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TACOMA, Wash. - Building up a double-digit first-half lead with
a hot hand, the University of Puget Sound Loggers made it stand up
for a 62-52 victory over the George Fox University Bruins Friday
night here at Memorial Fieldhouse, giving them the Northwest
Conference Tournament title and the league's automatic bid to the
NCAA Division III Women's Basketball National Tournament.
The 22nd-ranked Loggers improved to 22-4 in defeating the Bruins
for the second time in three meetings this season. The Bruins were
denied a school-record 24th win and slipped to 23-4. Both teams
were 14-2 in conference play and shared the league crown for the
second year in a row, but Puget Sound held the tiebreaker advantage
this year and got to host the tournament championship game.
George Fox scored the first four points of the game on baskets
by Kaleigha Ramey and Melissa Marek-Farris, but when Puget Sound
finally began scoring, the Loggers didn't miss much, shooting .524
(11-21) in the first half to only .364 (8-22) for the Bruins.
Morgan Harter put the Loggers on the board with a bucket at the
17:21 mark, and after a short jumper by Katy Campbell made it 6-2
Bruins, Marissa Cain and Laura Hirsh hit back-to-back threes for an
8-6 Logger lead with 15:16 left. The home team never trailed again.
The Bruins were still within two points at 14-12 after a pair of
Elise Kuenzi free throws with 10:47 to go before the Loggers went
on a 17-7 run over the period's final 10 minutes. A three-pointer
by Andrea Edwards with 1:52 remaining gave the Loggers their
largest lead of the half at 31-16. Marek-Farris hit a free throw
with 47 seconds left and a left-handed hook in the lane at the
buzzer to cut the deficit to 31-19 at the half.
The teams virtually traded points through the first 11 minutes
of the second half as the Loggers maintained a lead between 10 and
15 points during that span. An 8-0 run, capped by back-to-back
threes from the right corner by Harter and Chelsi Shaw, extended
the Logger lead to 21 at 51-30 with 8:28 left before the Bruins
made one final run. With Tiffany Behary sinking a trio of
three-pointers and Campbell hitting one, the Bruins mounted a 20-7
run to get within eight points at 58-50 with 1:17 to play, but a
rebound basket by Cain with 41 seconds left put the lead back to 10
and thwarted the Bruins' comeback.
Behary led the Bruins with 14 points, Campbell scored 13, and
Marek-Farris had 12. The Bruins improved their accuracy to .524
(11-21) in the second half and finished with a .442 mark (19-43)
for the game. Campbell had nine rebounds as the teams each grabbed
29 boards, and also had three assists. Behary made three steals.
Cain led all scorers with 20 points for the Loggers, and Harter
added 16, along with team highs of seven rebounds and five assists.
Claire Ely made four steals. The Loggers wound up shooting .471
(24-51) for the game.
Puget Sound now awaits the announcement of the NCAA Tournament
bracket, which is expected to come early Monday morning. George Fox
hopes to receive one of the at-large bids awarded by the selection
committee. Both teams made the 63-team field last year.
