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WBSK: ALL-REGION - D3hoops Bestows All-West Honors on Rueck, Gordon, Munger
Scott Rueck | 
Keisha Gordon | 
Hannah Munger |
http://www.d3hoops.com/all-region/
NEWBERG, Ore. - National honors continue to accumulate for the 2009-10 George Fox University women’s basketball team as D3hoops.com has named Bruins’ head coach Scott Rueck West Region Coach of the Year, Keisha Gordon and Hannah Munger to the All-West Region Second Team, and Munger the West Region Rookie of the Year.
Rueck was named West Region Coach of the Year by D3hoops for the third season in a row after leading the 2009-10 Bruins to a 28-3 record, their fourth straight Northwest Conference title with a second consecutive 16-0 record, a No. 5 regular-season national ranking, and a third trip to the “Elite 8” round of the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament. After winning their first four games of the season to stretch their record winning streak to 36 games, the Bruins dropped a pair, then reeled off 24 wins in a row before falling in the NCAA sectional finals 59-52 to Washington University-St. Louis, the team they beat 60-53 in 2009 to win the national championship.
The 2008-09 National Coach of the Year as named by both D3hoops and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, Rueck is also a seven-time winner of the NWC Coach of the Year award, including this season. In 14 years at George Fox, he has guided the Bruins to a 288-88 overall record (.766), seven NWC championships, seven NCAA Tournament appearances, and has never had a losing season.
Gordon, a 5-10 sophomore wing from Vancouver, Wash., and Heritage High School, was a First Team All-Conference selection this season after being Second Team last year. She led the Bruins in scoring (13.9 ppg), three-point field goals (61), free throw percentage (.831, 103-124), and steals (76), shot .404 (134-332) from the field, and had 194 rebounds (6.3 rpg), 77 assists (2.48 apg), and 17 blocked shots. In the conference stats, she ranked 2nd in free throw pct. and steals (2.45), 3rd in 3-pt field goals (1.97), and 3-pt field goal pct. (.351), 6th in scoring, 10th in rebounding, and 11th in field goal pct., blocked shots (0.55), and assists. Her free throw mark ranked 49th nationally. Her career free throw percentage of .816 (177-217) is currently the best in George Fox history.
Gordon was the Bruin Athletic Association Women’s Athlete of the Week four times this season, was the NWC Women’s Basketball Student-Athlete of the Week for Nov. 16-22, and received honorable mention for the NWC award twice. She scored in double figures 25 times, with highs of 22 at Corban, vs. Concordia (Ore.), and Whitworth, and had a career-high 13 rebounds vs. Puget Sound in the West Regional while scoring 15 points for her first career double-double. She had highs of seven assists at Linfield, and seven steals at Pacific Lutheran.
Munger, a 6-5 freshman center from Newberg, Ore., and Newberg High School, moved into the starting lineup on the Bruins’ trip to Hawai’i and quickly established herself as a formidable presence in the middle. While averaging 12.3 ppg, she led the team in field goal percentage (.553, 168-304), rebounding (8.2 rpg), and blocked shots (107), the second-best total in one season in Bruin history. She led the league in blocked shots (3.45), field goal pct., and rebounding, and was 11th in scoring. She was 7th nationally in blocks and 25th in field goal pct.
Already being noticed on a national scale, Munger was twice named as the center on the D3hoops.com National Team of the Week. She was the Bruin Athletic Association Women’s Athlete of the Week eight times, the NWC Women’s Basketball Student-Athlete of the Week for Jan. 25-31, and received honorable mention for the NWC award six times. She posted 11 double-doubles, including the last five games of the year, and had season highs of 22 points at Linfield and 15 rebounds vs. Whitman and Carthage. Her nine blocked shots vs. Linfield tied for the 6th-most in a game nationally during the season.
Claire Ely of the University of Puget Sound was named the West Region Player of the Year.
