@ SCU Friday @ 7 & @ USF Saturday @ 2

After playing three straight home games, losing to GU and BYU, but blowing-out 24th ranked USD, the Pilots (9-7, 2-3) now hit the road for four straight games starting Friday at Santa Clara (6-10, 2-3), before heading up the road to USF (7-9, 2-3) on Sunday afternoon.

WCC road wins have generally been rare over the last few years for the Pilots, but I’m picking them to win both games….IF they can minimize the turnovers and shoot in the 45% range.

If the Pilots are to attain and hold 6th place or better by the end of the season, the results over the next two weeks will be critical to reaching that goal.

Pilots lose at SCU, 69-62

……down 40-13 at the half and 62-30 with about 10 minutes remaining they made a valiant comeback, but even a 32-7 run wasn’t enough to overcome an absolutely horrendous start.

I can see why Coach Sollars is looking forward to retirement.  

They can be so good sometimes. And then....  

Had a chance to see the Pilots in person this afternoon in San Francisco, and I was pretty impressed with yet another very good run in the second half….and this time they came away with the win!

It made all the difference in the world to stay relatively close to the Dons, something they just didn’t do on Friday at SCU, before going on a 35-12 run over a 9 minute period and winning 82-72.

Freshman Hannah Mattson got her first start as a Pilot in place of the Kari Luttinen who’s been plagued by a bug of some sort, and she played very well.  But Kari rallied herself off the bench and scored 23 points in 31 minutes to pace the Pilots.

The Pilots are now 3-4 in WCC play and tied for 6th place with SCU.  UP hits the road again Thursday against Pepperdine (1-6) and plays Saturday afternoon at LMU (2-5)