Overall 6-3: Home 2-0, Road 1-1, Neutral 3-2 / NWC 0-0: Home 0-0, Road 0-0
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HIGHLIGHTS:
* Recent Games: Bruins Complete Non-Conference PLay with Split in Phoenix
* Coming Up: Northwest Conference Openers at Whitman and Whitworth 31
* Leith Named NWC "Player of the Holidays"
* Coach Rueck One Win Away from 150-Victory Milestone
* Career Stats: Leith Jumps to 2nd in Free Throw Pct., Thomas 3rd
* NWC Stats: Bruins Lead League in Five Categories, 2nd in Two More
* NCAA Stats: Bruins, Leith, Thomas Among Early National Leaders
RECENT GAMES: 1-1 (Click score for link to story):
Dec. 30 - College of New Jersey 64, George Fox 54 (at Grand Canyon Classic, Phoenix, Ariz.)
Dec. 31 - George Fox 104, Neumann 32 (at Grand Canyon Classic, Phoenix, Ariz.)
COMING UP:
* Fri., Jan. 7, 6:00 pm - at Whitman College (5-4, 0-0), Walla Walla, Wash. (NWC)
Northwest Conference opener for both teams ... The Missionaries are defending NWC co-champions (with Puget Sound) and have been picked to finish 2nd this year ... Series record: GFU leads 14-6 (7-3 home, 7-3 road) ... Whitman has won the last 4 games in the series, including last year's sweep of 48-47 on Jan. 31 in Newberg and 68-62 on Feb/ 28 in Walla Walla ... The Bruins' last win was 69-31 on Feb. 15, 2002, in Newberg ... The Missionaries average 64.0 ppg while allowing 58.1 ppg ... Whitman has two double-figure scorers in Lizzy Washburn (13.3, 9th in the NWC) and First Team All-NWC Katie Patneaude (10.8, 16th) ... Washburn leads the team in rebounding (7.4, 7th), field goal pct. (.532, 4th), freee throw pct. (.841, 5th), steals (2.67, 3rd), and blocks (0.67) ... Megan Higgins leads in assists (4.89, 3rd) ... 4th-year coach Michelle Ferenz was the 2003-04 NWC Coach of the Year ..
* Sat., Jan. 8, 6:00 pm - at Whitworth College (9-0, 0-0), Spokane, Wash. (NWC)
The Pirates, off to the best start in team history, are ranked 19th in the latest D3hoops.com/NCAA poll and 14th in the WBCA coaches' poll (Jan. 4) ... Whitworth hosts Linfield Friday night before playing the Bruins ... Series record: GFU leads 11-10 (6-3 home, 4-6 road, 1-1 neutral) ... Whitworth has won the last 3 games in the series, including last year's sweep of 78-71 on Jan. 30 in Newberg and 64-59 on Feb. 27 in Spokane ... The Bruins' last win was 67-66 on Jan. 4, 2003, in Spokane ... Whitworth averages 72.3 ppg and gives up 59.7 ppg ... The Pirates lead the NWC in free throw pct. (.767, 4th nationally) ... The Pirates are led by the pre-season All-America tandem of Tiffany Speer (First Team) and Sarah Shogren (Third Team) ... Both are career 1,000-point scorers (Speer 1433, Shogren 1,000) ... Speer is 3rd in the NWC in scoring (21.7, 8th nationally) Shogren 4th (19.9, 24th nationally) ... Shogren is 2nd in rebounding (10.4) and Speer is 6th (7.9) ... Wenchi Liu leads the NWC in assists (5.78, 11th nationally) ... Kristin Coppin leads in blocks (1.78) ... Coach Helen Higgs is 161-103 in her 11th year at Whitworth ...
NORTHWEST CONFERENCE:
George Fox (6-3) has the 3rd-best record in the NWC behind unbeaten Puget Sound and Whitworth, both 9-0, as conference play begins. Puget Sound is ranked 4th and Whitworth 19th in the latest D3hoops.com/NCAA poll (Jan. 4). For the latest NWC standings, visit the new conference website at www.nwcsports.com.
COACH SCOTT RUECK:
Scott Rueck (Oregon State '91) is 149-64 (.700) to date in his 9th season as a college head coach, all at George Fox. He was NWC Coach of the Year in 1999-2000 and Co-Coach of the Year in 2000-01. Click here for the complete bio on Coach Rueck.
Rueck vs. upcoming opponents:
Whitman - 12-4 (6-2 home, 6-2 road)
Whitworth - 8-9 (5-3 home, 3-6 road)
BRUIN BITS:
* Leith Named NWC "Player of the Holidays"
Kim Leith was instrumental in all three of the Bruins' wins during the holidays as George Fox went 3-1 in two tournaments, earning Northwest Conference "Player of the Week" for the two-week period of Dec. 20-Jan. 2. In a 66-57 win over Denison in the Desert Shootout in Las Vegas on Dec. 21, she led the Bruins with 23 points on 9-18 from the field (5-8 on 3's), with 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 4 steals. In a 75-39 win over Kalamazoo on Dec. 22 in Las Vegas, she tied for the team high with 15 points on 5-11 from the field (1-2 on 3's) and 4-4 from the line, with a team-high 7 rebounds.
