TACOMA, Wash. - Moving two games ahead in the loss column over every other team in the Northwest Conference, the George Fox University Bruins took a critical 60-51 decision over the University of Puget Sound Loggers in a battle of nationally-ranked women's basketball teams Friday evening here at Memorial Fieldhouse.

George Fox, ranked 6th in the WBCA poll and 7th in the D3hoops.com poll, improved to 17-2 overall and 10-0 in the conference.  The Bruins have won 13 in a row, six straight against UPS, and 29 straight against all NWC competition, both in regular season play and in all games including tournament and post-season games.  Puget Sound, ranked 15th in the WBCA poll and 16th in the D3hoops.com poll, had its seven-game winning streak snapped while falling to 15-3 overall and 7-2 in the league. 

The game could not have been closer through the first 15 minutes, as there were five ties, 11 lead changes, and neither team had more than a two-point lead during that time.  The Bruins took the lead for the rest of the half with 4:47 left when Breezy Rinehart-Young hit a short jumper in the lane for a 19-18 George Fox edge.  Arianna Mohsenian sank a three-pointer a minute later to up the Bruin lead to four points, and she later added a trey with 33 seconds left to make it 29-22, their largest lead of the half.  A basket by Logger point guard Claire Ely with two ticks remaining cut the George Fox lead to 29-24 at the half.

Going to Hannah Munger inside for their first six points of the second half and eight of their first 12, the Bruins built a 12-point lead of 41-29 six minutes into the period.  The lead reached 13 on a fast-break basket by Elise Kuenzi that made it 51-38 midway through the half, but the Loggers responded with a 9-0 run, capped by a Jocelyn Riordan jumper, to close within four at 51-47 with 6:38 remaining.

Another three by Mohsenian broke the Logger streak and put the Bruins back up by seven with 5:37 to go, but Ely's steal and layup made it a five-point game again with 4:40 remaining.  The teams then collectively missed seven shots over the next three minutes before Kuenzi hit a three with 1:12 left to boost the Bruins eight points in front.  Keisha Gordon added a trey with 29 second to go, giving the Bruins an insurmountable 60-49 lead.

Mohensian topped the Bruins with 16 points, Kuenzi added 13, and Munger posted her fifth double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds.  The Bruin won the battle of backboards 39-32.  Kuenzi handed out five assists, and Munger blocked three shots.

Ely, the conference's leading scorer, reached her season average with a game-high 20 points and went over the 1,000 mark for career points.  Riordan added 16 for the Loggers.  Natasha Ludwig, Lindsay Layland, and Sarah Stewart each had six rebounds, while Ely and Kelsey McKinnis had four assists each.

NOTES: George Fox is off until next Friday when the Bruins host Whitman College on homecoming weekend at 6:00 p.m. ... Puget Sound hosts Linfield College Saturday at 6:00 p.m. ... Both women's games will be followed by NWC men's games at 8:00 p.m. ... George Fox will celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day at the Whitman game.  It will also be "Pink Zone" night as the Bruins join other teams around the nation in a special program sponsored by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association to promote breast cancer awareness and research.