Concordia's Lexi Amundsen had nine points and eight rebounds in the Cavs' near-upset of No. 24 George Fox on Friday.
Cavs Narrowly Miss Upset of No. 24 George Fox
BOX SCORE - Concordia vs. George Fox
NEWBERG, Ore.—Down by as many as 20 points in the second half, the Concordia women’s basketball team came roaring back, coming within one in the final minutes against No. 24 George Fox before ultimately falling 70-66 in non-conference action Monday.
Concordia (5-4) trailed 55-35 with 17:35 remaining in the game, but outscored the Bruins 30-11 over the next 15 minutes to get within one at 66-65 with 2:36 remaining.
Defense led the Cavs in their comeback as the Cavs held the Bruins to just 4-of-19 shooting from the field over the course of their 15-minute run.
In addition, the Cavaliers stopped the Bruins on their next possession after getting within one, giving them a chance to take the lead with under two minutes remaining. Unfortunately, an untimely turnover gave the ball back to the Bruins, who then got a layup from returning All-American Hannah Munger to go back up by three at 68-65 with 1:18 remaining.
Concordia still had a chance to tie the game on its next possession, but Munger came up big again for the Bruins, blocking a layup from the Cavs’ Lexi Amundsen. Munger then drew a foul with 30 seconds left and knocked down both free throws to put her team up by five at 70-65.
The Cavs’ caught a break on their next possession though, as Malori Dixon drew the fifth foul on Munger, sending Dixon to the line where she’d make one of two free throws to cut the Cavs’ deficit to four with 16 seconds left.
Concordia had to foul after that and guard Kelly Huey obliged, fouling on the ensuing in-bounds play to send the Bruins to the line without any time ticking off the clock. The Cavs’ then caught another break as the Bruins’ Jami Roos missed the front end of a one-and-one, giving the ball back to the Cavs with 16 seconds still on the clock.
Down by two possessions, the Cavs needed a quick shot, but the Bruins did not give the Cavs anything easy, and eventually forced a turnover with just six seconds left.
The Bruins then got the ball into space on the ensuing in-bounds play, allowing them to avoid a final Concordia foul and run out the rest of the clock.
With the second-half comeback, the Cavs narrowly missed giving the Bruins their first home loss since Dec. 5, 2009 when they lost 64-51 to Lewis-Clark State. The Bruins are also coming off a 32-1 2011-12 campaign in which they won their first 32 games before losing in the NCAA Division III National Championship game.
Still, the loss dropped the Cavaliers to 5-4, though all four losses have come to teams that were ranked when the Cavs played them.
Overall on Friday, Dixon had another big night for the Cavs as the senior guard led all scorers with 26 points, the fourth time this season she’s scored over 20 points in a game.
Huey also had a big night for the Cavs as she scored 15 points while also tying George Fox’s Megan Arnoldy with a game-high nine rebounds. Amundsen, meanwhile, had nine points and eight rebounds for the Cavs while she battled the All-American Munger in the post.
As a team, the Cavaliers posted a couple statistical victories as they outshot (.420-to-.387) and outrebounded (42-32) the Bruins on Friday. Turnovers cost the Cavs early though, as the Bruins built their lead largely thanks to 27 turnovers from the Cavs.
Next up, the Cavaliers play another team out of the Northwest Conference as they travel to face Pacific Lutheran at 6 p.m. tomorrow, Dec. 8.