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Women's Basketball Concludes Another Terrific Season

By: Blair Cash, Sports Information Director

In 11 years as head coach of the George Fox women's basketball team, Scott Rueck has established the Bruins as one of the most successful programs, not just in the Northwest Conference, but nationally as well. The 2006-07 campaign proved to be another in a long line of outstanding seasons strung together by the Bruins.

Despite perhaps the toughest nonconference schedule in team history, the Bruins went 5-3 against outside competition, including a win over 16th-ranked Bridgewater in the Hoop-n-Surf Tournament in Hawaii. It was in league play, however, that the Bruins truly excelled. Picked to finish fourth in the conference in the preseason coaches' poll, the Bruins showed they would be league contenders when, in the second conference game of the season, they knocked off 17th-ranked Puget Sound on the road.

By season's end, the Bruins had beaten UPS again, swept preseason league favorite Pacific Lutheran, and ended up as conference co-champions with Puget Sound at 13-3. By virtue of their sweep of the Loggers, the Bruins earned home-court advantage for the conference tournament championship game, in which they defeated UPS for the third time to claim the league's automatic berth in the NCAA Division III National Tournament.

The team was pleasantly surprised when the NCAA awarded George Fox a four-team regional to open the national tournament. The Bruins, who had just moved into the national rankings at No. 24, eliminated No. 23 Gustavus Adolphus in the first round, but came up short the following night when Puget Sound, an at-large team in the tournament, managed to upend the Bruins on their fourth try.

With a final record of 19-7, the Bruins posted their 14th straight winning season. Rueck, who collected his 200th coaching win when the squad defeated Pacific Lutheran on Feb. 16, was named NWC Coach of the Year for the fourth time. His career record now stands at 203-80.

Junior forward Katy Campbell was named Northwest Conference Player of the Year and earned All-West Region Second Team status after averaging 11.4 points per game, leading the league in rebounds with 8.9 per game, and ranking among the leaders in field goal percentage (.491), free throw percentage (.795), and assists per game (2.3). Senior guard Robin Taylor was a First Team All-Conference selection while averaging 13.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 2.4 assists a game. She finished her fine George Fox career with 1,006 total points - ninth on the all-time scoring list. Junior center Melissa Marek-Farris averaged 10.4 points and 6.8 rebounds a game, and her blocked shots average of 2.6 per game led the conference and ranked among the top 30 nationally.

Taylor was the team's only senior, so with four returning starters and virtually its entire bench returning, the 2007-08 season promises to be another great year in George Fox women's basketball.