Box Score FOREST GROVE, Ore. --- No. 3 George Fox University's women's basketball team completed its three game road stint Tuesday night, as the Bruins out-boxed the Boxers of Pacific University, 70-41.
Although the Bruins established their suffocating and full court press early on, the pace of play was much slower then what the Bruins have come accustom to this season. After five minutes ticked off the game clock both teams were still under double figures, as the Bruins led, 8-4.
The pace did in fact start to pick up for both teams midway through the first, as the Bruins made their presence known increasing their lead to eight, 23-15, at the 6:41 mark. Moving towards halftime, the Bruins continued to pour it on and had help from Justine Benner, who made two tough nosed baskets in the paint to give the Bruins a 29-15 edge.
George Fox went into the break leading the Boxers, 35-22. Benner was the leading scorer of the half leading all players with 11 points. She also added seven rebounds to her first half performance.
The second half was almost identical to the first, as the pace of play couldn't get out of first gear for the first seven minutes. In fact, the Bruins managed just five points in that timespan, while the Boxers put up two.
George Fox finally shifted gears moments later and found its largest lead of the game increasing the margin to 24 points, 48-24. The Bruins used their margin to their advantage, and cruised to a 70-41 victory.
Benner was the leading scorer of the game with 23 points. She also grabbed 11 boards to give herself her first double-double as a Bruin. Lauren Codling recorded her 11th double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds. She also added a career-high eight steals to just miss the triple-double mark.
The Bruins improve to 24-0 on the season and 15-0 in the Northwest Conference. With the win, the Bruins will hold control of the No. 1 seed in the Northwest Conference playoffs next week. The focus will turn to Friday, though, as the Bruins will finish the regular season against Lewis & Clark on senior night at 6:00 p.m.
