2022 - 2023 Schedule/Season

Oh this is awful news.  What a thoroughly unjust end to the college career of one of Pilots basketball's all-time greats.  After I saw her walk through the handshake line, I was hoping against hope that it was just a bad sprain and that she'd be able to come back after a couple of weeks.

With as well as the team has been playing since Haylee came back, I suspect that this year--much like last year after she went down in the BYU upset--is going to have a big "what if?" next to it for most Pilots fans. But at least for now, I'll try to just focus my thoughts on remembering maybe the most iconic shot in UP history:

https://twitter.com/PortlandWBB/status/1237120317283119105

Impressive bounce-back performance tonight in Moraga. Alex Fowler was her usual self (18 points, 6 boards, 3 blocks, 2 assists, and 2 steals in 23 minutes), but this was a real all-around team win.

Rob's Jacket wrote:Impressive bounce-back performance tonight in Moraga. Alex Fowler was her usual self (18 points, 6 boards, 3 blocks, 2 assists, and 2 steals in 23 minutes), but this was a real all-around team win.

It was a good bounce-back win, but I still would like to see Coach Meek go deeper and longer into his bench.

Almost halfway through WCC play and all the teams are feeling the effects of practicing hard since the beginning of the school year.  Fatigue brings on injuries, and the Pilots have had their share this season.  There might have been a time this season when everyone suited up, but it was a long time ago.

Every player wants to play and show they deserve to be on the court and not just play "scrub time" ball...going deep into the bench helps the starters and the reserves.  

Great to see walk-on Chance Bucher go for 2-2 from behind the arc in 4 minutes tonight.

Two important road wins (SMC and UOP) over the weekend after the emotional season ending game for Haylee against GU last Saturday.

Good to see Maisie and Emme finding their stride in their second year on The Bluff because Alex cannot carry the scoring burden alone if the Pilots are going to finish in the top two leading to Las Vegas.

DoubleDipper wrote:Alex is the WCC Player of the Week!

Alex will graduate in May, but has one year of eligibility left if she wants to use it.   She has told me and others that it is "50/50" with regards to her returning next season.  She has said more than once that she would like to play in Europe, especially on the team in Spain that UP grads Kate Andersen and Sara Zaragoza play on.

Three weeks later and Alex is again the WCC Player of the Week!

https://portlandpilots.com/news/2023/1/23/womens-basketball-fowler-named-wcc-player-of-the-week-for-second-time.aspx

Come out and support the women this week as they take on Pepperdine at 6pm on Thursday and LMU at 7pm on Saturday after the men play Gonzaga at 4pm.  And if you get the chance, tell Alex how much you hope she will return next year to perhaps help make the Pilots the best UP Women' Basketball team ever.

Alex is just an amazing player.   She's not as tall as most of her opponents. She is certainly not as big and hefty.  Nowadays, she gets double and triple teamed to prevent her from getting the ball or stop her from scoring if she does get it.  She gets pushed, shoved, slapped, and roughed up trying to score or rebound. And yet, she finds a way to perform every game.  She deserves every accolade she gets.  We'd be incredibly fortunate to have her back for another year.

bullwinkle wrote:Alex is just an amazing player.   She's not as tall as most of her opponents. She is certainly not as big and hefty.  Nowadays, she gets double and triple teamed to prevent her from getting the ball or stop her from scoring if she does get it.  She gets pushed, shoved, slapped, and roughed up trying to score or rebound. And yet, she finds a way to perform every game.  She deserves every accolade she gets.  We'd be incredibly fortunate to have her back for another year.

I differ with the characterization of Alex somewhat. Yes she is most of what is claimed, most particularly "an amazing player." But declaring  that "[s]he certainly is not big . . ."  misses perhaps Alex's most noticeable attribute. Have you looked at the shoulders on that young lady; they are wide and well muscled, big. A linebacker's shoulders. She is big where it counts. She is not "hefty" but strong as can be without being hefty.

Sandberg wrote of Chicago that it was the "City of Big Shoulders," "stormy, husky, brawling." Alex's play on the court is reminiscent of some of Sandberg's words. And, like Chicago, she is in essence the center of commerce of the Pilots, both offensively and defensively.

Regardless, we would indeed be fortunate to have Alex back next year.

Can't believe I wrote this but there you have it.

A couple of notes, Lucy Cochrane did not sit on the bench at Pacific as far as I could tell. I am assuming she was not in Stockton. Is it possible that Lucy has suffered a set back? Or not? We will find out on Thursday if not before. I hope Lucy is suited up and plays Thursday.

