PORTLAND, Ore. - Holding the highest-scoring team in Northwest Conference women's basketball 43 points below its season average, the 6th-ranked George Fox University Bruins won a defensive showdown for first place over the surprising Lewis & Clark College Pioneers 40-24 Friday evening here at the Pamplin Sports Center.

With the victory, George Fox, 6th in the WBCA national poll and 7th in the D3hoops.com poll, improved to 14-2 overall and 7-0 in the conference.  Lewis & Clark, which was picked to finish 6th in the pre-season coaches' poll, fell to 12-4 overall and 6-1 in the league, tied for second with the University of Puget Sound.

Both teams scored one goal in the game's first four-and-a-half minutes before Elise Kuenzi's short jumper in the middle ignited a 9-1 run by the Bruins over a four-minute span that put the visitors ahead 11-3 with 11:48 left in the half.  The Bruins added two free throws by Kuenzi at the 7:42 mark, but the Pioneers were without a field goal for a 13-minute stretch until Talerra Rich hit a short jumper in the lane to cut the Bruin lead to 13-5 with 4:48 left.  Baskets by Keisha Gordon and Kuenzi around a jumper by the Pios' Megan Spence left the Bruins with a 17-7 halftime lead.

The Bruins held the Pioneers, who entered the game first in the conference in scoring (67.7 ppg) and field goal percentage (.412) to a mere .103 shooting percentage (3-29) in the half, and 0-8 from three-point range.  The Bruins connected on 7-25 from the floor for a .280 mark.

After Christian Herring got a layup to open the second half for the Pios, Gordon and Hannah Munger scored back-to-back baskets to give George Fox a 12-point lead of 21-9 with 17:10 left.  The Pios used a pair of free throws by Sara Villanueva, one by Spence, and the only basket of the game by Kristina Williams, the NWC's No. 2 scorer, to get within seven at 23-16 with 12:10 remaining.

The Bruins answered that challenge with a 10-3 outburst, capped by consecutive driving layups by Gordon and B.B. Gardner, to boost their lead back up to 14 points at 33-19 with 8:18 to play.  The Pios did not score a field goal in the final 10 minutes of the game, getting the rest of their points on free throws, while the Bruins extended their lead to 16 points at 38-22 on a Kuenzi free toss with 1:34 left.

Gordon led all scorers with 14 points and Kuenzi added 10 for the defending NWC and NCAA Division III national champions, who shot .308 (16-52) from the field for the game, including 1-14 from three-point range.  Munger, Kuenzi,and Gordon each had eight rebounds, and Munger blocked five shots while causing the Pios to change numerous other attempts.  Kuenzi handed out three assists. 

No Pioneer reached double figures in points, Spence leading the way with eight.  Margaret Dowling grabbed 11 rebounds as the Pios held a 49-48 edge on the backboards, and added a pair of assists.  The home team finished with a .123 shooting percentage (7-57) and were 0-17 from long distance.

NOTES: The victory was the Bruins' 26th straight regular-season win against conference teams, and 26th in a row against NWC foes in all games including conference tournament and post-season games ... The 24 points allowed by the Bruins was the lowest they have held a conference opponent to on the road; the all-time low against an NWC team came in a 62-23 home win over Pacific University on Feb. 22, 2005 ... The Pioneers' .123 shooting percentage was the second-lowest the Bruins have held an opponent to, and the lowest ever by an NWC foe; the all-time low is .105 (4-38) against Multnomah Bible College on Nov. 16, 2007 ... Gardner had three assists, tying Kim Leith for 8th on the all-time Bruin assists list with 235 ... George Fox closes out the first half of conference play Saturday at 6:00 p.m., hosting the Pacific Lutheran University Lutes ... Lewis & Clark remains at home Saturday to entertain the Puget Sound Loggers, also at 6:00 p.m. ... Both women's games will be followed by men's NWC games at 8:00 p.m.