Box Score

NEWBERG, Ore. - Led by Katy Campbell's 26 points, including the 1,000th of her career while scoring 16 in the first half, the George Fox University Bruins overcame an early 11-point deficit to whip the Whitman College Missionaries 66-41 for a share of their second straight Northwest Conference women's basketball title Saturday afternoon here at the Wheeler Sports Center's Miller Gym.

The 18th-ranked Bruins improved to 22-3 overall and finished 14-2 in the conference. The University of Puget Sound, which shared last year's league crown with George Fox, will do so again after defeating Willamette University 73-47 at home. Whitman saw its season end with a 14-11 overall mark and an 8-8 record in conference play.

Because Puget Sound won the tie-breaker (the Loggers were 2-0 against 3rd-place Lewis & Clark College while the Bruins split with the Pioneers), the Bruins will host Lewis & Clark Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. in the NWC Tournament semi-final. UPS will host the tournament championship game Friday at 7:00 p.m. against the winner of Wednesday's game.

Against Whitman, Campbell put the Bruins ahead 4-2 with two early baskets, but the Missionaries went on a 13-2 run, capped by a Michelle Krall free throw following a technical on the George Fox bench, to take a 15-4 lead with 10:36 left in the half. Tiffany Behary then hit back-to-back threes to start a 19-4 Bruin run and sealed it with two free throws, giving the home team a 23-19 lead with 2:30 left. It was 26-23 Bruins at the break.

The second half belonged entirely to the Bruins as they out-scored the Missionaries 40-18, out-shot them .600 (15-25) to .278 (5-18), and out-rebounded them 21-5. The Bruins took their first 10-point lead on a layup by Behary to make it 37-27 with 14:37 to go, and hit the 20-point margin when Campbell sank two free throws at 9:21 for a 52-31 lead. Their largest lead was 28 at 66-38 with 2:17 left on a pair of Melissa Marek-Farris free tosses.

Campbell tied her career high in points by hitting 10-12 from the field and 6-7 from the line, and made it a double-double, her eighth of the season and 14th of her career, with 13 rebounds. She now has 1,013 career points, ninth on the GFU all-time list. Behary added 17 points on 6-9 shooting, including 3-4 on threes, and passed out six assists. The Bruins finished with a .480 shooting percentage (24-50) to .311 (14-45) for the Missionaries, and more than doubled the rebound margin 42-20.

Jenele Peterson was the only Missionary in double figures with 11 points, while Emily Shubin had a team-high five rebounds and handed out three assists. Krall made four steals.

Before the game, the Bruins celebrated the careers of seven graduating seniors playing their final regular season home game, including Campbell, Marek-Farris, Behary, Jaime Hubka, Kaleigha Ramey, Mandee Spotts, and Nicole Hudson.