There was mention above that Burnham and Shearer had found their stride as players. I would note that Frawley and Meek have played quite well of late too. Last year we had Rose Plug to pick up after Haylee went down: this year it will need to be more of a collective effort, and so far it has been.

GAMEDAY!!

Very improved Pepperdine (grad-transfers) visits the Chiles Center at 6pm today.

Yes, the game is televised on the CW with Ann and Jenn on the call, but I am confident the team would much prefer the fans were in the seats behind them tonight.

bullwinkle wrote:Alex is just an amazing player.   She's not as tall as most of her opponents. She is certainly not as big and hefty.  Nowadays, she gets double and triple teamed to prevent her from getting the ball or stop her from scoring if she does get it.  She gets pushed, shoved, slapped, and roughed up trying to score or rebound. And yet, she finds a way to perform every game.  She deserves every accolade she gets.  We'd be incredibly fortunate to have her back for another year.

Implied in the comment above is that Alex has outsized hand eye(and hand foot given the number of pivots and moves in the paint) coordination, good basketball instincts and notable determination and grit, competitiveness, to succeed as she does. I agree.

Watching her score last night was enjoyable, and included a display of virtually every way a player can score.

Welcome back Lucy

The three point shot has become quite the weapon for the Pilots.

Go Pilots.

wrv wrote:Watching her score last night was enjoyable, and included a display of virtually every way a player can score.

Agreed!!

In the first quarter if looked as if PU's #15 Jane Nwaba was going to dominate the game with her scoring, rebounding, and swatting the ball to her teammates, but Coach Meek made good moves by bringing Keeley in to get physical with her and also inserted MJ to harass #0 and holding her to 7 points, 6 below her season average. (I spoke with MJ after the game, and she confirmed she was knocked woozy by a shoulder during a rebound attempt by #0 and did not know if she would have to go through the concussion protocol).

PU was without its leading scorer last night due to injury, and head coach Kristen Dowling is apparently still out of action due to illness and has not coached any WCC games this season.

Checked-in with Haylee last night just to see how she was doing emotionally after her injury, and she appeared to be doing surprisingly well.  After her surgery today, she is anxious to finish out the school year and head back to Australia to eventually begin a professional career. (I didn't ask her how her boyfriend, who is eyeing a professional baseball career, fit into those plans.)

GAMEDAY!

Everyone knows Gonzaga is in town to play the men at 4pm today, but it’s the women who have a chance to solidify their hold on 2nd place in the WCC when they play LMU at 7pm…but it won’t be easy.
 
In their first meeting in Los Angeles, Haylee scored 23 points and Alex scored 24, but we know half that duo is no longer available. Also, LMU outscored UP 41-36 in the second-half in that game, so it is going to take a 40-minute effort if the Pilots are to win again.  

Barring the unforeseen, Alex will break the UP D1 scoring record when she scores her 10th point tonight.  The current D1 scoring record (1,953) is held by Dr. Martha Sheldon Scotty, DMD, now an Oral Surgeon living in Beaufort, SC, and a 1992 UP grad. Martha averaged 17.8 ppg in her 110 games as a Pilot.



The distinction here is it is the D1 record, because UP played women’s basketball as a member of the NAIA from 1977 to 1986, and the leading scorer during that era was the incomparable Lorena Lagarde. Over the course of her career, Lorena averaged a double-double with 20.2 points and 11 rebounds per game on her way to a total of 2,568 career points and 1.393 career rebounds.  

Lorena will be inducted into the WCC Hall of Honor in March in Las Vegas, she is already in the PIL and UP Halls of Fame.

Fowler scored exactly 10 point tonight.

Pilots played a sloppy game, making 18 turnovers and allowing 17 offensive rebounds to LMU. But the defense was suffocating, holding LMU to 9 first half points, and basically putting the game away with a 20-2 2nd quarter.

BYU lost at UOP, giving the Pilots a 3-game margin from 2nd place to 3rd place.

up7587 wrote:Fowler scored exactly 10 point tonight..

It does no good to criticize the officiating here, but it feels good to get it off my chest...it was deplorable (again).

Alex remained cool and resolute despite being mugged on every possession, and despite the two male referees calling the slightest bump against the home team at crucial moments.  

Finally, Alex got a couple of calls, sank 4 free-throws to set the new scoring record, and her teammates went wild in celebration.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a First Team All-WCC player who gets less respect from officials than Alex Fowler does, particularly when it comes to off the ball fouls.  I wonder how many more points she would have right now if she'd gotten the 10-12 free throws per game that she's deserved over the past four years.

LMU is a team that's given the Pilots fits over the past few years, so this was a big win, but next week's road trip will be huge. I expect the Dons (Doñas?) and Broncos will play much better than they did in their visits to the Chiles Center earlier this year.

