GEORGE FOX 58, HOPE 46: Bruins Leave NCAA Tournament with No Hope

Box Score

CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky. – Continuing their “improbable dream” of an undefeated season and earning a berth in the NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball National Championship Tournament “Final Four”, the George Fox University Bruins stunned the powerful Hope College Flying Dutch 58-46 in their sectional finals Saturday night here at Thomas More College’s Connor Convention Center.

For the second year in a row, the Dutch will be denied a chance to play for the national title on their own home floor.  Hope’s DeVos Fieldhouse in Holland, Mich., is the site of the Final Four next Friday-Saturday, Mar. 20-21.  Last year’s Hope team, which was ranked No. 1 and unbeaten heading into the sectional in Brownwood, Texas, eliminated George Fox in the “Sweet 16” before falling to host and eventual national champion Howard Payne University in the “Elite 8”.

After gaining their measure of revenge for last year, George Fox (30-0) will take on The College of New Jersey, a 54-48 winner over the University of Scranton, in one national semifinal game, the time on Friday to be determined.  The other semifinal matchup will pit Amherst College, which defeated Brandeis University 68-54, against Washington University-St. Louis, which knocked off No. 1-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University, the only other unbeaten team beside George Fox when the evening began, 58-53.

The first half of the George Fox-Hope clash was everything expected of teams which, on paper and in the national polls, appeared to be evenly matched (George Fox was ranked No. 2 in the WBCA poll and No. 3 in the D3hoops poll; Hope was reversed with George Fox in each).  In the first 20 minutes, there were five ties, eight lead changes, and neither team had more than a four-point lead.  The Bruins opened the game with layups by Kristen Shielee and Sage Indendi, and also led by four at 27-23 with two minutes left after a three-pointer by Keisha Gordon.  It was 29-28 Bruins at the half.

The game remained close for the first 10 minutes of the second half as both defenses tightened up and good shots became harder to find.  The Dutch took a three-point lead by scoring the first four points of the half on two free throws by Courtney Knox and a putback by Carrie Snikkers, Hope’s 6-3 sophomore post who killed the Bruins with two late threes in last year’s sectional.  The Bruins bounced back and took the lead for good at 36-34 on a jumper by Indendi at the 15:20 mark.  A driving layup by Gordon pushed the lead to four before the Dutch answered with a free throw by Lauren Geers and a layup by Snikkers to cut the deficit to 38-37 with 10:40 to go.

At that point the Bruins, who had not scored in over four minutes, found their shooting range and received a herculean defensive performance inside by the 6-4 Shielee.  Indendi and B.B. Gardner hit threes and Gordon hit another driving layup to boost the Bruins to a nine-point lead of 46-37 with 7:16 left.  After a Snikkers free throw, Gordon nailed two freebies to make it a ten-point game of 48-38 with 6:36 left.

With Hope trying to penetrate for close shots in an effort to catch up, Shielee was in her element, blocking five shots in the final eight minutes, including three shots by Knox and two by Snikkers.  Forced to go outside, the Dutch struggled against the Bruins’ pressure zone and wound shooting a miserable percentage of only .136 (6-44) in the second half as the Bruins remained comfortably ahead.  The final score was the largest margin of the game.

Hope finished with a final shooting mark of .224 (17-76), including only 2-13 (.154) from three-point range.  The Dutch were held almost 34 points below their scoring average of 77.9, and 17 points below their previous low score of the season.  George Fox shot .412 (21-51), including .364 (8-22) from long range, and won the battle of the boards 48-45.   The Dutch got 25 more shots than the Bruins thanks to a 21-9 advantage on turnovers.

Gordon led all scores with 20 points, Indendi added 14, and Gardner totaled 11.  Although scoring only six points on 3-4 shooting, Shielee led the Bruins with nine rebounds and blocked nine shots in all, one short of tying her career and school-record 10.  Indendi passed out five assists.

Snikkers posted a double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds, but she was the only Dutch in double figures in points.  Knox had nine points and 12 rebounds, and Kaitlyn Kopke handed out four assists.

As he savored the win that put his team into the Final Four for the first time ever (and became the first Northwest Conference team, men or women, to reach an NCAA Final Four in basketball), George Fox coach Scott Rueck, who is 258-85 in his 13th season with the Bruins, marveled at how far his young team had come.

“When you think about some of the things that have happened to us this year, it doesn’t make sense,” he reflected.  “To think that we could lose all five starters from last year’s very good team, take a bunch of freshmen and only four returning players, and go to the Final Four would have been almost too much to believe.  I knew we had a group that had a chance to be good, but this good this quickly?  No way.

“The one thing we did tell them at the beginning of the year was that if they worked hard, and played as a team, and gave their best effort every time out, they would be rewarded.  Well … here’s their reward.”