NEWBERG, Ore. – Although their stay in the Northwest Conference Women's Basketball Tournament was shorter than expected, the 13th-ranked George Fox University Bruins are still hopeful of an at-large bid to the NCAA post-season despite a 74-55 loss to the Whitworth University Pirates Thursday night here at the Wheeler Sports Center's Miller Gym in the NWC semifinals.
George Fox is now 22-4 on the season and finished second in the conference in the regular season to undefeated and No. 1-ranked Whitman College, which thumped the University of Puget Sound 77-60 in Walla Walla, Wash., in the other semifinal game. Whitworth, 19-7, will go to Whitman, 26-0, for the NWC Tournament title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Tournament Saturday at 7:00 p.m.
The entire 64-team playoff field will be determined by the NCAA Selection Committee Sunday evening. Tournament sites and matchups will be announced some time Monday morning, and the Bruins have sculpted what they believe to be an impressive enough resume to warrant one of the at-large positions.
A hot-shooting second half by the visiting Pirates, with whom the Bruins split during the season, and a huge discrepancy in free throws proved to be the home team's undoing Thursday. After holding the Pirates to a meager .240 shooting mark (6-25) in the first half, the Bruins could not bother the Bucs' accuracy from the field in the final stanza as they shot .522 (12-23), including a sizzling .750 (6-8) from three-point range. The Pirates also made 30-34 (.882) from the free throw line, tripling the Bruin free throw count of 10-16 (.625).
The game began as a tight defensive contest, Whitworth leading for the first 10 minutes but with no more than a four-point lead of 11-7 with 11:22 to go in the half. The Bruins began clicking at that point, taking off on a 14-2 run that featured threes by Nicole Blizzard and Jami Roos to go up 21-13 with 5:22 left. An 8-0 run by the Pirates, including two jumpers and two free throws by Kayla Johnson, forged a 22-22 tie, but free throws by Hayley Cusick and Roos around a Blizzard layup gave the Bruins a 26-24 halftime lead.
The first 10 minutes of the second half were equally as close, a free throw by the Bruins' Justine Benner drawing them within one at 39-38 with 9:44 left - and then the Pirates took off on a 13-0 run to build a 52-38 lead as the Bruins went scoreless for over five minutes. The Pirates' lead remained in double digits the rest of the way as they scored their final 19 points on free throws, missing only once. The final score was the largest margin of the game.
Blizzard led the Bruins with 12 points while Arnoldy, Roos, and Benner scored 10 apiece. Arnoldy boosted her career points total to 976 and needs 24 points to become the 14th player in Bruin history to reach 1,000. Benner had a team-high eight rebounds, and Cusick and Lauren Codling passed out four assists.
K.C. McConnell had 19 for the Pirates to lead all scorers, with Johnson adding 14 and Kendra Lahue 12, all on threes. McConnell was 12-12 from the line. Johnson had nine rebounds, Whitworth winning the glass 40-36, and Lexi Zappone handed out five assists.