An early-morning windstorm swept through the Puget Sound area Friday, downing trees and power lines and cutting off power to a large swath of Tacoma that included the PLU campus. As a result, the George Fox-PLU games were finally relocated to the TCC campus.
A dismal first half of shooting in which they connected on 7-25 from the field (28.0%) doomed the Bruins to a 23-point 41-18 deficit at the half. Though they did out-score the Lutes in the second half, the Bruins were never able to cut significantly into the margin.
The Bruins also struggled with their three-point shooting, normally a GFU strength, making only 5-19 from long range for 26.3%, while the Lutes lit it up from downtown, sinking 10-16 for 62.5%. PLU also held a decided advantage on the boards, 49-33.
Robin Taylor led the Bruins with 15 points, Kim Leith added 11, and Katy Campbell scored 10, along with a team-high 9 rebounds. Tiffany Schmidt blocked 4 shots to regain the league lead in blocks.
Kelly Turner, who canned 8 three-pointers the last time the teams met in Newberg, was at it again, sinking 7-9 this time en route to a game-high 30 points. Nikki Johnson and Kezia Long added double-doubles, Johnson with 19 points and 16 rebounds and Long with 10 points and 12 boards. Mallory Mann passed for 6 assists.
George Fox fell to 18-6 overall and 9-6 in the conference, falling into 4th place in the standings, half a game behind Whitman College, which ended league play Friday at 10-6 after winning at Pacific University. The Bruins can tie for 3rd by defeating Willamette University in Newberg Saturday, but Whitman would win the tiebreaker. The two teams split during the season, and the next tiebreaker is record against teams ahead of the tied teams in the standings. Both teams lost twice to league-leading PLU, but Puget Sound is 2nd, and Whitman split with the Loggers while the Bruins lost twice to UPS. PLU, ranked 16th nationally and 1st in the West Region, improved to 20-3 overall and 13-2 in the NWC, a game ahead of Puget Sound.
The Bruins host Willamette Saturday while the Lutes welcome Lewis & Clark to end the regular season. Both games start at 6 p.m., followed by men’s NWC games at 8 p.m.