NEWBERG, Ore. – Hannah Munger scored a game-high 24 points and the George Fox University Bruins stopped one of the nation's best three-point shooting teams for a 66-46 Northwest Conference women's basketball victory over the Whitworth University Pirates Friday night here at the Wheeler Sports Center's Miller Gym.
Munger led the George Fox offense by hitting 10-14 field goals and 4-6 free throws en route to her big game, falling one point shy of equaling her career high, and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds. Defensively, the Bruins limited the Pirates, who ranked eighth nationally in threes per game (8.1) and 13th in three-point percentage (.386) coming in, to a .105 mark on 2-19 from behind the arc.
Both teams came out cold in the early going; eight minutes into the game, the score was only 7-7 with each offense shooting under 25 percent. The Bruins finally opened up a six-point gap with baskets by Hayley Cusick and Megan Arnoldy and two free throws by Carly Towne for a 13-7 lead with 9:54 left in the half.
After the visitors climbed back within two at 13-11, the Bruins fed the 6-5 Munger for three consecutive layups over the smaller Pirates, extending the lead to 19-11 with five minutes to go. The Bruins took a 27-15 lead into the break after scoring the last seven points of the half on a free throw by Breezy Rinehart-Young, two layups by Keisha Gordon, and a last-second driving basket by Kylee Parker.
Whitworth struggled to a .185 shooting percentage (5-27) in the first half, while the Bruins hit six of their last eight shots to finish with a .393 mark (11-28). Munger had eight points to lead all scorers, while Kayla Johnson and Lexi Belcher had four apiece for the Pirates.
The Bruins maintained a double-digit lead throughout the second half, taking a 19-point lead with 11:22 to go at 45-26 on a three-pointer by Arianna Mohsenian. The Pirates came back within 12 at 48-36 on a pair of free tosses by Johnson with 8:31 remaining before the Bruins pulled away again, Munger's free throw with 35 seconds left giving the home team its largest lead of 22 points at 66-44.
Munger was joined in the Bruins' scoring column by Mohsenian with 12 points and Gordon with 11. The Bruins finished with a .464 shooting percentage (26-56) after hitting .536 (15-28) in the second half. Gordon also had nine rebounds as the Bruins held a 38-36 edge on the boards, passed out five assists, and had five steals, while Cusick added four assists and four steals.
Belcher and Johnson paced the Pirates with 13 and 12 points respectively. Whitworth's final shooting mark was .300 (15-50) from the floor. Emily Guthrie, the Pirates' leading scorer at almost 12 a game, was held to four points, but grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and passed out three assists. Taylor LaMoreaux Taylor also had three assists and made three steals.
With their seventh straight win over Whitworth, the Bruins improved to 10-4 overall and 4-1 in the conference. The Pirates dropped to 6-8 overall and 2-3 in the league.
NEXT: George Fox hosts Whitman College Saturday while Whitworth visits Willamette University, both games starting at 4:00 p.m. Both games will be part of NWC doubleheaders, with the men's games to follow at 6:00 p.m. The starts are two hours earlier than usual to accommodate travel plans back home for the eastern Washington teams.