March is here! If you are a true sports fan or at least a basketball fan, I do not need to say anymore. The WCC Tournament is one of the first conference tournaments to tip off and the Pilots ended the second round with a fifty percent success rate.
The Portland women’s basketball team finally got their vengeance Thursday afternoon against Santa Clara University. After losing both regular season matchups, 78-63 and 71-70, to the Broncos, the Pilots stormed off with the 90-76 win in the WCC Tournament’s second round.
Portland’s head coach Jim Sollars said after the game, “It’s been a rough season and have lost ten or something games in the last minute and a half of the game, and it was nice to just hang in and hold off their surges to pick up the win.” The Pilots never backed down from their 44-31 lead at the half and advancing to the third round against San Diego.
Oddly enough the Pilots high caliber scoring, which tied the record for the most points in a WCC tournament game, was not led by Natalie Day who came into the game averaging 18 points on the year, but instead by Cassandra Brown, averaging 9.4 points coming into the game.
Brown, who was only three points shy of breaking the tournament’s individual scoring record, ended the game on 10-20 shooting from the field and a very impressive 4-7 from the three and 8-9 from the line giving her 32 on the afternoon. “Trying to be aggressive,” is what Brown chalked up her scoring clinic too.
Despite three Santa Clara players scoring 17 or more points, it wasn’t enough as Alexis Byrd, 14 points, and Natalie Day, 15 points and 12 rebounds, five off the offensive side of the floor, chipped in for the Pilots to keep Santa Clara at bay. “Natalie is one of the best offensive rebounders I have had during my 26 years here,” remarked Coach Sollars.
After defeating the Santa Clara Bronco’s in the first round, the Portland men’s basketball team played the well-rested number five ranked San Francisco Dons.
The breaking point for the Pilots was in the first half. With seven and a half minutes remaining, the Pilots were down 28-25 before San Francisco’s Dickerson got a steal that led to a fast break lay-up, Hoffman hit a three from the corner and Green sliced his way to the cylinder for a wide open lay up in a matter of a few possessions that gave the Dons enough momentum to put the Pilots away in the first half.
Going into the half the Dons finished with a 23-7 run giving them the 51-32 lead. The Pilots’ legs proved to be too tired to keep up with the Dons as the Pilots’ overall 7-24 disappointing season came to an end with an 87-66 disappointing loss.
Portland Pilots fans will now have to put all their hopes in the women’s team. The women will need their strong play, and fan support, to continue Friday as they take on third ranked San Diego. Tip-off is approximately 2 p.m.
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