By Jimmy Sheldrup |
The Portland Pilots Women’s team hosted the Warner Pacific Knights in an exhibiion team Friday, besting the Knights 70-67. Junior transfer Corissa Turley led the Pilots with 19 points on eight-of-12 shooting. Turley came to the Bluff after two years at the College of the Sequoias. Freshman Ellie Woerner followed with 17 points for Portland.
The newcomers made an impact.
Freshmen Darian Slaga and Woerner both started for the Pilots. While Woerner said she experienced freshman jitters, she was able to play through it.
Everybody came out of the gates playing hard. Ashley Gray started off the scoring with two quick baskets, both of which were results of her offensive rebounding.
“I was nervous at the beginning, but I was mostly just excited,” Woerner said. “After all the months of training, it was good to finally get out on the floor.”
The Knights played stout defense. Keeping their hands active in passing lanes, and contesting each shot, making things difficult for the Pilots on offensively. By the end of the half, the Knights had two steals and a block. At the end of the first quarter, the Pilots trailed Warner Pacific 19-12. With three early three pointers, the Knights were able to space the floor and create driving opportunities.
The Pilots started to increase the pace, looking for easy points in transition midway through the second quarter. The Knights started to crowd the paint, and Portland junior Corissa Turley punished them with a couple of three pointers to close out the half with the Pilots leading 36-34.
Turley and Woerner kept the Pilots alive with 21 combined points at the half. Woerner constantly attacked rim, looking for layups or dump offs to the bigs. Turley helped spark the second quarter comeback, starting off with consecutive threes. Despite the increase in efficiency in the second quarter, the defense still lagged behind.
The Pilots picked up the defensive intensity in the second half. The Pilots extended their lead to as many as 14 points. Junior transfer Rachelle Owens had six assists by the end of the third quarter.
The Pilot defense started out the quarter playing flat. The Knights scored on three straight possessions to start the quarter, forcing a Portland timeout. The Knights regained the lead with 5:16 left to play in the game off of a 3-pointer from Kendra Preuninger. Another three by Preuninger, extended Warner Pacific’s lead to six.
Turley made an and-1 layup following a Preuniger miss. Turley missed the free throw though, putting the score at 67-65 in favor of the Knights with 53 seconds left in the game.
Following the inbound, Turley came up big again. The Knights guarded the inbound pass with a full court press. Once the press was broken though, Turley was left alone in the corner. She pulled up and sank a three, to put the Pilots ahead with 12 seconds left in the game.
“We were expecting the full court press,” Turley said, “Coach wanted us to set up on the wings, and I was ready for it.” After the Knights missed the go ahead shot, Kaylie Van Loo grabbed the rebound and was immediately fouled. Her two free throws extended the lead to three. The Pilots won the game with a final score of 70-67.
The game was the first that featured the new NCAA rules that were implemented during the offseason, including, changing the women's game from two 20-minute halves to four 10-minute quarters.
The Pilots open regular season against the Willamette Bearcats on Saturday, Nov. 14 at 5 p.m. in the Chiles Center.
Jimmy Sheldrup is a sports writer for The Beacon. He can be reached at sheldrup18@up.edu or on Twitter @CJSheldrup.
