2015-2016 Schedule

This year's preseason schedule is once again a tough one, with games against Pac-12 foes, Oregon, Oregon State, and Washington, a November trip to Montana to play Montana and Montana St., and two Thanksgiving weekend games at home against Weber State and UC Davis.

The schedule shows the women playing @ LMU twice (12/21 & 2/6), with no home games against LMU.....I'm assuming that's a mistake!

http://portlandpilots.com/schedule.aspx?path=wbball&tab=womensbasketball

The Pilots also announced the addition of a very young first-time coach, Drew Muscatell.  There is currently no indication on the website who Coach Muscatell is replacing.  

http://portlandpilots.com/news/2015/8/21/WBB_0821151041.aspx

DoubleDipper wrote:The Pilots also announced the addition of a very young first-time coach, Drew Muscatell.  There is currently no indication on the website who Coach Muscatell is replacing.  

Apparently Coach Megan Osmer is leaving UP and Portland to join her boyfriend who has been transferred to Philly.

We'll miss you Coach, and we'll always remember what a big hit you were on TV waving the Canadian flag and wearing your Portland Pilots shirt when CB won the national 3-point shooting competition.

The WCC coaches have voted, and once again this year the Pilots have been picked to come in dead-last.  

Unlike the women's soccer team that has only recently met with what is for them mediocrity, the women's basketball team has been bad for way too long.

Those of us who remember the heady days of the 90's can only hope for better things to come, but apparently it ain't gonna be this year!

1. GU
2. BYU
3. SMC
4. USD
5. USF
6. UOP
7. SCU
8. LMU
9. PU
10. UP

No Pilots were selected to the preseason All-WCC Team.

With emphasis on the positive, UP beat Warner-Pacific in a exhibition game at the Chiles Center tonight, 70-67, but this Pilots team has a long, long way to go if they are to win some WCC games.

Despite their uneven play, the Pilots looked like they had the game in hand, but then to start the 4th quarter the Pilots just seemed to fall over as W-P went on a 22-4 run to take a 6 point lead with about 2 minutes left.

But thanks to College of the Sequoias CC transfer Corissa Turley, who scored 7 points, and Kaylie Van Loo who sank the 2 deciding free-throws during a 9-0 UP run, the Pilots walked away victorious while some of the fans walked away shaking their head.

Monday night is a chance to see the best Women's team in the state and maybe on the West Coast at the Chiles Center when Oregon State comes to play the Pilots.

A_Fan wrote:Monday night is a chance to see the best Women's team in the state and maybe on the West Coast at the Chiles Center when Oregon State comes to play the Pilots.  

Well, not to get ahead of ourselves, but the Pilot House bar opens at 4PM today and the Women's Basketball team plays Willamette U. at 5PM.....TODAY!!

A "win is a win," as they say.

With only 10 scholarship players available (out of 11) and 6 newcomers on the team, there was a lot of uneven play this evening, but also some good shooting.

Everyone got to play and the Pilots now have the first game under the belts....but it's going to be a lot tougher schedule moving forward.

Good beer and burgers after the game at the Pilot House....

From what we saw of Ellie Woerner yesterday, she's a player.

D1 scholarship limit is 15. Is the program underfunded?

Geezaldinho wrote:From what we saw of Ellie Woerner yesterday, she's a player.

We can only hope Ellie continues to shoot like she did on Saturday night.  She was really only an average shooter in high school, shooting 30% from behind the arc, and 39% overall in her senior year....but yeah, she couldn't miss against Willamette U., shooting 3/5 & 8/10 for 19 points.

The thing about Ellie, she's an athlete.  As I recall, she was a 3-sport star in Sammamish, playing basketball, volleyball, and running the 100 yard hurdles and the 4x100 relay....so she's got game.

At 6-0 she may have a bit of height advantage over other guards/wings, but being a sprinter, she's obviously not very big....we'll just have to wait an see how she performs against tougher competition.....but yeah, she's a player!

Geezaldinho wrote:D1 scholarship limit is 15. Is the program underfunded?

Well, yes and no.

As you know, UP has generally had 13 players on scholarship, so in that way, yes, the team might be underfunded.  But 13 is really the max number of players Coach Sollars ever wanted at one time, and Coach Sorenson's thinking is somewhat the same....except for this year.

It is my understanding that Coach Sorenson could have filled the two remaining spots, but what would have been the point of doing so if those two players would never play?  Her feeling is it is better to spread the classes out (next year there will be 5 seniors, 3 juniors, 3 sophomores, and 2 freshmen) and give everyone a chance to get off the bench and gain experience as she builds the program.  

With only one senior on this year's team (she's currently injured), next year's team has 30 games this year to practice for next year....and as there are really no expectations....anything better than last in the WCC would be considered an accomplishment.....why not!

Well, anyway I learned something in the first half.

If two players on the same team are both grabbing the ball you call a jump ball.

Geezaldinho wrote:Well, anyway I learned something in the first half.

If two players on the same team are both grabbing the ball you call a jump ball.

Haha, yeah, I asked the referee evaluator about this "new rule," his response was to simply shake his head.  

The Pilots lost by 44 points to #9 OSU tonight in front a lot of Orange in the stands, but IMO UP's effort and performance was much better this evening than it was against Willamette U. on Saturday.

Regardless of the numbers, the Pilots showed wonderful teamwork and ball movement while playing tough against a much bigger and more athletic team.

Many of UP's turnovers or missed shots were not because of poor play, but because the UP players were surrounded by at least six Beavers who were 6-3 or more, including one who was 6-6, and two others that were 6-4 and 6-5.

I was proud of UP's new toughness...Coach Sorenson is keeping here word, "we will be tougher this year."

Many of UP's turnovers or missed shots were not because of poor play, but because the UP players were surrounded by at least six Beavers who were 6-3 or more,

I'm not at all surprised the refs forgot to count the number of beaver players on the court....

The team played hard, but they have to do better against the pick and roll. Lots of un defended lay ups.

Number 22 is UP's leading scorer through two games, freshman Ellie Woerner, but you can see part of the reason she was held to 9 points last night.

In this picture she's being guarded by two Canadians!! One is 6-3 and the other 6-6.

Finally!!

UP hangs on to beat Pepperdine in the Chiles Center for the team's first WCC win of the season and their third overall.

It was a nail biter...when it really shouldn't have been, but the women should be proud of their accomplishment when a lesser team would have just folded for the year after losing 11 straight WCC games.

It looked like the Pilots would cruise to their first win when they were ahead by 12 points with about 3 minutes remaining, but PU (also with only one WCC win this season) fought back with full court pressure that caused some Pilot miscues, and the Waves tied the game.  But with just seconds left, junior Kaylie Van Loo sank both her free-throws to pull out the 81-79 win.

The Pilots shot 50% from the field and a tidy 20-26 from the line, numbers that normally would guarantee a victory, but PU had a player that scored 34 points, including the game tying jumper with just 33 seconds left in the game.