George Fox Headed to NCAA Division III West Regional Final

George Fox advances to the West Regional final Saturday where they will face a familiar foe in Puget Sound.

Led by Katy Campbell’s career-high 28 points, the George Fox University Bruins set a new single-season record for wins with their 24th victory as they knocked off the Chapman University Panthers 71-55 in the opening round of the NCAA Division III National Tournament West Regional Friday evening here at the University of Puget Sound’s Memorial Fieldhouse.

TACOMA, Wash. - Led by Katy Campbell’s career-high 28 points, the George Fox University Bruins set a new single-season record for wins with their 24th victory as they knocked off the Chapman University Panthers 71-55 in the opening round of the NCAA Division III National Tournament West Regional Friday evening here at the University of Puget Sound’s Memorial Fieldhouse.

The 22nd-ranked Bruins improved to 24-4, bettering the 23 wins posted by the 1999-2000 and 2000-01 teams. The Panthers, who also set a school record for wins this year, saw their season end at 24-4.

The Bruins used a barrage of three-point field goals to build up a first-half lead, making 6 of 18 attempts in the period. A three by Kaleigha Ramey and two by Jaime Hubka enabled the Bruins to take an 11-4 lead with 14:32 left, but the Panthers scored seven unanswered points to tie it 11-11 on a jumper by Nikki Hayman with 11:39 remaining. The Bruins broke the tie for good with consecutive threes by Tiffany Behary, Campbell, and MaryAnne Samples in a 12-0 run they gave them a 23-11 lead at the 5:39 mark. The Bruins held a nine-point lead of 27-18 at the half.

George Fox maintained a comfortable margin throughout the remainder of the game as Chapman never got any closer than seven twice early in the final half. The Bruins took a double-digit lead for good when Campbell scored on a jumper to make it 42-31 with 13 minutes to go, and took their largest lead of 17 points with 2:50 left on a layup by Campbell for a 60-43 advantage.

Campbell, the Northwest Conference Player of the Year for the second year in a row, hit 6-10 from the field with a pair of threes and 14-15 from the line, and posted her ninth double-double of the season and 16th of her career with 10 rebounds. Hubka scored a career-high 18 points, sinking 6-9 from the field and 4-7 on threes, while Behary added 10 points. Melissa Marek-Farris added nine rebounds as the Bruins owned the boards 46-38. Behary had three assists and four steals.

Linda Ly hit 7-12 from the field en route to a team-high 18 points for the Panthers, while Lauren Kamiyama added 14 points and Hayman chipped in with 12. Andrijana Kerkez and Amelia Perez pulled down seven rebounds apiece. Hayman and Christina Ly had two assists each, and Linda Ly made four steals.

George Fox advances to the West Regional final Saturday at 7 p.m., where they will face a familiar foe in the Puget Sound Loggers 74-48 winner over the University of La Verne in the second game Friday. The Bruins and Loggers split during the regular Northwest Conference season, then UPS won the NWC Tournament final

Source: George Fox Athletics

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