SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Despite Keisha Gordon's 1,000th career point, the George Fox University Bruins fell behind early and dropped a 73-56 decision to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks in the title game of the Surf 'n Slam Women's Basketball Classic Thursday evening here at Point Loma Nazarene University's Golden Gym.
George Fox, ranked 13th in the WBCA poll and 14th by D3hoops.com, fell to 8-3 as its five-game winning streak was halted. Wisconsin-Whitewater, ranked 24th in the WBCA poll and 17th by D3hoops.com, improved to 9-2 with its fifth straight win and improved to 3-0 all-time against George Fox. The Bruins were the #1 team from the "Surf" division and the Warhawks were #1 in the "Slam" division.
Committing five turnovers and hitting only one of their first seven shot attempts, the Bruins fell behind 13-3 in the game's first five minutes before settling down and playing the Warhawks even for the next eight minutes. Down 21-9, Arianna Mohsenian hit a three-pointer and Gordon nailed a layup to bring the Bruins within seven at 21-14 with 7:35 left in the half, but that was as close as they would get. UWW closed the half with a 17-5 run, capped by a Dana Thompson layup with 13 seconds left, for a 38-19 halftime lead.
The Warhawks held a decided edge in almost every first-half stat. UWW shot .429 (12-28) from the floor and .785 (11-14) from the line while the Bruins hit only .304 (7-23) from the field and .429 (3-7) on free throws. The Warhawks out-rebounded the Bruins 22-14 and had only eight turnovers to 12 for the Bruins. Thompson led all scorers with 13 points for UWW while Mohsenian and Gordon had six each for GFU.
Katie Burton hit a jumper to open the second-half scoring for the Warhawks, who then went almost six minutes without a field goal. Two buckets by Hayley Cusick and a three by Mohsenian brought the Bruins within 13 at 41-28 with 14:15 to play. After Thompson broke the Warhawks' drought with a layup, Hannh Munger and Gordon scored back-to-back goals as the Bruins closed within 11 at 43-32 with 12:25 left.
Megan Theune hit her fourth three-pointer of the game with 12:05 to go to raise the Warhawks' lead back to 14 at 46-32, and the Bruins got no closer than 12 points the rest of the way. A layup by Jamie Swanson with 5:34 to go capped a 20-9 stretch that gave the Warhawks their largest lead of 22 points at 63-41.
Gordon, a junior, drained a three-pointer with 2:01 left in the game for her 1,000th point, becoming the 12th Bruin to reach that total. She hit another three with 13 seconds left to finish the night with 1,003 career points, passing Tracy Nelson (1,001, 1988-92) for 11th on the all-time scoring list. Immediately ahead in 10th is Robin Taylor (1,006, 2003-07).
Gordon, on 8-13 shooting with a pair of threes, led the Bruins with 18 points and was named to the All-Tournament Team. Mohsenian added 12 points on 4-6 threes. Improving to a .565 shooting percentage (13-23) in the second half, the Bruins ended with a .435 mark (20-46), but were only .500 (10-20) from the line and made 26 turnovers. Carrie Myers had a team-high six rebounds as the Bruins were out-boarded 36-28. Myers and Kylee Parker had two assists each, Gordon and Megan Arnoldy had three steals apiece, and Munger blocked three shots.
Thompson, the 2008 NCAA Division III national discus champion who missed all of last season with a broken foot, led all scorers with 24 points for the Warhawks, hitting 7-12 field goals and 10-12 free throws, and was named the tournament MVP. Theune, another All-Tournament selection, added 15 points, hitting 4-5 three-pointers. UWW shot .429 (21-49) for the game, less than the Bruins, but made up for it with free throws, canning 27-39 (.692). Swanson had a game-high nine rebounds, while Kaitlyn Thill had four assists and four steals.
In the #3 game, Bethany Lutheran College knocked off Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham 74-69 in overtime. In the #2 game, St. Mary's College (Ind.) defeated host Point Loma Nazarene 57-51.
NEXT: With the non-conference portion of the schedule now complete, George Fox returns to Northwest Conference action Friday, Jan. 7, at 6:00 p.m. at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Ore. The game will be part of an NWC doubleheader, with the men's game to follow at 8:00 p.m. ... Wisconsin-Whitewater goes home to host Edgewood College Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. Central time.