George Fox scored the first 8 points of the game and 15 of the first 16, holding their Yamhill County rivals to a single point for over 10 minutes. Kendra Victor's layup was the first Linfield bucket and cut the George Fox lead to 15-3 with 9:12 left in the half. The Bruins never trailed by less than double figures the rest of the way, and led 24-7 at the break, holding Linfield to an 11.1 shooting percentage (3-27). The 7 points allowed by the Bruins bettered by two the number George Fox surrendered to Pacific University in a 70-42 win back on Jan. 13.
The Wildcats broke loose for 45 points in the second half, almost half on free throws (22-26, 84.6%), but the Bruins stayed comfortably ahead by hitting 60% from the field (15-25) and 81.3% from the line (13-16) for 47 points. The Bruins' largest lead came at 58-30 with 8:11 to play on a free throw by Amy Fitch.
Kim Leith led the Bruins with 23 points, including 5 3-pointers, tying her career high set two games ago at Puget Sound. Kellie Thomas added 14 points. Liz Clark, although scoring only 2 points, pounded the backboards for 16 rebounds, enabling the Bruins to more than double the Wildcats' rebounds, 47-23. Fitch had 5 assists and Clark had 4 steals.
Victor wound up with 15 to pace the Wildcats and Bayley Coblentz scored 10, both players coming off the bench to give the visitors a spark. Victor also pulled down 9 rebounds. Linfield starters scored only 17 points, and the Bruins shackled the Wildcats' leading scorer and rebounder, Monica Schwing, to a single point and 2 rebounds.
George Fox snapped a 4-game losing streak and improved to 10-9 overall and 4-7 in the conference. Linfield dropped its 3rd in a row and fell to 6-13 overall and 3-7 in the league.
The Bruins travel to Salem Friday (Feb. 13) to take on Willamette University, while the Wildcats host Pacific Friday. Both games are at 6:00 p.m., followed by men's games at 8:00 p.m.