Box Score NEWBERG, Ore. – Tenth-ranked George Fox dominated in virtually every aspect of the game on the way to a 70-39 win over 13th-ranked Whitworth on Saturday night in a match-up of unbeaten Northwest Conference women's basketball teams.
The visiting Pirates saw the best start to a season and longest-ever winning streak in school history come to an end and dropped to 14-1 overall and 5-1 in the NWC. The Bruins (15-0, 6-0) not only kept their perfect season going, but they also took over sole possession of first place in the conference standings.
George Fox took the initiative from the first tip, jumping to leads of 12-2, 21-7 and 29-9 by making 12 of its first 20 shots from the field. Meanwhile the Pirates could not find the basket and finished the first half by making only 15% (4-27) from the floor, including 0-6 from three-point range. George Fox took a 44-13 lead into halftime. The Bruins finished the first half 19-32 (59%) from the floor and 5-11 (45.5%) from three-point range.
"You have to be more of who you are and what you do well when you play against the highest-caliber teams," said Pirate head coach Helen Higgs. "But we tried to do things different from what we've done well this year."
Whitworth tried to make a run early in the second half. The Pirates got back to back three-pointers from Lexie Zappone and were able to pull within 50-25 on a basket by Katara Belton-Sharp just over four minutes into the second period. But the Bruins regrouped to extend the lead back out to as many as 34 points (65-31) with eight minutes to play.
KC McConnell led Whitworth with 19 points. She was the only Pirate in double figures, accounting for nearly half of Whitworth's total score. Zappone scored nine points and Belton-Sharp had six rebounds and a pair of assists. The Pirates' shooting improved slightly in the second half, but the Bucs still made less than 25% of their shots (15-61) in the game.
"George Fox is really athletic defensively," Higgs said. "But we also missed some opportunities to attack when they presented themselves."
Three George Fox players reached double figures, led by 15 points from Jami Morris. Justin Benner and Lauren Codling each scored ten. In addition to the hot shooting the Bruins dominated the boards 44-31, led by Codling's nine rebounds.
Whitworth will try to get back on track next weekend when the Pirates host 23rd-ranked Puget Sound (Friday) and Pacific Lutheran (Saturday).
