SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Posting their highest-scoring output of the season, the nationally-ranked George Fox University Bruins took the sting out of the Howard Payne University Yellowjackets early and rolled to a 92-51 women's basketball victory in the Trinity University Christmas Classic Sunday afternoon here at the Sams Gym.

The Bruins, ranked 10th in the latest in the NCAA Division III D3hoops.com poll and 15th in the USA Today Sports / Women's Basketball Coaches Association poll, improved to 9-0,while the Yellowjackets, who lost to Illinois Wesleyan University in overtime to open the tournament Saturday, fell to 5-4.  Howard Payne and George Fox won back-to-back national titles with undefeated seasons in 2008 and 2009 respectively.

The Bruins started quickly with a pair of backdoor layups by Jordyn Peacock and Megan Arnoldy and a free throw by Arnoldy for a 5-0 lead in the first minute.  Danyel Bradley put the 'Jackets on the board with a driving layup, but the Bruins answered with another basket by Arnoldy and stretched their lead to 10 at 18-8 on a three-pointer by Nicole Blizzard at the 12:24 mark.  A three by Jami Roos capped a 12-0 run and extended the lead to 25-8 with 8:44 remaining.

The George Fox lead hit 20 for the first time on a layup by Dacia Heckendorf that made it 32-11 at 5:07, and Blizzard hit another trey and a jumper in a 10-3 run that pushed the margin to 42-14 with 2:27 to go.  The Bruins led 45-24 at the break after Yessenia Cazares hit a pair of long-range bombs for the 'Jackets in the final minute to close the gap.

Baskets by Heckendorf and Arnoldy to open the second half gave the Bruins a 49-24 lead, and the 'Jackets got no closer than 23 the rest of the way.  George Fox continued to stretch its lead, taking a 30-point advantage for the first time at 59-29 on a pair of Peacock free tosses with 15:40 left.  A 12-0 run late in the game, capped by a Kylee Parker layup, gave the Bruins their largest lead of 43 points at 92-49 with 47 seconds to go.

George Fox shot .600 (18-30) in the second half and finished with a .507 mark (36-71) for the game while holding Howard Payne to a .281 percentage (16-57).  The Bruins connected on half of their three-point attempts (8-16), and dominated on the glass with a 51-30 margin in rebounds. 

Arnoldy paced the Bruins with 15 points, hitting 7-8 from the floor, while Blizzard added 14 and Roos 12 on four three-pointers.  Arnold just missed a double-double with a game-high nine rebounds.  Heckendorf and Lauren Codling handed out four assists apiece, Blizzard made four steals, and Peacock had three blocked shots.

Bradley led all scorers with 20 points and Cazares added 11, including three threes, for the Yellowjackets.  Bradley, Jessica Galaviz, and Kalin Hanna had five rebounds each, while Bradley passed out three assists and Galaviz made four steals. 

NEXT: George Fox takes on host Trinity Monday at 3:00 p.m. Central time (1:00 p.m. Pacific) … Howard Payne hosts the University of the Ozarks Thursday at 5:30 p.m. (CST) in an American Southwest Conference game.