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Feb. 21, 2009
No. 2 Bruins Top Lutes to Complete Perfect Regular Season
NEWBERG, Ore. - George Fox completed a history-making unbeaten regular season and at the same time put an end to Pacific Lutheran's postseason hopes with a 73-51 Northwest Conference women's basketball win on Saturday night 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. They tied their record for the most wins in a season, set during last year's 25-5 campaign, and also won the conference title 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 held a 52-30 lead after Sage Indendi's three-pointer with 14:35 left in the game when the Lutes made their best run of the night. With Jordan 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 with a 10-0 run of their own that pushed the lead back to 22 points. Two Kuenzi free throws with 2:11 to go gave the Bruins their largest lead at 72-46.
Keisha Gordon led all scorers with 18 points, while Westering paced the Lutes with 15 points. Trinity Gibbons scored 10 points and Nikki Scott had eight rebounds and six assists playing their final game for PLU.
For the second straight year Pacific Lutheran ends its season at 14-11 overall, though it did improve one game to finish 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.
(Courtesy of George Fox Sports Information Office)
