PORTLAND PILOTS (6-23, 4-14 WCC)
WEEK 16: The WCC Tourney
 
San Diego Toreros (13-15, 7-11 WCC)
Day: Thursday
Date: March 2, 2017
Place: Las Vegas, Nev.
Time: Appx. 2:00 PM
Gym: Orleans Arena
TV: BYUtv
Online Video: TheW.tv
Stats: PortlandPilots.com
 
POR vs. USD
Overall: 32-39  •  Last 5/10: 0-5/1-9
H: 17-15  •  A: 10-21  •  N: 5-3
Last: USD 72, @POR 54 (2/25/17)
 
THIS WEEK
• The Pilots make their annual trek to Las Vegas, Nev., this week for the 2016-17 West Coast Conference Basketball Championships at the Orleans Arena.
• The Pilots enter the tourney as the No. 10 seed and will open against No. 7 San Diego on Thursday afternoon, with tip-off scheduled for approximately 2 p.m.
• The winner between the Pilots and Toreros will advance to face No. 2 BYU on Friday.
 
LAST WEEK
• BYU pulled away from the Pilots in the fourth quarter to claim a 73-60 win last Thursday night at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah.
• Portland's Julie Spencer erupted for a career-high 23 points, to go along with 14 rebounds, as the Pilots remained within reach for most of the game; the Cougars out-scored the Pilots 19-10 during the final frame.
• Holly Blades buried six three-pointers during the loss.
• On Saturday at the Chiles Center, point guard Kaylie Van Loo celebrated senior day with a team-high 15 points, but the San Diego Toreros ended the regular season with a 72-54 win.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Senior Kaylie Van Loo was named to the All-WCC Second Team after garnering all-league honorable mention as a junior; the marketing major also landed on the WCC's All-Academic Team for the second straight year.
• Van Loo had a recent stretch of scoring at least 20 points in three straight games (Feb. 11-18), averaging 23.3 points during that span; she poured in a career-best 26 points during a win at Pacific (Feb. 16).
• The point guard out of Hillsboro, Ore., also just missed matching a program record when she recorded eight steals against Santa Clara on Jan. 5; Tami Standish holds the program record of nine steals, which she set in 2000.
• On Jan. 21, Van Loo went 10-for-11 at the free throw line against Gonzaga, becoming the first Pilot to hit 10 free throws in the same game since Cassandra Thompson in March of 2015; Van Loo has three games this season with 10 free throws.
• Van Loo leads the team in scoring (11.9 ppg) and she ranks second in the WCC in assists (5.1 apg) and in minutes (37.2), and she's third in steals (2.1); against WCC teams she's averaging 14.2 points, which ranks ninth, and she's second in steals (2.6).
• She's dished a career-best nine assists three times this year.
• Senior Holly Blades is third in the WCC in overall three-pointers with 61, which ranks fifth on UP's all-time single season chart.
• Blades matched a program record when she buried seven three-pointers, out of just 10 attempts, during Portland's win over UAA at the Great Alaska Shootout on Nov. 27; Jennifer Wassom is the only other Pilot to notch seven three's in 2005.
• Blades was named to the Great Alaska Shootout All-Tournament Team after the Pilots advanced to the title game, with the help of her career-high 21 points against UAA.
• Sophomore Julie Spencer is cleaning up the glass this season, averaging a career-high and team-best 7.6 boards per contest; her career-high 18 rebounds against Pacific (Dec. 31) were the most by a Pilot since Amy Pupa collected 19 during a game in 2013.
• Spencer scored a career-high 23 points at BYU (Feb. 23), and she's recorded four double-doubles on the season.
• Sophomore Darian Slaga scored a career-high 24 points against UW on Nov. 27; that's the most points scored by a Pilot since Cassandra Brown scored 26 in February of 2015.
• Senior Hannah Mattson earned WCC All-Academic Honorable Mention for the third straight year.
• Kaylie Van Loo also throws the javelin for the UP track & field team, and she was the first thrower in Portland women's track & field program history to compete at NCAA Nationals last spring; she earned All-American Honorable Mention with an 18th-place finish at the 2016 NCAA's.
• Van Loo just missed qualifying for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials by one spot.
• Third-year head coach Cheryl Sorenson, who was previously an assistant for the Pilots, assumed the reins of the program after long-time head coach Jim Sollars retired following the 2013-14 season.
• Sorenson starred collegiately at Washington and was a high school All-American at nearby Clackamas High School.
• Portland has been to four NCAA Tournaments (1994-97), two WNIT's (1998 & 2009) and one WBI (2010).
 
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
• San Diego defeated the Pilots twice this year, including in the regular season at the Chiles Center last Saturday, which was a 72-54 Toreros' win.
• The Toreros are out-scoring the opposition this year by a 64.6-63.6 margin.
• Junior guard Aubrey Ward-El (10.6 ppg) is the team's active leading scorer after Maya Hood (18.1 ppg) went down with an injury earlier this season.
• Cindy Fisher is in her 12th season as head coach and she's led USD to an unprecedented five straight 20-win seasons.