NATIONAL AWARDS: No. 1 Bruins Reap National Awards from D3hoops, WBCA

NEWBERG, Ore. – National honors piled up so fast for the George Fox University women’s basketball team during the past week that the Bruins’ sports information office could hardly find time to put out separate press releases on every one.  Here, then, are all the awards accumulated by the Bruins during a whirlwind week that culminated in a 60-53 win over Washington University-St. Louis and an NCAA Division III national championship for George Fox.

On March 17, D3hoops.com announced its All-Region teams, with George Fox head coach Scott Rueck being named West Region Coach of the Year, senior center Kristen Shielee earning All-West Region First Team and West Region Player of the Year honors, and freshman guard Sage Indendi being named to the All-West Region Third Team.

On March 19, at the pre-Final Four banquet hosted by Hope College in Holland, Mich., Coach Rueck received the NCAA Division III National Coach of the Year award from Rawlings Athletics and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.  Shielee received honorable mention All-American honors from Rawlings Athletics / WBCA.

On March 21, following the national championship game, D3hoops.com released its final awards, with Rueck being named National Coach of the Year, Shielee making Second Team All-American, and Indendi being recognized as the National Rookie of the Year.  Shielee was voted the Most Outstanding Player in the Final Four, and Indendi was named to the All-Tournament Team.

In the final national polls, George Fox was a unanimous choice for the No. 1 team in the nation, receiving all 10 first-place votes in the USA Today / ESPN / WBCA poll, and all 25 first-place votes in the D3hoops.com poll.  Needless to say, it is the highest the Bruins have ever been ranked in the final polls, and equals the highest they have been ranked at any time in a season (George Fox spent two weeks atop the polls in February of 2001, moving into that spot in place of Washington University-St. Louis, which had not been out of first place in three years.)

The week before, Rawlings Athletics / WBCA had named Rueck its West Region Coach of the Year.  Rueck also received his sixth Northwest Conference Coach of the Year award, Shielee was Northwest Conference Player of the Year, Indendi was a First Team All-NWC selection, and freshman guard Keisha Gordon was a Second Team All-NWC choice.

Rueck’s honors came as he directed the Bruins to their greatest season ever.  With a final record of 32-0, George Fox became the sixth national champion and fifth program to go undefeated since the NCAA began a Division III tournament in 1982 (Washington University having done it twice).  The Bruins are the first program west of the Central time zone to win a D-III women’s basketball title, only the second even to reach the final game (Cal State-Stanislaus lost to Elizabethtown in 1989), and the first Northwest Conference basketball team, men or women, to win an NCAA basketball championship.

Rueck has been named NWC Coach of the Year six times (’00, ’01, ’05, ’07, ’08, and ’09).  Last year, while leading the Bruins to a 25-5 record and a “Sweet 16” appearance, he was named West Region Coach of the Year by D3hoops.com.  In 13 season at George Fox, he has compiled a record of 260-85, a .754 winning percentage.

Shielee, in a superb senior season, averaged 12.2 points per game, third on the team, and led the Bruins with 9.6 rebounds per game.  Her .626 field goal percentage ranked second nationally, led the NWC, and set a new single-season Bruin record, topping the .582 mark posted by Katie Greller in 1997-98.  It was her defense, particularly her shot-blocking ability, that perhaps made the biggest difference in the Bruins’ success this season.  She blocked 122 shots, shattering the team’s single-season record, and her 3.81 blocks per game average, also a new GFU record, ranked sixth nationally.

In her career, Shielee finished with 179 blocked shots, fourth all-time for the Bruins, despite being a starter for only one season.  Her career field goal percentage of .599 is also a new George Fox record, besting the .543 record by Katie (Greller) Lacey from 1997-2001.

Indendi ended the season as the Bruins’ leading scorer, averaging 12.8 points per game, and the leader in assists with 104 and steals with 79.  She ranked second in the NWC in steals per game (2.47).  She and Gordon tied for the team lead in three-point field goals with 49 each.  She was especially hot in the Bruins’ 67-52 win over the College of New Jersey in the national semi-final game, hitting 6-8 on threes en route to a game-high 23 points. 

As a side note, the Bruins hit 14 threes in that game to tie the record for the most made in a national tournament game, joining Hardin-Simmons vs. Eastern Mennonite in 2004 and Bridgewater vs. Bates in 2006.  In five tournament games, the Bruins made 42 three-pointers, breaking the previous record of 39 in six games by New York University in 1997.