Box Score

NEWBERG, Ore. – Led by a quartet of double-figure scorers, the George Fox University Bruins completed a history-making unbeaten regular season with a convincing 73-51 win over the Pacific Lutheran University Lutes in their Northwest Conference women's basketball finale Saturday evening here at the Wheeler Sports Center's Miller Gym.

Playing before a near-capacity Homecoming crowd of 2,250, the Bruins, who had no returning starters and 10 freshmen on the roster, completed their schedule 25-0, becoming the first Bruin athletic team to go undefeated while holding membership in a national organization (AIAW, NAIA, or NCAA) since the mid-1960's.  They tied their record for the most wins in a season, set during last year's 25-5 campaign, and extended their record winning streak to 25 in a row.  They also won the conference title going away with a 16-0 record.  The streak has lifted the Bruins into a tie for second in the WBCA national poll and third in the D3hoops.com poll.  George Fox and No. 1-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University are the only unbeaten teams remaining in the NCAA Division III. 

Melissa Richardson gave the visiting Lutes a short-lived 2-0 lead with a short jumper 28 seconds into the game, but the Bruins reeled off the next eight points, six of them by Elise Kuenzi, and rarely slowed down.  A three-pointer by Arianna Mohsenian gave the Bruins their first double-digit lead of 23-11 with 10 minutes left in the half, and they stretched it to 23 as Kristen Shielee sank a pair of free throws with 0:03 showing to make it 43-20 at the break.

The Bruins shot .469 in the half (15-32) to only .276 (8-29) for the Lutes.  Keisha Gordon with 12 points and Kuenzi with 11 led the Bruins, while Jordan Westering, who played for George Fox last year before transferring to her home town team for her sophomore year, led the Lutes with eight points.

The Bruins held a 22-point lead at 52-30 after Sage Indendi's three-pointer with 14:35 left in the game when the Lutes made their best run of the night.  With Westering scoring seven points, PLU out-scored the Bruins 12-2 over the next four minutes, cutting the margin to 54-42 with 10:41 to go.  The Bruins regained momentum, however, with a 10-0 run of their own, capped by another Mohsenian three with 7:31 left, that pushed the GFU lead back to 22 at 64-42.  Two Kuenzi free throws with 2:11 to go gave the Bruins their largest lead at 72-46.

Gordon led all scorers with 18 points, Shielee had 14, Kuenzi 13, and Indendi 11.  Shielee, the Bruins' only senior who was honored in pre-game ceremonies, just missed her ninth double-double of the season with nine rebounds, leading the Bruins to a 39-36 edge on the glass.  Kuenzi handed out six assists.

Westering paced the Lutes with 15 points and got help from Trinity Gibbons, who scored 10.  Nikki Scott had eight rebounds and also handed out six assists. 

Pacific Lutheran ends its season at 14-11 overall and 8-8 in the conference, good for fifth place.  George Fox will host Whitman College (18-7, NWC 10-6) in the semi-finals of the Northwest Conference Tournament Thursday at 7:00 p.m., while the University of Puget Sound (17-8, NWC 11-5) will host Pacific University (11-13, NWC 10-6) in the other semi-final that same night.  Pacific got the third-place tiebreaker by virtue of a win over UPS.  The two winners will meet at the home of the higher seed on Saturday at 7:00 p.m., which would give George Fox another home game if the Bruins win.