NEWBERG, Ore. – Picking up their 14th win of the season, the third-ranked George Fox University Bruins clinched their 19th consecutive winning record as they cruised to a 95-34 win over the Willamette University Bearcats in a Northwest Conference women's basketball game Friday evening here at the Wheeler Sports Center's Miller Gym.
With the win in their highest-scoring output of the season and largest in two years, the Bruins improved to 14-0 overall, the second-best start in their history, and 5-0 in the conference, the only team without a league loss. The Bearcats dropped their seventh in a row, falling to 1-13 overall and 0-5 in the NWC, and lost to the Bruins for the 21st straight time.
The Bruins got on the board first on a rebound basket by Hannah Munger, but the Bearcats answered with a jumper by Mackenzie Lamson and a steal and layup by Maya McFaddin for a 4-2 lead three minutes in. A Megan Arnoldy three-pointer at the 16:50 mark gave the Bruins the lead for good at 5-4 and sparked a 9-0 run, capped by two Jami Roos free throws, that made it 11-4 with 14:21 left in the half.
A free throw by Breezy Rinehart-Young gave George Fox its first 10-digit lead at 16-6 with 10:42 to play. The lead hit 20 points at 33-12 on a pair of charity tosses by Carrie Myers with 4:53 left, and Dacia Heckendorf's three with 47 seconds to go made it a 45-15 game. The Bruins were up 45-17 at the half.
The Bruins shot .452 (14-31) from the field in the half while holding the Bearcats to a .320 (8-25) mark. George Fox held a 24-16 rebound advantage, forced 16 Willamette turnovers while committing only nine, and out-shot the visitors from the line, making 14-18 to 1-5 for the Bearcats. Arnoldy led the way for the home team with 11 points and six boards. Three Bearcats had four points each in the half and Kaileigh Westermann hauled in six caroms.
With Roos scoring 10 points in the first seven minutes of the second half on two threes and a layup, the Bruins continued to expand the margin. After a jumper by the Bearcats' Dora Rabih cut the George Fox lead to 57-26 with 14:48 to go, the Bruins took off on a 20-0 run over the next six minutes to build a 77-26 advantage on a layup by Keisha Gordon with 8:57 showing. The largest margin of the game was 63 points at 95-32 following a drive by Katie Morse with 27 seconds remaining.
Roos led all scorers with 18 points for the Bruins, while Arnoldy finished with 13 and Gordon added 12. The Bruins, who had 13 different players score, shot .508 (32-63) from the field, .563 (18-32) in the second half. The Bruins also held a decided edge in the free throw department, making 25-34 (.735) to 8-23 (.348) for the Bearcats. Arnoldy's nine boards led the Bruins to a 50-35 advantage on the glass. Mohsenian passed out five assists and Hayley Cusick made three steals as the Bruins forced 29 turnovers.
McFaddin paced the Bearcats with eight points and Westermann grabbed nine rebounds. The Bearcats finished with a .255 shooting percentage (13-51) after connecting on only five of 26 shots (.192) in the final period.
NEXT: George Fox hosts the University of Puget Sound (8-6 overall and 4-1 in the conference) Saturday at 6:00 p.m. … Willamette visits Lewis & Clark College Saturday, also at 6:00 p.m. … Both games are part of NWC doubleheaders, with the men's games following at 8:00 p.m.