Pilots @ SMC Thursday @ 6 and @ PU Saturday @ 2

The road can be a very tough environment for many teams, but the Pilots (4-5) tough preseason road schedule has helped them to two WCC road wins already, at Santa Clara and LMU. I look for at least one more this weekend.

St. Mary’s (6-2) is second only to Gonzaga in terms of depth and skill, so that should prove to be a very tough game for the Pilots on Thursday when the two teams play each other for the first time this year.

Pepperdine (1-eight) lost by 6 to the Pilots just last Thursday, but they are a team on the upswing. The question is, are the Pilots improving even more as they get deeper into a tougher second half schedule?

It’s always been an axiom that a split on the road is a good thing….let’s hope the Pilots get at least one win this week; I'm sure they're looking for two!

I suppose there are no losses that are "moral victories," but the Pilots 58-53 loss at St. Mary's should prove to them they are capable of staying with the best teams in the WCC.

Down by as much as 16 in the second half, then closing to within 1 very late on the back of Freshman Annika Holopainen, these Pilots are evolving into a very good TEAM!

It's good to see and fun to watch.

Blowout in Malibu....Pilots win 73-34.

Was able to watch the live feed on my tablet while also watching the men's game at the Chiles Center.....guess which was more enjoyable!

http://www.wbbstate.com/games/103560

Uh, wow. There are some numbers in Pepperdine's box score I've never seen before.

18% from the field

Nobody with more than six points

An offensive efficiency of 0.44. Yikes (you want it at about a point per possession).

And I though the Pilot men had a rough day.

I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed such a lopsided game. The Pilots had 20 turnovers, but they really had no bearing on the outcome, as PU had 22 turnovers and the Pilots converted those into 25 points.

Good to see the guards getting into the rhythm today….unusual to have our two point guards and shooting guard combine for so many points.

The only available player who did not score was junior Amy Pupa….but we don’t worry about her; she’s the leader of the team.

Home against USF and SMC this coming week….both are teams we’ve already lost to on the road. For those of you thinking of attending….two notes of caution: The Thursday game against USF is on Valentine’s Day (my wife has already said, “OK”), and the Saturday game was originally scheduled as an afternoon game, but it’s been changed to a 7pm start to accommodate Junior’s Parents Weekend at UP.

I don’t recall a UP freshman being named WCC Player of the Week before, but now freshman Annika Holopainen, from Finland, has gained that honor after the Pilots’ split with SMC and PU this past weekend.

Holopainen is the second Portland player to earn the WCC’s Player of the Week honor this season after sophomore Kari Luttinen grabbed a pair of player of the week awards in December.

DoubleDipper wrote:I don’t recall a UP freshman being named WCC Player of the Week before,

Khalila O'Reilly-Williams during the second week in February of 2001

http://www.portlandpilots.com/news/2001/2/13/76609.aspx?path=wbball

Laiken Dollente in the second week of December 2006

http://www.portlandpilots.com/news/2006/12/11/64070.aspx?path=wbball

She dropped 30 on USF that January and apparently DIDN'T get the mention. Somebody else must have had a hell of a game.