NEWBERG, Ore. – The Whitworth University women's basketball team suffered a 72-50 loss to a hot shooting George Fox team in a Northwest Conference matchup on Friday night.

The Bruins (11-3, 3-2 NWC) matched a season-high 50% (29-58) of field goals made while the Pirates (6-8, 3-2 NWC) could not capitalize on 25 forced turnovers.

George Fox opened the game with seven straight made field goals before a miss came with just 1:34 left in the first quarter. The Pirates trailed by as much as eight before Ashlyn Peterson cut the lead to 14-11 with a long-range bucket. The Bruins ended the first quarter with a five-point lead before both teams traded punches in the second. Alex Goetz nailed a three-pointer to cut the lead to three at the 6:36 mark but Paige Macduff pushed it back out to six with just under three minutes left in the period.

Whitworth went into halftime trailing 30-24 despite 17 George Fox turnovers. The Bruins maintained their lead with a 58.3 (14-24) field goal percentage in the first half while the Pirates struggled to capitalize with only eight points off turnovers. Whitworth shot 30% (9-30) from the field and made two of four three-point attempts. Peterson led all-first half scorers with nine points while Bair had five steals after two quarters.

The shots continued to fall for GFU as the Bruins opened the third quarter with eight unanswered points. Ashlyn Neilsen tamed the run with a three-pointer and Addyson Gallatin made two free throws to shrink the lead down to 10, but George Fox kept the pressure on. Kylie Ritter's layup just before the buzzer gave the Bruins a 56-39 advantage. GFU outscored Whitworth 26-15 in the third quarter.

The Pirates made just three field goals in the fourth quarter and could not close the deficit. Mary Corbett's late free throw gave the Bruins a 72-40 lead, their largest, before Ella Curry closed the game with a hook shot. Whitworth was unable to establish a lead.

The Bucs shot 30.4% (17-56) from the field and made four of just 11 (36.4%) three-point attempts. The Pirates grabbed a season-low 27 rebounds to the Bruins' 49 and GFU controlled the paint with a 44-24 advantage in paint points.

Peterson once again led the Pirates in scoring with 11. Keely Maves had 10 points and Goetz scored nine to along with four steals. Bair added seven points and had five steals. Bri Talley and Gallatin each had a team-high five rebounds.

Alyssa Wells led all scorers with 17 points for George Fox. Alexa Borter put up 12 points, 12 rebounds, and seven blocks. Ritter added 13 points off the bench.

The Whitworth women will look to get back on track on Saturday when they visit Pacific (Ore.) at 6:00pm.