Box Score
NEWBERG, Ore. -- The most successful season in the last decade of Louisiana College women's basketball came to a close on Friday night. The Lady Wildcats fell to defending champion George Fox 65-49 in the first round of the NCAA Division III tournament.
Louisiana College was victimized all night by George Fox's ability to hit crucial three-pointers that did more than answer when the Lady Wildcats were able to get buckets, and prevented LC from gaining any momentum in the game. The Bruins shot 41 percent from behind the three-point line, to go with 41 percent from the field.
Arianna Mohsenian, the high scorer for George Fox, was 6-for-7 from downtown, and scored 20 points in only 22 minutes of action.
“We knew she was a really good scorer, so it's disappointing that we couldn't find her,” Lady Cats coach Janice Joseph-Richard said of Mohsenian and the missed defensive assignments that plagued LC.
Mohsenian gave credit to her teammates for their crisp passes and their ability to find her with an open look.
“We knew that we had to come out focused and stay focused. We knew that this team was going to be really tough to play, and they were tough,” said Mohsenian.
A five point lead for the Lady Wildcats early in the game turned into a 31-point deficit with just under seven minutes remaining, and Louisiana College could not pull one of their famous comebacks.
Highly touted 6-foot-5 center Hannah Munger played a serviceable but not outstanding game for the Bruins, as Lady Cats center Voneshia Williams had the better showing in the interior.
Williams grabbed 13 boards and put in 15 points, while holding Munger to 11 and 11.
“I was trying to do my best on guarding her, because I knew for once she was going to be the biggest post player I've ever played,” said Williams, who is already looking forward to working in the off-season and getting back at it next year.
LC was also plagued by the loss of two key players for significant portions of the game. Starting point guard Brianna Lewis missed much of the first half to receive treatment for an ankle injury.
More prominent was the loss of starting shooting guard Christy Pantallion, who was suspended for the game at the discretion of Coach Richard.
“It was a decision I made. It was a disciplinary thing,” was all the information given by the coach about the decision to sit the second-leading scorer on the Lady Wildcats roster.
“We've been working against her all week,” admitted Bruin coach Scott Rueck, who commented on how the loss of Pantallion would hurt the depth of the Wildcats. “Down the court, they weren't going to have quite the athlete that we would normally anticipate that they would.”
Roslyn Wilmer, who started the game in place of Pantallion, led the Lady Cats with 18 points, including shooting 7-for-11 from the field and hitting two three-pointers in the first half. Leading scorer Tillisha Givens was held to three points, and of the other LC players, only Natosha Gottlieb (seven points) scored more than one basket.
“I told the ladies after the game that despite the score, I was really proud of them, and I wanted them to focus more on this season,” said Joseph-Richard. “It was a great year. We have a lot of young players, and we've started a tradition. This is the level we want to be playing at every year. So yes, we have started looking to the future.”
