PARKLAND - George Fox, winner of four consecutive Northwest Conference women's basketball titles, showed that it is again the team to beat as it rolled to an 83-45 victory over the Pacific Lutheran Lutes on Saturday night in Olson Auditorium.
The Bruins (6-2 overall, 2-0 conference) scored the first points on Arianna Mohsenian's three-point shot 55 seconds into the game and they never trailed after that. They took their first double-digit advantage at 16-6 on a layup by Hayley Cusick eight minutes into the game, and they led by 20 points at 32-12 after Keisha Gordon hit a pair of free throws with 4:24 left in the opening period.
Trailing 39-19 going into the second half, the Lutes (3-2, 1-1) got no closer than 17 points the rest of the way, that coming when Shelly Kilcup hit a three-point shot to make it 41-24 a minute into the period.
After that, the Bruins continued to add to their lead, building it as high as 40 points when Crystal Blair hit a three-point shot with 3:56 remaining.
A total of 15 different George Fox players saw action in the game, and only three played as many as 20 minutes. Keisha Gordon had a big night for the winners with 27 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and seven steals. She was 9-for-10 from the field, including 4-for-5 from three-point range, and she also made all five of her free throws. Hannah Munger, a 6-5 sophomore center, finished the game with 17 points and nine rebounds. Of the 15 players to see action, 12 entered the scoring column.
The Bruins shot 31-for-54 from the field, 57 percent, including 8-for-17, or 47 percent, from three-point range. They have won 37 consecutive regular-season games against Northwest conference opponents.
Jordan Westering led Pacific Lutheran with eight points, while Sara Backstrom had seven. Samantha Potter had all five of her rebounds on the offense end, and Melissa Pixler and Kilcup both added five rebounds as the Lutes tied the Bruins at 36-36 in that category. Ayla Mull came off the bench to dish out five assists, tying George Fox's Gordon for high-game honors.
PLU finished the game shooting 16-for-59, 27 percent, and 5-for-20 from long range, 20 percent.
The Lutes return to action at 7 p.m. next Monday when they travel to Lacey to face the NCAA Division II Saint Martin's University Saints.