WBKS: Defending National Champion Bruins Ranked 4th in D3hoops Pre-Season Poll

D3hoops.com Pre-Season Poll

NEWBERG, Ore. - Coming off a perfect 32-0 season and the 2008-09 NCAA Division III women's basketball national championship, the George Fox University Bruins are ranked fourth in the D3hoops.com pre-season poll as voted on by a panel of 25 coaches, sports information directors, and media members from around the country.

Washington University-St. Louis (26-5), which George Fox defeated 60-53 in last year's title game in Holland, Mich., is the No. 1 pick with seven first-place votes and 588 points.  Amherst College (29-4), which lost the consolation game in the Final Four, is second with five firsts and 579 points.  In third is Hope College (28-2), which George Fox eliminated 58-46 in the "Elite 8", with seven firsts and 577 points.  The Bruins garnered six first-place votes and 509 points.  The College of New Jersey (28-5), which George Fox beat 67-52 in the national semi-finals, is ranked 21st with 141 points.

The Bruins are the only Northwest Conference team in the top 25.  Whitman College and the University of Puget Sound are NWC teams among "others receiving votes" with 16 and three points respectively. 

Two starters are gone from the Bruins' championship team.  6-4 center Kristen Shielee (12.2 ppg, 9.6 rpg, 122 blocked shots), a Second Team All-American and the West Region and NWC Player of the Year, graduated and is now playing professionally in Pamplona, Spain.  Freshman guard Sage Indendi, the team leader in scoring and assists (12.8 ppg, 3.3 apg) who was a First Team All-NWC selection and the D3hoops.com National Rookie of the Year, decided not to return to school this fall.

Nevertheless, the Bruins' cupboard is by no means bare.  Returning to starting positions are senior forward Elise Kuenzi (9.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg), senior point guard B.B. Gardner (5.0 ppg, 3.0 apg), and sophomore Second Team All-NWC guard Keisha Gordon (12.7 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 49 three-pointers).  Six other letterwinners who saw significant playing time last year, five of whom were freshmen, are also back to bolster the lineup, along with three talented newcomers who could step in and help quickly.

Molding this group together for another run at the conference crown and a post-season berth is head coach Scott Rueck, who enters his 14th season at George Fox with a 260-85 record (.754) and stands 15th among active Division III coaches in won-lost percentage.  He was named the NWC Coach of the Year for the sixth time, and the West Region and Division III National Coach of the Year by both D3hoops.com and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association.

The 2009-10 season begins for the Bruins on Nov. 17 at Corban College in Salem, Ore.  The first home game for the defending national champions is Nov. 20 vs. Concordia University-Portland.