At 11-0 —with every victory by a double-digit margin — the Portland women’s basketball team is off to the best start in program history. It’s the best by any West Coast Conference team this season and one of the best by anyone nationally. Entering play Wednesday, the Pilots are one of just five undefeated teams with at least 11 wins and the only team in that group to win each of their games by double digits.   
 
But as WCC play begins this week, the Pilots are taking nothing for granted. Especially with the addition of affiliate members Oregon State and Washington State, they appreciate the league’s improved strength and size. Challenges await on a weekly basis in a deeper, more balanced league.
 
Senior guard Emme Shearer, who is fourth in the WCC in scoring at 16.2 points per game and leads the conference with 31 steals, pauses when asked if the Pilots are now the league favorites after being projected third by the coaches in their preseason poll.
 
“No, I would definitely not call ourselves the favorite,” said the New Zealand native, whose squad opens WCC play Thursday at LMU. “Everyone hopes to make a great start to the season but I wouldn’t say I was expecting for this to happen.
 
“That fact that we have been undefeated in the preseason, teams are going to want to hand another team its first loss. Nothing changes how we come into conference play. We’re aware that we’re not where we want to be, come March. We want to grow so much and we know we’re going to have some adversity.”
 
Head coach Michael Meek, in his sixth season, put together a non-conference schedule that included four returning league champions — Hawaii, Eastern Washington, California Baptist and Princeton. Three of them played in the NCAA Tournament.
 
He also knows others in the league faced even more daunting non-conference assignments. “Some people will look at us (as the favorite), but I think it’s a wide-open field,” Meek said. ”Gonzaga and Washington State and Oregon State, they’ve played such tough schedules.”
 
Gonzaga (5-6) took on Stanford, Cal, Florida State and Texas Tech. Washington State (5-6) played Stanford, Texas Tech, Iowa, Virginia and Oregon. And Oregon State (3-7) tested itself against Minnesota, Arizona State, Illinois and No. 4 UConn.
 
Shearer looks at the records of those teams and reflects on where the Pilots were a year ago. “I know we had a rough preseason last year,” she said. “I don’t really think anyone’s judging anything based on what teams have done in the preseason.”
 
Portland was 8-6 prior to WCC play a year ago then lost by 21 points at home to Gonzaga in the league opener. The Zags beat them by 50 in late February, but the Pilots captured the Credit Union 1 WCC Basketball Championship and the NCAA automatic bid with a 67-66 win over Gonzaga.
 
Gonzaga, of course, is the elephant in the room. The Zags dropped four in a row at one point during non-conference play, but their history is too imposing to ignore. They were 16-0 in conference play a year ago, have won eight consecutive regular-season titles and earned 15 NCAA berths since 2007.
 
They were hit hard by graduation after last season but return the reigning WCC Player of the Year in Yvonne Ejim, who leads the conference in scoring (19.8), rebounding (8.5) and field-goal accuracy (57.1 percent). A young team is developing around her.
 
“You always look at them the same — they’re a great team,” Shearer said of the Zags. “ It’s going to be a great battle against them always. They’ve had a tough preseason but there’s absolutely no difference in how we approach them.”
 
Added Meek, “They were picked to be the favorite for a reason.”
 
All that said, Meek is pleased by his team’s performance and improvement so far. The 11-0 start is a surprise, not a stunner.
 
“I think with every year, some of the fun of each team is not knowing what you have and what they kind of make of themselves,” Meek said. “This has been a really fun group to coach. They’ve been super-coachable, really good teammates.”
 
The Pilots’ strengths are their experience, depth and versatility. The roster features six seniors, led by Shearer and backcourt mate Maisie Burnham, who is second in the WCC in scoring (17.3 points) and third in field-goal percentage (54.3 percent).
 
Senior point guard McKelle Meek leads the team in assists (3.8) and is the team’s “backbone,” according to Shearer. The Pilots added two key pieces in the offseason in transfer forwards Alexis Mark (LMU) and Trista Hill (Boise State). Mark provides 11.2 points, a team-best 6.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists while Hull contributes 8.4 points and 4.4 rebounds.
 
Three sophomores are part of a rotation in which 10 players are on the floor for at least seven minutes per night. Among them, Dyani Ananiev (7.5 points, 4.8 rebounds) is just finding a rhythm after missing seven of 11 games due to injury. “She’s a game-changer,” Shearer said. “I’m really excited for her to get back and be a huge piece for us.”
 
Shearer and Burnham are the anchors. “Those two definitely set a great tone,” Meek said. “Emme is really a special leader. She took on the leadership role last year almost single-handedly. This year’s group, the amount of maturity they have around him is the best I’ve had here at Portland.”
 
The versatility Meek talks about is based on having an assortment of athletes who can execute the team’s full-court pressure. Portland is tied for 17th nationally with 13.1 steals per game and 18th in turnovers forced at 24.0. Through 11 games, that’s 264 times the opponent has not even managed a shot on a possession.
 
Portland forced Portland State into 34 turnovers which turned into 41 points over the weekend. Shearer said a better example of the team’s ability to speed teams up beyond their comfort zone was against Princeton, which had 29 turnovers in a 74-55 Portland victory. “The amount we were able to turn them over I think was quite uncharacteristic,” she suggested.
 
As effective as the press has been, Meek acknowledges there are areas the Pilots must continue to improve, starting with rebounding.
 
“Our pressure has been trouble to a lot of teams, but we’re not counting on that happening every game,” he said. “As tough as our press has been, I do feel like championships are won in the half court, so we’re going to have to keep shoring up things in that regard.”
 
As coaches tend to do, Meek frets about the Pilots’ schedule. Portland has a daunting stretch in mid-January featuring consecutive road games against Gonzaga, Oregon State and Washington State.
 
Still, he’s not complaining. “I definitely like where our team is at,” Meek said, “but we’re far from the goals we want to accomplish this year.”