3/25 - NATIONAL POLLS: George Fox Ranked #10 in WBCA, #12 in D3hoops Final Polls
NEWBERG, Ore. - Finishing an impressive 2004-05 campaign with their highest NCAA Division III national rankings ever, the George Fox University Bruins were listed at #10 in the USA Today / ESPN Women's Basketball Coaches' Association Poll and #12 in the D3hoops.com Poll following the conclusion of the national championship tournament, won by Millikin University over Randolph-Macon College.
The Bruins had a remarkable run through the '04-05 season. After opening with a pair of losses to two strong Division II teams, the Bruins went 6-1 through the remainder of their non-conference schedule, then caught fire in Northwest Conference play. Picked in the pre-season to finish 5th, the Bruins instead won the league championship with a 14-2 record and an automatic spot in the NCAA National Tournament. Given a first-round bye because of their #2 rating in the West Region, the Bruins defeated Chapman University at home to advance to a sectional at Ashland, Va., where they defeated the College of St. Benedict before falling to host Randolph-Macon. Their final record was 22-6, one win short of the Bruins' record of 23 in both the 1999-2000 (23-5) and 2000-01 (23-3) seasons.
The '04-05 Bruins thus became the first George Fox women's team to advance to the "Elite 8". In the Bruins' two previous appearances in the NCAA playoffs, the 1999-2000 team reached the "Sweet 16" before being eliminated, and in 2000-01, the Bruins were ousted in the second round. The '99-00 team ended the year with a #16 national ranking while the '00-01 team, which spent two weeks atop the D3hoops national poll, ended with a #11 final ranking.
The Bruins' success was fueled by outstanding seasons by junior wing Kim Leith and senior forward Liz Clark. Leith was named the NWC Player of the Year, Second Team All-West Region, and Honorable Mention All-America, while Clark was a First Team All-Conference and Third Team All-West Region honoree. Head coach Scott Rueck, whose nine-year record at George Fox is 165-67 (.711), was named NWC Coach of the Year for the third time.
The complete D3hoops.com poll is available at http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/. The complete WBCA poll is available at http://www.wbca.org/DIIICoachesPoll.asp.