Box Score

NEWBERG, Ore. - Surviving a second-half onslaught that featured six three-pointers and sent the game into overtime, the George Fox University Bruins escaped the Lewis & Clark College Pioneers 76-71 in the Northwest Conference Women's Basketball Tournament semifinal contest Wednesday night here at the Wheeler Sports Center's Miller Gym.

George Fox, equaling its school record for the most wins in a season while improving to 23-3, advances to the tournament title game Friday at 7:00 p.m. against the University of Puget Sound (21-4) in Tacoma, Wash. The Bruins and Loggers tied for the regular season championship but UPS won the tiebreaker with a 2-0 record against third-place Lewis & Clark while the Bruins split with the Pios. Lewis & Clark closes its season with a 14-12 record.

After an early 3-0 deficit when Laura Snider opened the scoring with a three-point field goal for the Pios, the Bruins took the lead in the first half 6-5 on a layup by Katy Campbell three minutes into the game. Behind eight first-half points from Melissa Marek-Farris and B.B.Gardner, who hit a pair of threes, off the bench, the Bruins extended their first-half lead to as much as 14 points, taking a 35-21 advantage on a pair of Marek-Farris free throws late in the period. It was 36-23 at the break.

The Bruins twice built the margin to 15 in the second half, the second time at 44-29 with 14:13 left on a layup by Tiffany Behary. Crystal Castle began the Pioneers' three-fueled comeback by hitting one with 14:05 left, sparking a 15-4 run that brought the visitors within four points at 48-44 with 9:14 left. The Pios never took the lead but stayed close by shooting .545 (18-33) from the field in the second period.

Tallera Rich hit a three with 2:54 left to bring the Pios within four at 61-57, and a conventional three-point play by Allison Farr made it a one-point game of 63-62 with 1:14 remaining. Behary hit one free throw and Marek-Farris a pair to boost the Bruin lead to 66-62 with 38 seconds left, but Kelly Vega banked in a three to cut it to one at 66-65 with 24 ticks showing. Campbell made it a three-point game with two free throws with 22 seconds to go, but Farr drained a three from the top with 15 seconds left to deadlock it at 68-68, and the Bruins could not get off a potential winning shot before time ran out.

Marek-Farris made a layup 50 seconds into the overtime period that gave the Bruins the lead for good. After a free throw by Shawna Castle, the Pioneers had to foul to catch up, but the move backfired as Kaleigha Ramey, Jaime Hubka, and Campbell all hit two big free throws down the stretch. After Kimberly Kittell misfired on a three-point attempt for another tie with eight seconds to go, Campbell's freebies iced the game with one second left.

Lewis & Clark scored more field goals and more three-pointers than George Fox, but the Bruins prevailed at the free throw line when the Pios were whistled for 29 fouls to only 17 against the Bruins. Many of the Pioneer fouls came late in their bid to catch up. The Pios made 27-58 (.466) from the field and 8-22 (.364) on threes to 24-49 (.490) and 4-6 (.667) on threes for the Bruins, who held a decided advantage at the line, making 24-31 (.774) to only 9-13 (.692) for the Pios.

Marek-Farris led all scorers with a career-high 22 points for the Bruins, sinking 7-10 from the field and 8-11 from the line. She also had a game-high nine rebounds and tied her all-time high with six blocked shots. Campbell added 16 points and five assists, Ramey scored 11, and Behary had 10 points and four steals.

Crystal Castle scored 19 points to pace the Pioneers, with Farr chipping in 16, Vega 11, and Kittell 10. Farr was the top rebounder with six, and Kittell had six assists and four steals.