NEWBERG, Ore. - They gave it a valiant effort but in the end,
the Puget Sound Loggers couldn't be the first team to stop the
George Fox Bruins, falling 67-58 in the Northwest Conference
Women's Basketball Tournament Final on Saturday evening at Morse
Athletic Center in Newberg, Ore.
The Bruins, ranked third in the latest D3Hoops.com Top 25, got
on the scoreboard first on a jumper by Sage Indendi but the Loggers
didn't give up, taking a lead a few minutes later on a three
-pointer by Jocelyn Riordan (Lake Forest Park, Wash./Shorecrest)
put the Loggers up by one, 8-7, with 14:58 left to play in the
first half. The two teams would trade leads for a bit before
the Bruins used a 10-2 run to build an eight-point lead.
After an exchange of baskets, the Bruins took a 30-21 lead into the
halftime break.
In the second half, the Loggers were able to go on a 15-6 run to
even the game up with 13:16 left to play but another big George Fox
run, this time 16-2, would put the Bruins in the drivers seat to
their 27th straight victory, as they picked up the 67-58
victory. With the win, the Bruins earn the NWC automatic
berth in the 2009 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournament.
The Loggers were led by 17 points from Claire Ely (Walnut Creek,
Calif./Northgate). Chelsi Shaw (Metaline Falls,
Wash./Wenatchee Valley CC) came off the bench to add 11 points
while Karen Chase (Yakima, Wash./West Valley) brought down 10
rebounds for Puget Sound.
George Fox was led by 20 points from both Indendi and Kristen
Shielee. Shielee also added 10 rebounds while Keisha Gordon
chipped in 10 more points for the Bruins. The Bruins shot
46.0% from the field, making 23-of-50 attempts on the game.
Puget Sound will now wait until Monday morning to see if their
slim hopes of a fourth-straight NCAA tournament berth will come
true. The NCAA is expected to release the bracket at
approximately 8:00 a.m. PST on Monday.
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