3/12 - RANDOLPH-MACON 63, GEORGE FOX 51: Jackets' Sting Leaves Bruins One Game Short of Final Four
ASHLAND, Va. - Kim Leith became only the ninth George Fox University player to score 1,000 career points, but a poor second half of shooting by the Bruins enabled the Randolph-Macon College Yellow Jackets to make off with a 63-51 win in the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball National Tournament Saturday night here at Crenshaw Gymnasium, leaving the Bruins one win shy of reaching the Final Four.
The loss ended the Bruins' season at 22-6 and snapped a nine-game winning streak that had taken George Fox into the "Elite 8", deeper than any George Fox team had ever gone in the NCAA Tournament. Randolph-Macon's win, their 22nd in a row - the longest winning streak in the program's history - makes the Yellow Jackets 29-1 overall. They will advance to the Final Four Mar. 18-19 at Virginia Wesleyan College in Norfolk, Va., but their opponent has yet to be determined because a sectional final between Springfield and Southern Maine was snowed out and will be played Sunday.
George Fox dominated early with an up-tempo game plan of full-court pressure on defense and constant motion on offense. A five-minute scoreless span by the Yellow Jackets helped the Bruins open up a 19-8 lead midway through the first half.
Randolph-Macon then began to dig its way back, getting huge shots from several players. Marta Merkel hit a clutch three-point basket to end the scoring drought, and Megan Silva nailed a three-pointer followed by two other key baskets. To complete the comeback, Salem Shaffer made back-to-back threes to give her team a 32-29 lead at the close of the half.
The Yellow Jackets missed their first six shots of the half before center Emily Crider stepped outside and made a three-point shot to extend the lead to six points. The Bruins closed within one with a big three-pointer by Leith that gave her 1,000 points for her career, but with George Fox hitting only 17.1% from the field in the second half (6-35), the home team began to pull away.
Shaffer nailed back-to-back threes, followed by a long-range basket by Merkel to cap off a 9-0 run that put RMC up by 10 points, 46-36, with 11:37 remaining, and the lead was never below eight points the rest of the contest. The Jackets closed the game at the foul line, hitting 8 of their last 10 points at the charity stripe, and were 9-12 at the line overall for the game.
Leith finished with 19 points, giving her 1,004 for her career and boosting her past Heidi Rueck (990), Darby Cave (994), and Tracy Nelson (1,001) into 8th on the all-time GFU scoring list. She was followed by 11 points each from Liz Clark and Kellie Thomas. Clark posted her 6th double-double of the season and 12th of her career with a team-leading 11 rebounds. Erin Powers had 3 assists, and Thomas made 3 steals.
Silva led the Yellow Jackets in scoring with 17 points to go along with 4 assists, Shaffer scored 16, and Merkel finished with 12. Crider led Randolph-Macon in rebounds and blocked shots with 11 and 4 respectively.
George Fox head coach Scott Rueck credited Randolph-Macon's defense for his team's poor shooting from the field as the Bruins shot 25.8% for the game. After making 5-10 of their three-pointers in the first half, the Bruins converted on just 2-18 in the second.
"They kept us out of transition," Rueck commented. "There were no easy baskets, they made us work for everything."
The Most Outstanding Player for this weekend's three-game "Sweet Sixteen" and "Elite Eight" sectional was Randolph-Macon's Silva. She was joined on the all-tournament team by Shaffer, Leith, and a pair of post players, Tara Rohde of Trinity (Texas) University and Kim Johnson of the College of Saint Benedict.