HONOLULU, Hawai'i – Hannah Munger and Keisha Gordon both reaching scoring milestones on the George Fox University career points list as the Bruins cruised to a 58-34 win over the Spalding University Lady Golden Eagles in the Hoop n Surf Women's Basketball Classic Monday evening here at the McKinley High School Gym.
Munger scored 10 points to become the 13th player in Bruin history to reach the 1,000 mark in career points. In raising her total to 1,007 in her junior year, she passed Traci Nelson (1,001, 1988-92) and Robin Taylor (1,006, 2002-05) to move into 11th place on the all-time scoring list. Gordon, a senior, tallied 12 points, giving her 1,407 for her career and moving her past former NAIA All-American Nancy Rissmiller (1,403, 1994-98) into third on the Bruins' scoring chart.
With the win, George Fox, ranked third in the nation in the NCAA Division III, improved to 9-0 on the season. Spalding, which had its three-game winning streak snapped, fell to 5-4 on the year.
The game opened with a Melinda Leavell three-pointer that gave Spalding a 3-0 lead, but it was the only time the Lady Eagles would have the advantage. Hayley Cusick put George Fox on the board with a pair of free throws - the only ones the Bruins shot the entire game - and Megan Arnoldy scored off the offensive glass at the 18:15 mark to give them the lead for good. The Bruins then added 10 more unanswered points on three layups by Gordon and two by Munger for a 14-3 lead with 12:35 left in the period.
After a Lindsey Roarx jumper at 12:02 broke the Lady Eagles' scoreless string, the Bruins reeled off eight more in a row, including threes by Arianna Mohsenian and Jami Roos, for a 22-5 lead with 9:35 left. Gordon and Munger layups around another trey by Roos made it 29-7 with five minutes remaining, and the Bruins took a 35-16 lead into the halftime.
The Bruins opened the second half with a 10-0 run and eventually built as much as a 35-point lead at 54-19 on a layup by McKenzie Wolfe with 11:35 left in the game. The Lady Eagles scored the last 10 points of the game over the last four minutes to close the final gap to 24 points.
In addition to the points by Munger and Gordon, Roos chimed in with 11. George Fox shot .424 (25-59) from the field while holding Spalding to a .229 (11-58) mark. The Bruins also held a sizeable advantage on the boards, 44-32, with Munger just missing a double-double with nine rebounds. The Bruins' 6-5 center also had five of their eight blocked shots and passed out four assists.
Leavell and Kirsten Hayes led the Lady Eagles with eight points apiece, and Jessica Guy grabbed 10 rebounds. Hayes handed out four assists.
NEXT: George Fox plays its second and final game of the Classic Tuesday against Worcester State University (4-5) at 2:00 p.m. Pacific time (12:00 noon Hawai'i time) ... Spalding is off until Jan. 4, when the Lady Eagles will host Eureka College at 6:00 p.m. Eastern time.