George Fox win streak ends, but success continues
All good things must come to an end.
Keisha Gordon scored a game-high 17 points, but George Fox University’s 36-game winning streak in women’s basketball was halted with a 54-48 road loss Saturday at California Lutheran.
Gordon, a Heritage High School graduate, scored the last six points of the first half after the Bruins fell behind 23-10; and later scored seven points in her team’s 10-0 run to pull into a tie at 47 with 2:35 remaining in the game.
The Regals scored the next five points and pulled away from there.
George Fox, the defending NCAA Division III champion, was ranked No. 4 in the D3hoops.com preseason poll and No. 5 in the current Women’s Basketball Coaches Association poll, had not lost since falling in the Sweet 16 round of the D-III national tournament in 2008. The Bruins were 32-0 during last year’s championship season. They received all but one first-place vote and 88 of a possible 90 points in preseason balloting by Northwest Conference coaches.
The Bruins raised their NCAA championship banner before the season’s home opener, a 58-46 victory over Concordia of Portland before a George Fox women’s home opener record crowd of 1,200.
Gordon, a 5-foot-10 sophomore guard, has been the team’s leading scorer in four of the Bruins’ five games.
She has scored 22 points twice already this season. Twice she has been the team’s leading rebounder, with a season high of nine boards, each time also leading George Fox in scoring.
She is averaging 15.8 points and 6.2 rebounds a game, along with a team-leading 20 steals so far and 11 assists. She is shooting 25 of 57 (43.9 percent) from the floor, including 14 of 34 (.412) from 3-point range, and is 15 of 17 (.882) from the free throw line.
Gordon “can attack the basket or hit the deep three, and now she is ready to take the next step and be a playmaker where she is creating shots for our team when the defense chooses to key on her,” coach Scott Rueck told athletics.georgefox.edu before the season began.
After the Bruins’ first three games, Gordon was named women’s athlete of the week by the Bruin Athletic Association and women’s basketball student-athlete of the week by the NWC for Nov. 16-22.
In the three wins, Gordon scored 58 points (19.3 points a game) on 20-of-35 (.571) shooting, making 12 of 20 three-pointers (.600). She had 21 rebounds, 13 steals, seven assists and three blocked shots in the three games.
Gordon was a second team all-conference pick last year.
Corral stars for USC in Paradise Jam
Southern California’s Ashley Corral was named to the all-tournament team of the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam after the Women of Troy won two of three games in St. Thomas, both upsets of ranked teams.
Corral scored 24 points in USC’s 66-51 opening loss to Rutgers. Despite scoring five points on 1-of-7 shooting in the team’s next game against No. 13 Texas, Corral posted career highs of nine rebounds and eight assists in a 61-54 upset victory. She had six points and eight rebounds in USC’s 64-60 win over No. 19 Mississippi State. Corral was the team’s leading rebounder in both victories. The Women of Troy finished second in the Reef Division of the event.
Corral, who led USC (3-3) with 25 points against Xavier and 23 against Gonzaga, is averaging a team-leading 15.5 points a game while pulling down 4.8 rebounds a game. She is shooting 28 of 78 (.359) from the field, 13 of 44 (.295) from three-point range, and 24 of 26 (.923) from the free throw line. Corral also has team highs of 16 steals and 28 assists.
Gaels’ Smith garners tournament honors
Saint Mary’s College sophomore forward Ashlee Smith was named to the Hilton Concord Thanksgiving Classic All-Tournament team.
The Gaels split two games at their own event, defeating Drake 76-73 before falling 84-73 to Nebraska.
The 6-foot-1 Skyview High School graduate averaged 14.5 points and 7.0 rebounds in the tournament. She was 6 of 7 from the field against Drake and made all seven of her free throws on the weekend.
Smith is averaging 11.7 points and 6.4 rebounds a game and has 11 steals, second on the team in each of those categories. She is shooting 30 of 49 (.612) from the floor — missing her sole three-point attempt — and 22 of 27 (.815) from the line. Eighteen of her 45 rebounds are on the offensive glass.
Madison finds new home with Cougars
Prairie High School graduate Katie Madison is a starting forward for the Washington State women’s basketball team after transferring from nearby Idaho. The 6-foot forward is averaging 5.0 points and 4.2 rebounds a game for the Cougars (2-3).
Madison was Western Athletic Conference Newcomer of the Year as a freshman at Idaho in 2006-07, and a selection to the WAC All-Freshman team. She was a two-time second team All-WAC honoree, averaging 14.1 points a game as a sophomore in 2007-08. She sat out the 2008-09 season as a transfer.
Locals lead Lutes
Ridgefield High School graduate Sara Backstrom and former Clark College standout Mandy Wall form the starting backcourt for the Pacific Lutheran University women’s basketball team.
Backstrom, a 5-foot-6 sophomore, is averaging 9.3 points and 3.3 assists a game for the Lutes after starting five games as a freshman.
Wall, a 5-9 junior point guard and graduate of Kalama High School who was Clark’s MVP as a sophomore and was defensive player of the year in both of her seasons with the Penguins, is averaging 5.8 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists a game.
PLU was picked seventh in preseason balloting by Northwest Conference coaches. The NCAA Division III Lutes are off to a 1-3 start, with road losses to NAIA national power Concordia of Portland, Division I Seattle University and Division II Seattle Pacific.
NWC honors Griffin
Pacific Lutheran University senior receiver/running back Drew Griffin garnered second-team All-Northwest Conference honors for the second consecutive season.
The Fort Vancouver High School graduate, a team captain for the Lutes, had 39 catches for 370 yards and five touchdowns, along with 166 yards and two scores rushing.
Griffin was seventh in the NWC with an average of 4.33 receptions a game, seventh among non-kickers with 4.9 points a game and ninth with 77.6 all-purpose yards a game.
He had 11 catches for 135 yards against Willamette.
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