NEWBERG, Ore.— The visiting Whitworth Pirates beat the George Fox Bruins 51-44 in a Northwest Conference women's basketball game on Friday night at Wheeler Sports Center.
Whitworth improved to 9-14 overall, 6-8 NWC and George Fox fell to 9-13, 6-7. The Pirates swept the Bruins for the first time since the 2013-14 season.
Offense was slow in the first quarter for both teams, as Devyn Cope scored the first bucket of the game for Whitworth nearly five minutes into the period. Emily Stephens' layup with 3:12 remaining put George Fox on the board, but were the only points scored for the Bruins in the quarter. Quincy McDeid sank a pair from the charity stripe to give Whitworth a 6-2 lead at the end of the period.
To start the second quarter, George Fox's Ella Roberts scored and made the extra point at the free-throw line. The Pirates responded with a 9-0 run, with
Kimberly Dewey,
Quincy McDeid and
Mya Edwards each knocking down three-pointers to extend Whitworth's lead to 15-5 with 7:04 remaining. The Bruins were able to trim the margin, but the Pirates led 19-15 at halftime.
Claire Hinds' layup to start the third quarter brought the Bruins to within two points, but Whitworth answered with back-to-back treys by Dewey and
Olivia Mayer. The Bruins battled, but the Pirates were able to extend their lead to 40-28 off of Dewey's three-pointer at the buzzer.
George Fox outscored Whitworth 9-2 in the opening minutes to cut the lead to 42-36, but the Bruins were unable to close the gap any further. Whitworth controlled the final minutes and beat George Fox 51-44.
Olivia Mayer led Whitworth with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Kimberly Dewey added 13 points. The Pirates shot 25.4% (15-59) from the floor, 26.9% (7-26) from behind the arc, and 77.8% (14-18) from the charity stripe. Whitworth edged George Fox 44-42 in rebounds.
Erin Yoshitake led George Fox with 10 points and two rebounds. Jenny Lacey finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Alyssa Wells added 10 points. The Bruins shot 29.4% (15-51) from the floor and 17.6% (3-17) from three-point range.
Whitworth will return home and play Linfield on Friday at 6:00 PM.
