Overall 5-2: Home 2-0, Road 1-1, Neutral 2-1 / NWC 0-0: Home 0-0, Road 0-0
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HIGHLIGHTS:
* Recent Games: Bruins Win Desert Shootout in Las Vegas
* Coming Up: Grand Canyon Classic with Revised Times in Phoenix Dec. 30-31
* Coach Rueck Two Wins Away from 150-Victory Milestone
* Bruins Competed in Vegas Tournament with Heavy Hearts
* Bruin Numbers Shine Against D-III, NAIA Competition
* Career Stats: Clark Climbs Two Spots to 7th in Career Rebounds
* NWC Stats: Bruins First in Shooting Defense, Steals, 3-Pt Field Goals
RECENT GAMES: 2-0 (Click score for link to story):
Dec. 21 - George Fox 66, Denison 57 (at D3 Desert Shootout, Las Vegas, Nev.)
Dec. 22 - George Fox 75, Kalamazoo 39 (at D3 Desert Shootout, Las Vegas, Nev.)
COMING UP:
* Thur., Dec. 30, 12:00 pm - vs. College of New Jersey (at Grand Canyon Classic, Phoenix, Ariz.)
At Glendale Community College ... First meeting ... The Lions of Ewing, New Jersey, are members of the New Jersey Athletic Conference ... TCNJ went 19-9 last year and won the NJAC championship at 10-3 ... The Lions are off to a 5-2 start (3-1 in the NJAC) and have won their last four in a row ... The Lions play Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Dec. 29 in the Grand Canyon Classic before taking on the Bruins ... The Lions average 56.6 ppg but allow only 54.9 ppg ... TCNJ is shooting .363 from the field, .225 from 3-pt range, and .757 from the line ... Wing Theresa DiMedio is the only Lion in double figures (13.9 ppg), while foreward Breanne Depken is their top rebounder (5.6 rpg) ...
* Fri., Dec. 31, 1:30 pm - vs. Neumann College (at Grand Canyon Classic, Phoenix, Ariz.)
At Glendale Community College ... First meeting ... The Knights from Aston, Pa., are members of the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference ... Neumann was 11-16 overall and 8-8 in the PAC last year ... The Knights are 1-5 this year (0-1 in the PAC) and have lost four in a row ... Neumann plays Carthage on Dec. 28 in the Grand Canyon Classic before meeting the Bruins ... The Knights aveage 60.5 ppg while allowing 74.3 ppg ... Neumann is shooting .371 from the field, .234 from 3-pt range, and .509 from the line ... The Knights have two double-figure scorers: forward Kirsten Patton (15.2) and wing Sharnie Stokes (12.2) ... Wing Nellie Mixon averaged 22 points and 10 rebounds in the Knights' first two games but has missed the last four ...
NORTHWEST CONFERENCE:
George Fox (5-2) is tied for 3rd in the NWC in non-conference play thus far with Whitman (5-2) and behind Whitworth (7-0) and Puget Sound (6-0). The Bruins open league play Jan. 7-8 at Whitman and Whitworth. Puget Sound is ranked 4th and Whitworth 21st in the latest D3hoops.com/NCAA poll (Dec. 21). For the latest NWC standings, visit the new conference website at www.nwcsports.com.
COACH SCOTT RUECK:
Scott Rueck (Oregon State '91) is 148-63 (.701) 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:
College of New Jersey, Neumann - 0-0
BRUIN BITS:
* Coach Rueck Two Wins Away from 150-Victory Milestone
George Fox coach Scott Rueck is just two wins away from the 150-victory milestone and could pick up the mark this week as the Bruins meet the College of New Jersey and Neumann in the Grand Canyon Classic in Phoenix, Ariz., Thursday and Friday, Dec. 30-31. The 35-year-old coach is 148-63 in his 9th season at George Fox entering the tournament, 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.
* Bruins Competed in Vegas Tournament with Heavy Hearts
Playing against quality competition, as the George Fox women's basketball team did in the D3 Desert Shootout in Las Vegas, Nev., last week, is never easy, but the Bruins carried an extra burden into their second game of the tournament on Wednesday. Several of the Bruins, particularly Liz Clark and Kim Leith, were good friends with Patrick Kibler, a George Fox student who died tragically in an automobile collision with a driver who had been drinking in Lake Oswego, Ore., Tuesday night.
