By Pat Coleman
D3sports.com

Hannah Munger's foul shooting was the story of the battled of unbeatens. George Fox athletics photo by Robby Larson

HOLLAND, Mich. -- The book on Hannah Munger was well established, it seemed. The 6-5 junior center for George Fox was only an offensive threat within five feet of the basket, was a rebounding and shot-blocking machine and was a liability at the foul line. One opponent had even boasted of a hack-a-Hannah-type strategy this season. And Munger entered the weekend shooting 53 percent from the charity stripe.

In the national semifinals, however, Munger rewrote the book. Not just her personal book, but the scouting report as well. She scored a career-high 36 points, as she shot 11-for-16 from the floor and an uncharacteristic 14-for-16 from the foul line in leading No. 3 George Fox to a 76-69 win against top-ranked Amherst.

The win snapped Amherst’s 50-game winning streak, ending the Lord Jeffs’ title defense on the second-to-last day of the season.

So how did this happen? Consider it equal parts practice and prayer.

“I felt focus,” Munger said after the game, which she started with 14 consecutive made foul shots before missing her last two. “The assistant coach, Tom (Batsell) has been working with me. Obviously it’s been a struggle for me, and I’ve kind of changed my routine, trying to figure out why it wasn’t falling. We’ve been working diligently, the last two weeks especially, on getting it down.”

But that wasn’t the only thing working in Munger’s favor on Friday night.

“Specifically before the game I was talking to my dad and I asked him, ‘pray that I make my free throws. I just want to make my free throws tonight.’ And I guess God gave that to me,” Munger said.

Munger’s best outing from the line this season before this was an 8-for-10 performance at Pacific Lutheran on Feb. 18. The most she’d made in a game was 10 a week later against Lewis and Clark, and she needed 18 shots to do it.

“She made the plays,” said Amherst coach G.P. Gromacki, “and think about it -- she goes 14 for-16 from the foul line. She shoots what she normally shoots, it’s probably a different game.”

And although Munger didn’t block a single shot, she altered many of Amherst’s shots and was in the Lord Jeffs’ heads.

“She’s a huge presence inside, you can’t deny that,” said Amherst senior guard Caroline Stedman. “If you’re going in there and you see her, you’re obviously going to take a second thought before you take the shot. She’s huge in there.”

Munger finished with 13 rebounds and was 11-for-16 from the floor to go with her foul-line heroics.

“You have to release the ball a little bit earlier just to get it over her,” said Lord Jeffs junior guard Marcia Voigt. “One of our strategies was to penetrate into the paint and kick out, but some of our shots just didn’t fall.”

“She really just seemed like she scored at will,” Gromacki said. “When she goes to the foul line, especially in the first half, I’m like ‘alright, she’s an average foul shooter,’ but her stroke looked great. It was just nothing but net.”

“When I was watching Hannah, I was (thinking) ‘this is the time where players step up’ and tonight’s that’s exactly what Hannah did,” said George Fox senior guard Keisha Gordon. “She was a key spark for us. We go against her in practice, so we know what she’s capable of.

“She played exactly the way we needed her to play.”