Pilots vs. LMU Thursday @ 7; Pepperdine Saturday @ 1

With ZERO WCC wins, and only two total wins on the season, Portland (2-14/0-5) has a chance this week to break into the win column against LMU (2-14/0-5) and PU (6-10/1-4).  If you are going to the PU game on Saturday, it starts at 1 PM, NOT at 2 as originally scheduled.

UP's problem has not been an inability to score.....but poor defense and turnovers are killing them.  It's been a point of emphasis from Day One of practice, but frankly, it's still very difficult to watch at times.

On offense Senior Cassandra Brown has scored at least 20 points in four out of the last five games and is averaging 20.6 points against WCC foes, and she has a team-best eight games this season of at least 20 points.

Senior Kari Luttinen (1,151) and Brown (1,146) became 1,000 career point scorers earlier this season, and senior Jasmine Wooton (955 points) is also poised to join the 1,000 point club very soon. 

Brown leads the WCC in three-point shooting (.440, 40-for-91), is second in three-pointers made, fourth in free throw percentage (43-for-49, .878) and ranks fifth in scoring; her 20.6 points per game against league opponents ranks second.

So the offense is there.....let's just hope UP can take care of the ball and get some STOPS!  (Hmm, that sure sound familiar).

Pilots Win.....83-65.

A fun game to watch.  Excellent ball movement and teamwork on the Pilots part....lots of hustle and even some diving for loose balls.

Jasmine Wooton needed to score 45 points over the remainder of the season coming into tonight's game to reach the 1,000 point plateau....she now only needs 15!

Balanced scoring with four players in double figures, and accurate three-point shooting (9-13) and free-throw shooting (26-33) sent the Lions to another WCC defeat.

As neither team had won a WCC game coming into tonight's contest I thought it might be a very sloppy game....but instead it was well played on both sides.  Twelve turnovers for each team may seem a lot to some, but UP has had as many as 28 in a game this year.  Of the twelve only a few were sloppy, the others were just being aggressive while pushing the ball up court.

It was fast paced and fun....and you can't ask for much more than that....especially when it results in Coach Sorenson's first WCC win as a head coach.

For Pilots fans needing a reason to smile....here are the highlights of UP's win over LMU:

The good guys held service as UP demolished the Waves at home 80-61

Cassie Brown dropped thirty, Jasmine Wooton joined Brown and Lutinen in the 1K club, and the Pilots lead every statistical category.
( we also lead in Turnovers with 18, but hey)

UP was up by 4 at the half, but dropped to 43-44 with about 12 remaining. After that, it was all Pilots.

An interesting stat is that only 4 Pilots got in the scoring ledger.Thompson had 14, Lutinen had 17, Wooten tallied 19, and Brown lead everybody with 30.  They only missed one of 24 FT's  between them. The rest of the team only took 4 shots and 3 FT's, hitting none.

The same four players accounted for 23 of UP's 34 rebounds as well. Thompson and Lutinen each had 9.

Another interesting statistic was that Pepperdine had no free throws in the first half and had 22 in the 2nd half. The Pilots had 18 over the whole game.

A_Fan wrote:Another interesting statistic was that Pepperdine had no free throws in the first half and had 22 in the 2nd half.  The Pilots had 18 over the whole game.  

Actually, UP had 27 for the game and 18 for the second half.

And UP shot 83% of them while Pepp shot 64%

Dang, you are right!

Wonderful communication on both ends of the court led to excellent ball control, ball movement, and defensive stops.

This game and the game against LMU on Thursday were textbook for teamwork and communication.  I'm sure the coaching staff and the players were happy to see the break through this week after beginning WCC play at 0-5.

As noted, only four players scored....all of whom are seniors, but the bench scoring was great!  For some reason, CB (Cassandra Brown) didn't start, but dropped 30 on the night.  The future is now!

When the teams reach the WCC Tournament in Las Vegas only the top two teams avoid playing on Thursday, and instead begin play on Friday.

After 4 weeks of WCC play:

GU    7-0
SMC  6-1
USD  6-2
BYU  6-2
UOP  5-2
USF  2-5
UP    2-5
SCU  1-6
PU    1-6
LMU  0-7

DoubleDipper wrote:When the teams reach the WCC Tournament in Las Vegas only the top two teams avoid playing on Thursday, and instead begin play on Friday.

After 4 weeks of WCC play:

GU    7-0
SMC  6-1
USD  6-2
BYU  6-2
UOP  5-2
USF  2-5
UP    2-5
SCU  1-6
PU    1-6
LMU  0-7

Quite the haves and have nots there.