SPOKANE, Wash. – Elyse Waldal scored 19 as Willamette outlasted Whitworth 77-71 in the Northwest Conference opener on Friday night at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

Four Bearcats scored in double figures for Willamette (3-4 overall, 1-0 NWC) as Willamette leaned on a 49% shooting night to beat Whitworth for the third straight time.

Whitworth (1-4 overall, 0-1 NWC) hung tough despite trailing for 32 minutes. Kimberly Dewey scored 21 points to lead the Pirate attack and Mya Edwards added a career-high 17 but fouled out with a minute remaining.

Whitworth threatened late after Edwards scored a pair of layups before finding Zalissa Sanfo to cut Willamette's lead to three with 3:35 remaining. But Ava Kitchin finished a tough layup and Megan River buried a three to put Willamette in front for good with a 69-61 lead.

The Pirates took control early, leaning on buckets in the paint and nine points from Dewey as they built a 19-14 lead, but they couldn't keep up when Willamette caught fire in the second quarter.

 The Bearcats jumped ahead with a 12-2 run and continued to create separation as Waldal buried a three to beat the shot clock, giving Willamette a nine-point lead. The Bearcats shot 82% from the field in the second quarter, Waldal was a perfect 6-6 with 15 points through the first half, and Willamette led 41-32.

The Pirates swung back in the third with a 10-0 run fueled by consecutive steals on defense to set up Rogers and Dewey for back-to-back threes to force a Willamette timeout.

But with a chance to take the lead, Whitworth went cold finishing the quarter 1-11 from the field (0-7 from three) as the Bearcats spread the wealth using five scorers to balloon their lead to 58-46 going into the fourth. The Pirates were 6-28 from behind the arc tonight.

Willamette will finish its road weekend at Willamette on Saturday, Whitworth will host Pacific as they look to get their first conference win out of the way.