She missed the Bruins' 64-54 loss to the College of New Jersey on Dec. 30 in the Grand Canyon Classic in Phoenix while attending a funeral that day for a close friend and fellow GFU student who was killed in an automobile accident before Christmas, but flew into Phoenix with teammate Liz Clark that evening to play in the Bruins' final game, a 104-32 win over Neumann on Dec. 31. In that game, she scored a GFU-record 30 points in the first half en route to 32 for the game in only 21 minutes, hitting 11-17 from the field (6-10 on 3's) and 4-4 from the line, with team highs of 8 rebounds and 4 steals, and also had 3 assists and a blocked shot.
For the two-week period, in 3 games, she scored 70 points (23.3), hitting 25-46 (.543) from the field, 12-20 (.600) on 3's, and 8-8 (1.000) from the line, with 15 rebounds (5.0), 5 assists (1.7), and 8 steals (2.7).
* Coach Rueck One Win Away from 150-Victory Milestone
George Fox coach Scott Rueck is one win away from the 150-victory milestone and hopes to pick up the mark this weekend as the Bruins open Northwest Conference play in eastern Washington. The 35-year-old coach is 149-64 to date in his 9th season at George Fox, with winning records in each of his eight years at the school. Rueck's 50th win came on Nov. 26, 1999, an 84-70 win over Cal State-Hayward in Newberg, and his 100th was on Dec. 12, 2001, a 78-68 win over Northwest in the Concordia-Portland Tournament.
* 2004-05 Honors:
Liz Clark - Sodexho Tipoff Classic All-Tournament Team
Kim Leith - NWC Player of the Week (Dec. 20-Jan. 2)
* Double-Doubles:
Liz Clark: career 9, season 2 - 13 pts/12 reb at Seattle Pacific, 11/20, 12 pts/12 reb vs. Denison, 12/21 at Las Vegas, Nev.
* Career Lists: Leith Jumps to 2nd in Free Throw Pct., Thomas 3rd
Liz Clark had 4 rebounds in the Bruins' win over Neumann in the Grand Canyon Classic last week, giving her 574 for her career, 7th on the GFU all-time list. Ahead is Angela Pettit (613, 1993-97) ... With 126 steals, she needs 4 more to tie Nicole Prazeau (1998-2002) and Katie Lacey (1991-2001) for 10th ... With 162 assists, she needs 22 to tie for 10th ...
Kellie Thomas hit 2-4 free throws during the week and slipped behind Kim Leith to 3rd in career free throw pct. (.789, 153-194) ... She hit 4-9 3-point field goals and ranks 4th in career 3-pt field goal pct. (.375, 98-261) ... With 761 career points, she needs 229 to tie for 10th all-time, and 239 to become the 9th Bruin to reach 1,000 career points ... With 141 assists, she needs 43 to tie for 10th ...
Kim Leith hit 4-4 free throws during the week and climbed past Kellie Thomas to 2nd in career free throw pct. (.794, 108-136) ... With 146 assists, she needs 38 to tie for 10th ...
* NWC Stats: Bruins Lead League in Five Categories, 2nd in Two More
In the latest Northwest Conference stats (Jan. 3), George Fox is 1st in field goal pct. defense (.328), steals (17.33), turnover margin (+10.33), 3-pt field goals per game (9.78), rebounding (40.6); 2nd in defense (53.8), scoring margin (+17.8); 3rd in blocked shots (2.56), 3-pt pct. (.359); 4th in scoring (71.6); 5th in assists (14.89), free throw pct. (.686); 9th in field goal pct. (.387), rebound margin (-3.3) ...
Liz Clark is 1st in steals (3.25), 2nd in 3-pt pct. (.556), 5th in field goal pct. (.500), 8th in rebounding (7.4), 11th in blocked shots (0.50, tie), 12th in 3-pt field goals (1.25, tie), 13th in assists (2.50), 15th in assist/turnover ratio (0.95), 21st in scoring (9.5) ...
Kellie Thomas is 2nd in 3-pt field goals (2.33), 4th in 3-pt pct. (.477), 6th in free throw pct. (.833, tie), 7th in scoring (14.2, tie) ...
Kim Leith is 1st in 3-pt field goals (2.62), 2nd in free throw pct. (.880), 5th in scoring (17.4), 3-pt pct. (.467), 8th in steals (2.12, tie), 11th in blocks (0.50, tie), 18th in rebounding (4.8) ...
Tiffany Behary is 2nd in steals (3.00), 7th in assists (3.56), assist/turnover ratio (1.33), 10th in 3-pt field goals (1.33, tie) ...
Robin Taylor is 10th in field goal pct. (.478), 3rd in free throw pct. (.857), 22nd in scoring (9.4) ...
Melissa Marek-Farris is 5th in blocked shots (1.00) ...
* NCAA Stats: Bruins, Leith, Thomas Among Early National Leaders
In the first NCAA Division III national stats release of the season (games thru Jan. 2), the George Fox Bruins rank 3rd in 3-pt field goals per game (9.8) behind Muhlenberg (12.4) and Grinnell (11.3), 27th in scoring margin (+17.8), and 34th in field goal pct. defense (.328) ... Kim Leith ranks 24th in free throw pct. (.880, 22-25), 25th in 3-pt field goal pct. (21-45) ... Kellie Thomas ranks 22nd in 3-pt field goal pct. (.477, 21-44) ...