FREDERICKSBURG, Va. - The third-ranked George Fox women's basketball team pulled away from Bowdoin in the second half of a 71-55 victory in the Sectional Semifinal of the NCAA Division III Tournament on Friday evening.

The Polar Bears conclude a fantastic season with a record of 21-8. The Bruins (30-0) remain unbeaten on the year and will play the winner of Lebanon Valley and Mary Washington on Saturday night for a trip to the Final Four.

Kaitlin Donahoe had 18 points, all in the second half, to pace the Polar Bears, who were playing in their 12th consecutive NCAA Tournament. Jill Henrikson had 14 points in the loss, netting 10 in the first half.  Amy Hackett led Bowdoin with seven rebounds.

Hannah Munger connected on 7-9 from the field in posting 18 points and 11 rebounds to go with four assists and four blocked shots for George Fox. Keisha Gordon added 14 points and eight rebounds, Arianna Mohsenian scored 12, and Megan Arnoldy had 10 for the Bruins.

The game got off to a slow start offensively, George Fox scoring the only two points of the first four minutes on a layup by Munger.  The Bruins hit only one of their first five shots while the Polar Bears were 0-5.  A three-pointer by Jami Roos and a basket by Breezy Rinehart-Young made it 7-0 Bruins before Bowdoin got on the board with a jumper by Alexa Barry at the 14:54 mark.

No one scored for the next three minutes before the Bruins got consecutive goals by Munger, Mohsenian and Arnoldy for a 13-2 lead with 9:39 left in the half.  Jill Henrikson's layup ended the Bruin run, and an 8-0 outburst, fueled by threes from Allie Piscina and Henrikson, cut the Bruin lead to 19-16 with 4:39 to go.  An Ellery Gould hook-shot layup made it a two-point game of 23-21 with 1:19 left, but a three by Mohsenian and two Munger free throws gave the Bruins a 28-23 halftime advantage.

A three by Kaitlin Donahoe pulled the Polar Bears within four at 32-28 two minutes into the second half, but then the Bruins got hot.  Over the next five minutes, George Fox went on a 15-2 run, capped by a three from Cusick, to make it 47-30 with 12:51 left.  Mohsenian hit a last-second jumper and a three to make it a 20-point game at 52-32 with 10:30 to go, and the Bruins remained comfortably in front the rest of the way. The Bruins' largest lead of the game was 23 points at 68-45 following a pair of Gordon free throws with 1:24 to play.  The final score was as close as the Polar Bears got in the final 12 minutes.

George Fox blistered the nets in the second half, hitting .727 (16-22) to finish with an overall field goal percentage of .563 (27-48).  Bowdoin was held to a .345 mark (20-58), and suffered a 37-25 deficit on the boards. 

The loss concludes the exceptional career of Bowdoin's five-member senior class of Amy Hackett, Jill Henrikson, Nicole Coombes, Ellery Gould and Alexa Barry. All five served as starters during their career and accumulated 91 career wins, four consecutive NCAA Tournament bids, three straight "Sweet Sixteen" bids and the 2009 NESCAC Championship.