ALL-NORTHWEST CONFERENCE: Shielee, Rueck Get Top Awards as Four Bruins Honored

2008-09 All-Northwest Conference Women's Basketball Teams

NEWBERG, Ore. – For the third year in a row, George Fox University coach Scott Rueck and one of his players - this time senior center Kristen Shielee - have received top honors as Coach of the Year and Player of the Year on the 2008-09 All-Northwest Conference women’s basketball team, with two other Bruins also being named First and Second Team.

Joining Rueck and Shielee with All-NWC honors are a pair of freshman wings, Sage Indendi, who was a First Team selection, and Keisha Gordon, who was named to the Second Team in balloting by the league’s nine coaches.

Shielee, who hails from Gresham, Ore., follows two-time winner Katy Campbell in giving the Bruins three consecutive Player of the Year awards.  She averages 12.3 points per game, tied for eighth in the conference, and 9.7 rebounds, which ranks third, but it is her imposing 6-4 presence in the middle on defense that truly sets her apart.  She has shattered the George Fox single-season record for blocked shots this year with 103, and ranks sixth nationally in that category with 3.8 per game.  Her field goal percentage of .632 is fifth nationally and is well on a pace to set a new Bruin single season record.

During the season, Shielee recorded at least one block in 26 of the Bruins’ 27 games, with a record-tying high of 10 vs. Bridgewater in the Las Vegas Hoopla Tournament on Dec. 20.  In that same game, she scored 12 points and had a career-high 21 rebounds for the second triple-double in George Fox history.  She reached double figures in points 20 times, with a high of 20 vs. Puget Sound in the NWC Tournament championship game, and in rebounds 12 times, posting nine double-doubles. 

Shielee led the Bruins scoring five times and in rebounds 19 times.  She was named NWC Women’s Basketball Student Athlete of the Week once (Dec. 15-Jan. 4), was nominated for the award four other times, and was a five-time winner of the Bruin Athletic Association’s Women’s Athlete of the Week.

Indendi, a 5-9 guard from Livingston, Mont., stepped immediately into a starter’s role at George Fox and has established herself as one of the conference’s most consistent performers.  Her 12.3 scoring average is tied for eighth in the NWC, and she also ranks second in the conference in steals with 2.41 per game and eighth in assists at 2.96 a game.  She is eighth in free throw percentage (.755), ninth in three-point percentage (.410), 10th in field goal percentage (.412), and 10th in threes per game (1.26).

Indendi has scored in double figures 18 times this season, with 20 or more three times, including a career-high 24 vs. Whitman.  In the Bruins’ win at the University of Dallas in UD’s Tip-Off Tournament, she had season highs of eight assists and eight steals in just her second college game.  She also had a high of seven rebounds vs. Lewis & Clark.  She has led the Bruins in scoring seven times this year.  She received honorable mention for NWC Women’s Basketball Student Athlete of the Week twice, and was a two-time winner of the Bruin Athletic Association’s Women’s Athlete of the Week.

Gordon, a 5-10 guard from Vancouver, Wash., burst onto the scene with 30 points vs. Carleton in only her fourth college game and has developed into one of the top offensive threats in the conference.  She leads the Bruins with a 12.7 scoring average, which ranks seventh in the NWC, and is a top defender with 1.96 steals per game, fifth in the conference.  Her .817 free throw percentage is third in the league, while her .427 field goal accuracy is eighth and her three-point percentage of .355 is fourth.  She stands fourth in the conference in threes per game as well with a 1.65 average.

Gordon has reached double figures in points 18 times this season, with 20 or more three times.  She grabbed eight rebounds at Pacific Lutheran for a season high, and had highs of five assists and five steals in her first college game vs. Austin in the UD Tip-Off Tournament.  She also had five assists vs. Whitman.  Ten times she has led the team in scoring, and has been the top rebounder five times.  She was a two-time winner of the NWC Women’s Basketball Student Athlete of the Week (Nov. 24-30, Feb. 2-8) and honorable mention once, along with winning the Bruin Athletic Association’s Women’s Athlete of the Week award three times.

The NWC Coach of the Year award is the sixth overall for Rueck, who has led the Bruins to a 255-85 record and a winning percentage of .750 in 13 seasons with the program, all winning ones.  He also earned the honor in 2000, 2001, 2005, 2007, and 2008, but the 2008-09 season might well go down as his finest coaching job.  Taking a squad with no returning starters from a 25-5 “Sweet 16” team, only four returning letter winners, and 10 freshmen, he molded them into a unit that has gone 27-0 and is one of only two remaining undefeated teams in the NCAA Division III.

Under Rueck this season, George Fox won the Northwest Conference by a margin of five games with a 16-0 record, the third straight conference crown and sixth in the last 10 years the Bruins have won or shared.  The Bruins are ranked No. 2 in the USA Today / ESPN / Women’s Basketball Coaches Association national poll and No. 3 by D3hoops.com.  The Bruins will be making their sixth appearance in the NCAA Division III National Tournament when they host a second-round playoff game Saturday at 7:00 p.m. against Wednesday’s first-round winner between Occidental College and Chapman University.  George Fox received the only first-round bye in the tournament this year.