NEWBERG, Ore. -- The George Fox women's basketball team may look different.

But the goals are still the same.

The Bruins came oh-so-close to an NCAA Tournament appearance in the 2025-26 season, losing in the Northwest Conference Championship game to Whitman for the second straight season. On the way to the game, Fox went 15-12 (10-6 in NWC play), good for fourth in the conference. 

Hanne Hopkins was a key reason why the Bruins made that NWC Championship. The guard had a career-high 26 points to go alongside 10 rebounds and the game-winning layup to push GFU past top-seeded Linfield in the conference semifinals. Now, the two-time all-conference player, who led the team in scoring her junior campaign, returns for her senior season in Newberg.

"She is determined to have her best year," Bruin head coach Lauren Howard said of Hopkins. "It's really promising for us, because she has had great years the last two years. She just comes at it with a different attitude this season and is stepping up into a leadership role."

While Hopkins returns for GFU, many of the pieces (including three of five starters) from last season's run have departed from the team, including graduating NWC Player of the Year runner-up Kylie Ritter. In total, the Bruins lost 3,460 minutes due to either graduation, departure, or season-ending injury — 63% of Fox's minutes played in the 2025-26 season.

Still, that doesn't mean that the Bruins are without returning seniors with experience both on and off the court. The class of 2027 is made up of Hopkins, Tara Ushiro, Emma Boehm, and Trinity Barker. Of that group, Ushiro started all 27 games for the Bruins, averaging 6.9 points per game, while Boehm became an impact player off the bench to close the season; in the final five games of the season, Boehm averaged 10.8 points on a staggering 6-7 clip from deep.

" I think the growth and maturity [of the seniors] have been significant." Howard said, "We have had such great leaders in the classes before them — they've seen that, they've been able to follow what that looks like, and they've stepped into those roles this year. I'm proud of them."

On the flip side, Fox adds eight freshmen to the program for the 2026-27 season: Rylee Stupnik, Aiga Unutoa, Elli Nugent, Reese Weygandt, Leiana Riveria, Anna Kuske, Emma Burlison, and D'aye Davidson.

These eight freshmen have stepped in admirably, quickly learning the complicated ways of collegiate basketball. And with so many minutes departing from the team, they will have the chance to show it early on. And whether it's a defensive sparkplug in Nugent, a solid two-way player in Weygandt, or a strong forward in Unutoa,  Howard has plenty of players to turn to in a talented freshmen group.

"We're going to need freshmen to step up into big roles this year," Howard said, "but it makes it really exciting and competitive because the freshmen see that there's a need for people to step it up."

In between the large freshman group and senior class is a small but mighty group of sophomores and juniors — two apiece in each class. Addi Dippel came into the rotation down the stretch, starting four games and shooting 46% from the field. 

Outside of Dippel, the other three athletes will be in recovery mode. Bella Arrisgado and Tatum Fisher will unfortunately miss their seasons due to injury, but Webster University transfer Annie Sale will be ready to play come conference season. Even with the slew of injuries, Howard has been impressed by each player's positive energy.

"When they do return, they're at 100%," Howard said, "And so far, they've just done a phenomenal job. They've been super involved in practice and taking on more of a coaching leadership role."

The Bruins will get right into action with a tough matchup, traveling to California to face a nationally-ranked team in Hardin-Simmons. The Bruins are no stranger to the Cowgirls, having beaten them in November 2024 on a Hopkins buzzer-beater. Then, Fox will face other tough teams in Corban (a squad nationally receiving votes on the NAIA level), Redlands, and Azusa Pacific before fully getting into conference play.

"We need to utilize our preseason games to prepare us for conference," Howard said, "and understand that we need to be playing our best basketball by the time conference comes — not by the time November 7 hits. We want to be able to ease our way in, to gain that experience."

Though November 7 is right on the horizon, the end of February looms large, where Fox has a chance to break through and win the NWC Championship. Defending tournament champ Whitman was tabbed as the conference favorite in the preseason coaches poll, and GFU is projected to finish fourth for a second consecutive season.

But thanks to top-tier returning talent and a hungry group of freshmen, the George Fox women's basketball team is ready to achieve those goals on the court.