"I believe Liz and Patrick had gone out a few times, and while they weren't really 'boyfriend and girlfriend', Liz often spoke of him as her best friend," said George Fox coach Scott Rueck. "She and Kim hung around with him a lot, and almost everyone on the team knew him. Dale Isaak, our trainer, was going to fly back with the girls if they wanted to come back, and even looked into some flights, but in the end, they decided to stick it out and play the game."
With a strong sense of the loss of their friend still hanging over them, the Bruins then went out and played perhaps their finest all-around game of the season, a 75-39 win over a tough Kalamazoo team. Clark posted 11 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals, and 2 blocked shots in only 21 minutes, and Leith had a team-high 15 points and 7 rebounds in the Bruins' tournament-clinching victory.
"I couldn't be prouder of the way these girls handled this adversity," Rueck praised his team. "Liz came out and hit the first bucket of the game, a 3-pointer, to get us going, and the rest of the team just followed her lead the rest of the way. We ran our offense well, and the defense was just devastating. It was the most complete game we've played in a long time against a very good opponent."
* Bruin Numbers Shine Against D-III, NAIA Competition
While the George Fox Bruins' 5-2 start is certainly a good one, the team's numbers are even more impressive when considering that their first two games - both losses - were against strong NCAA Division II teams. Eliminate those two contests, and the Bruins' stats against Division III and NAIA opponents are startling:
--- The Bruins have a scoring margin over their opponents of +26.0 (72.8 to 46.8) ...
--- The Bruins have held their opponents to less than 30% shooting from the field (.297) ...
--- The Bruins have a turnover margin of +10.4 (17.2 to 27.6) ...
--- The Bruins are averaging 17.0 steals per game ...
--- The Bruins are averaging 10.0 3-pointers per game ...
* 2004-05 Honors:
Liz Clark - Sodexho Tipoff Classic All-Tournament Team
* 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: Clark Climbs Two Spots to 7th in Career Rebounds
Liz Clark had 18 rebounds in the Bruins' two wins in the D3 Desert Shootout last week, giving her 570 for her career and moving her past Tracy Nelson (555, 1988-92) and Liz Stephens (566, 1992-96) into 7th on the GFU all-time list. Ahead is Angela Pettit (613, 1993-97) ... With 123 steals, she needs 7 more to tie for 10th ... With 161 assists, she needs 23 to tie for 10th ...
Kellie Thomas hit 3-3 free throws during the week and continues to rank 2nd in career free throw pct. (.795, 151-190) ... She hit 3-11 3-point field goals and ranks 4th in career 3-pt field goal pct. (.373, 94-252) ... With 729 career points, she needs 261 to tie for 10th all-time, and 271 to become the 9th Bruin to reach 1,000 career points ... With 139 assists, she needs 45 to tie for 10th ...
Kim Leith hit 4-4 free throws during the week and climbed to 4th in career free throw pct. (.788, 104-132) ... With 143 assists, she needs 41 to tie for 10th ...
* NWC Stats: Bruins First in Shooting Defense, Steals, 3-Pt Field Goals
In the latest Northwest Conference stats (Dec. 23), George Fox is 1st in field goal pct. defense (.325), steals (16.43), turnover margin (+7.57), 3-pt field goals per game (9.71); 2nd in rebounding (40.6); 3rd in defense (55.4), scoring margin (+14.0), assists (15.86), blocked shots (2.86); 4th in scoring (69.4), 3-pt pct. (.364); 5th in free throw pct. (.691); 9th in field goal pct. (.380), 9th in rebound margin (-3.9) ...
Liz Clark is 1st in steals (3.29), 3rd in 3-pt pct. (.588), 5th in field goal pct. (.500, tie), 7th in rebounding (7.9), 9th in blocked shots (0.57, tie), 11th in 3-pt field goals (1.43, tie), 12th in assists (2.71), 14th in assist/turnover ratio (1.06), 20th in scoring (10.0, tie) ...
Kellie Thomas is 3rd in 3-pt field goals (2.43), tie), 4th in free throw pct. (.870), 5th in 3-pt pct. (.486), 10th in scoring (13.7), 15th in steals (1.71, tie) ...
Kim Leith is 5th in 3-pt field goals (2.14), 6th in scoring (15.3), 7th in free throw pct. (.857), 10th in 3-pt pct. (.429), 11th in steals (1.86, tie), 13th in blocks (0.43) ...
Tiffany Behary is 2nd in steals (3.14), 6th in assists (4.14), 8th in assist/turnover ratio (1.38), 11th in 3-pt field goals (1.43, tie) ...
Robin Taylor is 8th in field goal pct. (.491), 2nd in free throw pct. (.917, tie), 22nd in scoring (9.9) ...