really stepped up and had a great ending… but it was more than that. I felt like she was just another really good leader."
 

Late season contributions from Pflug certainly boosted Portland's profile, but the impact of Portland's newcomers helped as well. Lucy Cochrane's stands out the most – literally. At 6'6", Cochrane's presence inside was invaluable for the Pilots, especially on the defensive end.

Cochrane was the top shot-blocker in the nation at 3.9 blocks per contest. Her 114 blocks not only ranked second in the country, but it bested the previous program record for blocks in a season – which was set in 1993 – by 17. Cochrane blocked five or more shots in nine different games. She hit a career-high of nine blocks twice this year. The Pilots as a team hadn't done that since 2015.

Meek felt that the Pilots' defense was severely impacted by their strange season in 2020-21, one where COVID made it nearly impossible for Portland to find a rhythm. With Cochrane in the fold, that changed in an instant.

"We made a really huge jump this season and I feel like a big part of it was Lucy's presence and Lucy's ability to change the game, to alter shots, to block shots," Meek said. "We made a humongous jump in our competitiveness defensively this year."

Cochrane's halfcourt defense was solid, but it's her coordination and fluidity that helps the Pilots play the full-court pressing style they like the most. The Pilots were 15^th in the nation and second in the WCC in steals per game at 11, with most of those turnovers being forced in the backcourt. They also blocked five shots per contest, leading the WCC in that category. If they weren't menacing teams with their press, they were stymieing teams at the hoop. Few teams were more disruptive than the Pilots.
 

"I feel there were so many positives in our effort in the jump that we made," Meek said. "What I feel so great about is I already have a great vision on areas that we can continue to improve on. We're already going to work on those things and are just really excited about the players we have coming in and who we have back."

Cochrane by herself was impressive, but plenty of other newcomers stood out for the Pilots. Maisie Burnham, a transfer from Eastern Washington, was one of the top scorers off the bench in the WCC and was the most efficient scorer for Portland down the stretch per Meek. Freshman MJ Bruno was a quality defender unafraid of mixing it up with bigger players. All sorts of players contributed to Portland's run of success.

Few, however, had an impact quite as big as returner Alex Fowler. As per usual, Fowler delivered when called upon. She averaged 17.1 points and eight rebounds per contest, good for fifth and third in the WCC. She was the most efficient scorer in the conference among qualified players at 53.1% and got to the line consistently. All of that was good enough to help her earn All-WCC First Team honors for the third time in three years.

"She's really growing in her leadership," Meek said. "The great thing is every year she comes back, and she's expanded her game."

That All-WCC First Team recognition makes her just the third Pilot to ever earn the honor three times. She is the first to do so since Laiken Dollente in 2010 and the first to do it three times in a row since Kristin Hepton in 1999.

It's not hyperbole to say that Fowler is already one of the best to ever play for the Pilots. This season, Fowler moved to fifth all-time in career points for a Pilot and fourth among those who just played Division I. She's one of only four Pilots to ever score 1,500 points in their career at 1,561. She also moved up to eighth in career rebounds at 704.
 

With two years of eligibility remaining, she could plausibly move into first all-time in both categories by next year among those who played at the NCAA Division I level. Meek notes that she easily could have higher totals this year if not due to cancellations of three games this season and five more last year due to COVID protocols.

"She's been about eight games short of what she could've played, and not because of her fault, but because of COVID reasons," Meek said. "She's setting a lot of records and jumping the list but she's been cut out of some of the games you'd normally get."

When Andrews went down, teams swarmed Fowler down in the paint. She got her buckets still, but she had to adjust because of the extra attention she was garnering. Most notably, she had six games with five or more assists, including hitting a career-high of eight twice. She only did that once before Andrews's injury. If anything, the extra attention allowed Fowler to show off  playmaking ability that she possessed.

"The great thing about Alex is that she is so humble and selfless, so if anything we have to keep pushing her to be more aggressive," Meek said. "She really feels good about seeing her teammates do well, which is an awesome attribute with your best players."

The Pilots' passing is the one thing that stands out most to Meek. They averaged 18.2 assists as a team this year, which was good for second in the WCC and seventh in the nation. They were among the top passing teams in the nation all season long, consistently in the top 10, just like last year. It's just another sign of a team that's coming together.

"That to me is a really valuable stat," Meek said. "And I think why I love it so much is because it means that we have a team full of players that are willing to share the ball. I think the best sign of a great player is how much you can make the players around you better, and I think we have a lot of players make player better around them."

The Pilots have set a new standard. They're no longer a spunky team that surprised the masses by winning the conference back in 2020. They're now a team with high expectations set not only by themselves, but by their peers. After three years of some of the best basketball on The Bluff in recent memory, the secret is out; that team in Portland can ball, and they're not going anywhere.

"I don't think there's any question that we have the most depth and talent that we've had," Meek says looking ahead to next season. "I feel like we've made a jump every year and so, like a lot of teams I think, our goal is to try and win the league championship and try to get to the NCAA Tournament."