Bruins Fall to 8th-Ranked Warriors in Tourney Finale

Lewis-Clark State climbed to 10-1 while George Fox is now 4-3.

Photo: George Fox Athletics

LEWISTON, Idaho - Post players Ashley Baker and Aundrea Morrison combined for 39 points, leading the Lewis-Clark State College Warriors, ranked 8th in the NAIA’s Division I, to a 67-59 win over the George Fox University Bruins in the final game of the Wells Fargo Invitational women’s basketball tournament Saturday afternoon at the LCSC Activity Center.

George Fox took an early 8-4 lead against the tournament hosts before Lewis-Clark State ran off the next 11 points to take the lead for good.

The Bruins fell behind by as much as 13 points at 32-19 after going scoreless for nearly 10 minutes, but seven late free throws enabled them to stay in the game.

LCSC led 37-26 at the half.

The Bruins trimmed the deficit to three at 39-36 early in the second half, but Morrison scored six of the Warriors’ next 10 points as LCSC pulled away.

A basket by Baker gave the Warriors their largest lead of 17 points at 65-48 with just under five minutes left.

The Bruins went on a 9-0 run and cut the lead to six at 65-59 on a pair of free throws with 1:14 left, but LCSC finally hit two more free throws to salt the game away.

Robin Taylor led the Bruins with 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds, had four assists, and picked up three steals, earning All-Tournament honors.

Melissa Marek-Farris added 13 points and blocked three shots. The Bruins shot .333 (17-51) from the field but controlled the boards 37-33.

Baker led all scorers with 25 points, hitting 11-18 from the floor, while Morrison scored 14 on 6-12 shooting. Mandy Troutt led the Warriors with six rebounds, and Jade Fulbright had five assists.

The Warriors shot .466 (27-58) from the field.

In the first tournament game of the afternoon, Montana State University-Northern improved to 10-3 by defeating Simon Fraser University, which fell to 14-3, by a score of 82-71.

MSUN and LCSC were 2-0 in the tournament, GFU and SFU 0-2.

Other All-Tournament members were MVP Morrison, Baker, DeLayne Johnston and Jenna Heggem of MSU-Northern, and Kathyrn Hole of Simon Fraser.

After a week of exams, George Fox heads to Hawaii next weekend for the Hoop-n-Surf Classic in Honolulu.

The Bruins will meet the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater on Sunday, Dec. 17th, at 2:00 PM Hawaii time (4:00 PM Pacific time).

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