THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — The Cal Lutheran Regals opened their new season with a display of treys against the No. 15 George Fox Bruins, Sunday afternoon, shooting .500 from behind the arc, but were outmuscled 78-58 inside Gilbert Arena.
As the first home contest since the tragedy at Borderline on Wednesday night, the Regals began the match with a moment of silence followed by prayer led by members of the George Fox team, Tavin Headings and Emily Holder. Each member of the Cal Lutheran team also paid honor to the 12 victims, taking the floor with black ribbons on their left shoulder marked "TO Strong."
Though the Bruins were up on the board first with a layup from Hailey Hartney, the Regals quickly responded with a deep three from senior Grace Derksen to jump up early. Threes would be Cal Lutheran's weapon much of the night, nailing nine on the night of 18 attempts.
Leading the offense, junior Natalie Ruhl came off the bench and recorded a double-digit night with 15 points, going 4-9 in field goals and 5-6 at the free throw line. The guard also went 2-4 from behind the arc and added two blocks defensively.
Joining her in the double-digit club, sophomore Jozie Tangeman put 10 points on the board herself. Her and Derksen both went 2-3 from three-point range and 2-2 at the line. Also on the points leaderboard, sophomore Jade Jordan added nine of her own followed by Derksen with eight.
After the early three, Tangeman followed with a quick jumper four minutes into play off pass from senior Rylie Wada to tie the game up 5-5. Freshman Mackenzy Iwahashi and Ruhl then went back-to-back from behind the arc off assists from sophomore Kailee Yan on the next two possessions to give Cal Lutheran their biggest lead of the contest over George Fox 11-7.
George Fox managed to battle back, however, and regained the lead by winning the paint. Though the Regals outshot the Bruins .500 to .250, the Bruins scored 50 of their points on the night in the paint. The also narrowly edged out Cal Lutheran .448 to .353 in field goal percentage.
Though the Regals held the Bruins to just a one-possession lead, 18-15, after the first quarter, turnovers in the second period proved costly. George Fox opened the second quarter with eight unanswered points to push the Regals deficit into double digits and eventually end the first half with the 43-29 lead.
The Bruins were led offensively by twelve-point nights from four different players – Hartney, Kylin Collman, Headings and Matney Jamieson. Defensively, Jamieson picked up nine boards followed closely by Emily Holder with eight.
As the battle of bigs versus guards continued, Derksen again hit a pivotal three to open up scoring for Cal Lutheran in the third quarter and to begin gnawing away at the Bruins' lead. Thirty seconds later, Tangeman continued the momentum with her first three of the night with eight minutes on the clock in the period to make it an 11-point game.
Two free throws from Ruhl followed by a layup from Jordan brought the team to within ten points of George Fox as the clock ran down, but a big third quarter from Headings pushed the deficit back to 20 for the Bruins.
Though Cal Lutheran held toe-to-toe with George Fox in fourth, the teams locked up at 16 points apiece in the final period to end with a final score of 78-58 in favor of the Bruins.
The Regals now turn their attention to their second preseason matchup against UC Santa Cruz this upcoming Saturday, November 17, at 3:00 p.m. PST. The contest is the second of a four-game home stretch inside Gilbert Arena. Saturday's match-up precedes the team's games versus Master's College on the 19th and Willamette (Ore.) on the 21st.
Box Score: GFU 78, CLU 58
W Basketball Instagram: @regals_basketball
W Basketball Twitter: @CLUwBasketball
CLU Instagram: @clusports
CLU Twitter: @CLUSports
CLU Facebook: CLU Sports
Hashtags: #clusports #goregals #gokingsmen #ownthethrone #theSCIAC #ncaad3
Release by Christy Effendie, Assistant Sports Information Director