PARKLAND, Wash. – Holding Pacific Lutheran University scoreless for over eight minutes while scoring 16 unanswered points of their own, the George Fox University Bruins seized control midway through the first half en route to a 70-43 win over the host Lutes in Northwest Conference women's basketball action Friday night here at Names Family Court.
With their 15th straight win over PLU, the Bruins, who are 10th in the D3hoops.com poll and 15th in the WBCA poll, have started the season 11-0 for the fifth time in their history and are 2-0 in the conference. The Lutes, who are in their first year under head coach Jennifer Childress, a former George Fox player, fell to 4-6 overall in their NWC opener.
Scoring was scarce in the early going, with the score only 4-4 six minutes into the game before the Bruins took a four-point lead of 8-4 on back-to-back layups by McKenzie Wolfe and Lauren Codling. A jumper by Michaela Edgers cut the George Fox lead to 8-6 at the 11:45 mark, but the Bruins held the Lutes scoreless for the next eight minutes while reeling off 16 straight points to build a 24-6 lead with 4:19 to play. Megan Arnoldy, Dacia Heckendorf, and Jami Roos each hit a three-pointer to spearhead the Bruins' run.
After going only 2-for-19 from the field to start the game, the Lutes finally got another basket on a jumper by Shelly Kilcup at the 3:24 mark to end the George Fox outburst. The Bruins upped the margin to 20 for the first time, however, on a three by Roos that made it 31-10 with 1:55 to go, and led 33-14 at the half.
George Fox held PLU to a .208 shooting percentage (5-24) in the first half and forced 17 turnovers by the Lutes. The Bruins shot .444 (12-27), including .556 (5-9) from three-point range.
A Samantha Potter layup with 16:04 remaining in the game drew the Lutes within 17 at 38-21, but that was as close as the home team would get. The Bruins responded with 10 straight points on a pair of threes by Roos and baskets by Codling and Jordyn Peacock to take a 48-21 advantage with 13:14 to play. They eventually led by 31 when Kaycee Creech scored on a layup to make it 70-39 with 1:30 left.
Roos led all scorers with 15 points, hitting five threes in six attempts, Arnoldy scored 10, and Hayley Cusick just missed double digits with nine. Arnoldy and Cusick tied for the team lead in rebounds with four each, while Roos had five assists and Codling made four steals. The Bruins forced 30 PLU turnovers and held the Lutes to a final .340 shooting mark (17-50), including 0-9 on threes. George Fox shot .510 (26-51), going 11-19 for a .579 percentage on threes, but struggled from the line, making only 7-21 (.333).
Potter was the only Lute in double figures with 12 points and also grabbed a game-high seven rebounds, leading PLU to a 39-34 advantage on the backboards. She made four steals as well. Katelyn Smith, Kara Sherman, and Andrea Adams had two assists apiece.
NEXT: George Fox visits defending NWC champion Lewis & Clark College next Friday for a 6:00 p.m. conference game, with the GFU-L&C men's game to follow at 8:00 p.m. … Pacific Lutheran hosts Lewis & Clark Saturday at 6:00 p.m., also part of an NWC doubleheader.