Women's Basketball: George Fox 82, Chapman 52

Bruins best Panthers in battle of ’08 Playoff teams.

Salem-News.com Sports

NEWBERG, Ore. - In a rematch of last year’s first-round playoff game in the NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball National Tournament, the 25th-ranked George Fox University Bruins continued their mastery over the Chapman University Panthers with an 82-52 win Saturday evening here at the Wheeler Sports Center’s Miller Gym.

George Fox had defeated Chapman 71-55 in the West Regional in Tacoma, Wash., last March, but any thoughts the Panthers might have had of gaining a measure of payback were quickly dispelled by a fast start by the Bruins.

After Linda Ly’s jumper gave the Panthers an early 2-0 lead, the Bruins took control behind a red-hot Elise Kuenzi, who hit her first four shots en route to 13 first-half points. A jumper and a layup by Kuenzi made it 4-2 George Fox, and the Bruins never trailed again.

Two free throws by Lindsay Keener gave the Bruins their first double-digit lead of 15-5 with 13:18 left, and a basket by Kuenzi with 7:23 to go extended the George Fox lead to 20 points at 29-9.

The Panthers cut the Bruin lead to 12 at 31-19 with 4:26 left after an 8-0 run on a pair of three-pointers by Kelli Yamamoto and two free throws by Christiana Ly, but that was as close as the visitors would get. George Fox held a 38-24 halftime lead.

The Bruins scored the first six points of the second half, rebuilding a 20-point lead of 44-24 on two layups by B.B. Gardner and a layup by Kristen Shielee with an assist by Gardner, and were never threatened again. Their largest lead came at 4:08 when a free throw by Carrie Myers made it a 35-point game of 80-45.

Faced with a huge deficit in the second half, the Panthers resorted to fouling in an effort to catch up. As a result, the Bruins set a new single-game record for free throws made with 33, breaking the old mark of 32 vs. Central Washington on Nov. 19, 1993. They also attempted 45 free throws, two short of the record of 47 in that same Central Washington game. Chapman was only 9-13 from the line after committing 28 fouls to 17 for George Fox.

Both teams got little production out of their biggest guns. Chapman’s Nicole Hayman (18.6 ppg) sat out the game with a broken foot, while George Fox’s Keisha Gordon (20.3 ppg) played only 13 minutes and scored two points.

Kuenzi and Gardner took up the scoring slack for the Bruins, tallying 17 points apiece. It was a new career high for Gardner, who hit 4-5 from the field and 9-11 from the line. Sage Indendi added 13 points and Arianna Mohsenian scored 10. Gardner passed out four assists. Shielee grabbed 10 rebounds as the Bruins won the battle of the boards 43-37, and also blocked four shots, giving her 77 for her career and moving her into sixth place on the all-time Bruin blocks list.

Linda Ly was the only Panther in double figures with 14 points, and also passed out three assists. Andrijana Kerkez had a team-high seven rebounds. The Panthers were plagued by 31 turnovers to 20 for the Bruins.

George Fox (6-0) heads for Las Vegas next weekend to take part in the Las Vegas Hoopla Tournament Dec. 19-20, meeting Virginia Wesleyan College Friday and Bridgewater College Saturday, both at 12:00 noon. Continuing its Pacific Northwest trip, Chapman (6-4) heads 14 miles down the road to play Linfield College Sunday at 3:00 PM.

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