2/14 - GEORGE FOX 77, PACIFIC 68: Best Shooting Night of Season Carries Bruins Past Boxers
FOREST GROVE, Ore. - A red-hot first half of shooting en route to their best shooting night of the season lifted the George Fox University Bruins to a big lead and an eventual 77-68 win over the Pacific University Boxers in Northwest Conference women's basketball action Saturday here at the Pacific Athletic Center.
The teams traded leads throughout most the first half until Melissa Alexander's 3-pointer with 5:25 left sparked a 14-2 run that closed the half with the Bruins ahead 39-27. George Fox hit 60.0% (15-25) while holding Pacific to 32.4% (11-34).
Liz Clark continued the run almost by herself to open the second half, hitting a pair of threes and a third long jumper to open up a 52-31 lead with 14:43 left. Clark extended the lead to 24 points on a lay-in at the 12:25 mark before the Boxers started to chip away at the lead, cutting the lead to 65-56 with 3:11 left. Kellie Thomas made two sets of free throws to extend the lead to 11 with 2:11 left, and while the Bruins made only 4-of-10 from the line after that as Pacific played the foul game, the Boxers missed five of their last seven shots to keep the Bruins in front.
Clark scored a game-high 23 points, one short of her career high, while Thomas and Kim Leith each had 14 and Darby Cave finished with 13. Clark, Cave, Leith and Amy Fitch all had 6 rebounds to lead the Bruins to a 40-38 edge on the boards. Leith and Alexander had 4 assists apiece. As a team, the Bruins shot 53.8% (28-52) for the contest.
The Boxers were led by DeeDee Arnall's 18 points, Katannya Kapeli came off the bench to score 17, and Tori Nelson hit all of her 11 points in the first half to keep Pacific afloat. Nelson also had a game-high 9 rebounds and added 4 assists, as did Arnall. The Boxers hit only 36.9% (24-565) from the field.
The Bruins improved to 12-9 overall and 6-7 in the conference with their 3rd straight win, while the Boxers fell to the .500 mark at 9-9 overall and 4-7 in the league.
George Fox hosts Lewis & Clark College Tuesday (Feb. 17) while Pacific entertains Whitworth College Friday (Feb. 20). Both games are at 6:00 p.m., followed by men's games at 8:00 p.m.