Box Score
SEATTLE, Wash. --- The Washington Huskies led big at the half and never looked back en route to a 75-44 win over the Portland Pilots in the first round of the Women’s Basketball Invitational at Bank of America Arena on Wednesday night. The Pilots end the season at 18-13 and register their most wins during a year since the 1997-98 campaign.
This marked the second straight post-season visit for the Pilots, who advanced to the WNIT last year.
But it wasn’t meant to be on Saturday night as the Pilots scored the first basketball of the game, enjoying their only lead at 2-0. From there, the Huskies would claim leads of 12-2, 38-18 and finally 46-20 at the half.
The second half merely academic as UW built leads as big as 37.
The loss overshadows an otherwise successful season for the Pilots, who put together back-to-back winning records for the first time in ten years. It’s also the fifth time since Portland moved up to the NCAA Division level in 1986 to win at least 18 games.
The game also marks the end of the Laiken Dollente era, as UP’s lone senior finishes her illustrious career as the No. 3 scorer in program history with 1,874 points. Dollente, who had 11 points on Saturday, will leave her mark all over the UP record books. She led the Pilots with five boards against the Huskies.
Portland junior Lauren Angel had a solid game offensively for the Pilots, finishing with a team-high 14 points. Angel hit two three-pointers. Sophomore forward Alexis Gannis tallied nine points.
The Huskies are now 13-17 on the season and advance to play the winner between Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Cal State Bakersfield.
UW could seemingly do no wrong on Saturday, shooting 47.8 percent (32-for-67) from the floor, and more importantly outrebounded the Pilots 41-27. The Huskies scored 18 second chance points and had five players score in double figures. Sami Whitcomb hit three three-pointers and led Washington with 15 points.
The Pilots shot 34.7 percent (17-for-49) from the field and were hurt by 23 turnovers, which led to 25 UW points.