I gotta confess, I clapped a little when LMU finally got a layup to close out the second quarter.

Geezaldinho wrote:I gotta confess, I clapped a little when LMU finally got a layup to close out the second quarter.

Oh yea, I admit to rooting for the ball to eventually drop for LMU.

There must have been at least 20 shots during the course of the game that just rolled around the rim and wouldn't go in for them. Cling Wrap, perhaps?

Rob's Jacket wrote:I'm not sure I've ever seen a First Team All-WCC player who gets less respect from officials than Alex Fowler does, particularly when it comes to off the ball fouls.  I wonder how many more points she would have right now if she'd gotten the 10-12 free throws per game that she's deserved over the past four years.

Nice to see this confirmed by others.  My wife and I talk about this at almost every game.

Alex Fowler WCC Player of the Week, Part III...

https://portlandpilots.com/news/2023/1/30/womens-basketball-fowler-wins-wcc-player-of-the-week-after-record-breaking-weekend.aspx

First tuned in in the 2nd when they were clawing back from a large deficit, tuned in again in the 4th when they were down double digits, then right when the men's game hit halftime, Twitter told me it was OT so tuned it back in again when they barely scraped by for the win.

Santa Clara pulled off the upset against the Zags at home that we couldn't finish, so now it's a tie for 1st in conference play.

In San Francisco tonight to watch the women fall behind by as many as 16 points, as I recall, but when USF's excellent F/C from Kelowna fouled out, the Pilots went on 18-0 tear, but still a last second 3-pointer by the Dons took it to OT.

The latter part of the fourth quarter and OT was really all about Alex and McKelle hitting free-throw after free-throw.  Alex was 10-10 and McKelle was 4-4, while the Pilots were 21-23.

The team was obviously pleased to overcome the 2-point technical given to Coach Meek for continuing to complain when the ref had told him he'd heard enough, but they were acting like giddy school kids when I told them Gonzaga had lost at SCU.

I had a nice chat with former UP and now USF AD, Larry Williams who offered me courtside seating amongst a bunch of disappointed people wearing green.

Next up, at SCU on Saturday at 2pm.

Great win to sneak away with, but very lucky, with the late 18-0 run not able to be banked on every game.

Shalllowest rotation game yet for the team. Lots of minutes for only 7 players interesting in the context of earlier comments in here about fatigue and injury. Pressing D all game long with little rotation will be interesting for how they finish out the season with injury and exhaustion, starting with trying to get recovered and ready for the next SCU match up.

Used to be something we loved watching with this team in past years was frequent deep rotations, even of developing players, to keep the run fresh and pressure going non stop.

DoubleDipper wrote:Next up, at SCU on Saturday at 2pm.

Just checked to see how SCU beat GU on Thursday night:

The Zags played shorthanded again with Eliza Hollingsworth out in concussion protocol.

Overall, Gonzaga shot 47.4 percent from the floor and went 56.3 percent from beyond the arc, draining nine. Santa Clara shot 53.1 percent and made 10 three-pointers to go 50 percent from the three-point line.

The Zags outrebounded the Broncos 30-24, with 6-1 freshman Yvonne Ejim grabbing a team-high of seven. Both teams forced 18 turnovers with Gonzaga scoring 25 points off SCU's miscues. Gonzaga also had nine steals on the night, with Ejim grabbing four of those.

The  San Francisco announcer who said he had been announcing USF games for 30 years or so, indicated sometime in OT, that Alex Fowler, in his view, was "one of" the best players to come through the conference during those 30 years. He also described her, as we know, as adept at many facets of the game. Nice compiment.

Had to listen again to get that right.

He also interjected that he had never seen a team go on an 18-0 run, as did the Pilots, to overcome a deficit, so late in a game.

Mckelle Meek has picked up her play. She is an asset to the team.

Emme Shearer's 3 point shooting was important to the Pilots in the 4th quarter and in overtime, as was her defence.

Alex Fowler also aided Pilot efforts last night.

Tess Heal is a handful and is without doubt a rising star in this conference. It will be a tall order for the Pilots to keep her in check on Saturday.

Well shootfire ladies. Nice win over a skilled opponent fresh off their win over the Zags, as indicated.

Impressive. Nice to see Lucy starting again and detering shots in the middle. Really nice game Kaitu'u.

To crow a little: we're pretty good. 12-1 in conference.

Is Fowler the odds on favorite to win conference player of the year? 26 points today.

You would think that Coach Meek is a serious candidate for COY.

Go  Pilots.

Kaitu'u with 21 points on 8-12 (1-1) shooting and 4-4 on FTs.

Fowler and Kaitu'u took 57.7% of the shots.