Box Score PARKLAND, Wash. – Holding Pacific
Lutheran University scoreless for over eight minutes while scoring
16 unanswered points of their own, the George Fox University Bruins
seized control midway through the first half en route to a 70-43
win over the host Lutes in Northwest Conference women's
basketball action Friday night here at Names Family Court.
With their 15th straight win over PLU, the Bruins, who are 10th
in the D3hoops.com poll and 15th in the WBCA poll, have started the
season 11-0 for the fifth time in their history and are 2-0 in the
conference. The Lutes, who are in their first year under head
coach Jennifer Childress, a former George Fox player, fell to 4-6
overall in their NWC opener.
Scoring was scarce in the early going, with the score only 4-4
six minutes into the game before the Bruins took a four-point lead
of 8-4 on back-to-back layups by McKenzie Wolfe and Lauren
Codling. A jumper by Michaela Edgers cut the George Fox lead
to 8-6 at the 11:45 mark, but the Bruins held the Lutes scoreless
for the next eight minutes while reeling off 16 straight points to
build a 24-6 lead with 4:19 to play. Megan Arnoldy, Dacia
Heckendorf, and Jami Roos each hit a three-pointer
to spearhead the Bruins' run.
After going only 2-for-19 from the field to start the game, the
Lutes finally got another basket on a jumper by Shelly Kilcup at
the 3:24 mark to end the George Fox outburst. The Bruins
upped the margin to 20 for the first time, however, on a three by
Roos that made it 31-10 with 1:55 to go, and led 33-14 at the
half.
George Fox held PLU to a .208 shooting percentage (5-24) in the
first half and forced 17 turnovers by the Lutes. The Bruins
shot .444 (12-27), including .556 (5-9) from three-point range.
A Samantha Potter layup with 16:04 remaining in the game drew
the Lutes within 17 at 38-21, but that was as close as the home
team would get. The Bruins responded with 10 straight points
on a pair of threes by Roos and baskets by Codling and Jordyn
Peacock to take a 48-21 advantage with 13:14 to play. They
eventually led by 31 when Kaycee Creech scored on a layup to make
it 70-39 with 1:30 left.
Roos led all scorers with 15 points, hitting five threes in six
attempts, Arnoldy scored 10, and Hayley Cusick just missed double
digits with nine. Arnoldy and Cusick tied for the team lead
in rebounds with four each, while Roos had five assists and Codling
made four steals. The Bruins forced 30 PLU turnovers and held
the Lutes to a final .340 shooting mark (17-50), including 0-9 on
threes. George Fox shot .510 (26-51), going 11-19 for a .579
percentage on threes, but struggled from the line, making only 7-21
(.333).
Potter was the only Lute in double figures with 12 points and
also grabbed a game-high seven rebounds, leading PLU to a 39-34
advantage on the backboards. She made four steals as
well. Katelyn Smith, Kara Sherman, and Andrea Adams had two
assists apiece.
NEXT: George Fox visits defending NWC champion
Lewis & Clark College next Friday for a 6:00 p.m. conference
game, with the GFU-L&C men's game to follow at 8:00 p.m.
… Pacific Lutheran hosts Lewis & Clark Saturday at 6:00
p.m., also part of an NWC doubleheader.