NEWBERG, Ore. – Avoiding a stunning upset, the George Fox University Bruins stayed perfect at home and extended their home winning streaks against Northwest Conference opponents with a 68-65 overtime win over the Pacific Lutheran University Lutes in women's basketball Friday evening here at the Wheeler Sports Center's Miller Gym.

Playing without All-Conference wing Keisha Gordon, who suffered a concussion in Tuesday's win over Willamette University, George Fox had trouble scoring early and quickly fell behind 12-4 four-and-a-half minutes in.  A layup and two three-pointers by Sara Backstrom sparked the Lutes to their big lead.  The Bruins finally got going and went on a 15-5 run to take their first lead at 19-17 on an Arianna Mohsenian three from the left corner with 8:35 left in the half.

The Lutes regained the lead on a three by former Bruin Jordan Westering and went ahead 23-19 before a layup by Hayley Cusick and a three by Carrie Myers gave the Bruins a 24-23 edge with 2:37 left.  George Fox led 28-25 at the break after Myers hit a layin at the buzzer.

The Bruins built a 34-27 lead on two Cusick free throws with 17:35 left in the second half, but the Lutes responded with an 11-1 run to take a 38-35 lead on another Westering three with 13:23 to go.  George Fox climbed back ahead 41-40 on a Myers layup with 9:55 left, and the teams traded leads nine times over the next nine minutes. 

A Breezy Rinehart-Young free throw with 19 seconds left pulled the Bruins into a 53-53 tie, but Katelyn Smith put back her own missed shot to give PLU a 55-53 lead and left the Lutes 8.8 seconds away from the upset.  Cusick sent the game into overtime, however, with two pressure free throws that hit nothing but net after being fouled on a drive with 1.9 seconds to go.

Hannah Munger scored the first bucket of the overtime and Mohsenian nailed a three to make it 60-56 Bruins with 4:08 to play, but the Lutes would not go away.  A driving layup by Backstrom brought PLU within one at 61-60 with 2:25 left, but a Mohsenian jumper and a Myers free throw made it 64-60 with 1:14 to go.  Two free throws by Munger with 20 seconds left and one by Myers with 10 seconds to go upped the George Fox lead to 67-62, which proved to be enough despite a banked three by Mackenzie Bierker with seven ticks left. 

Munger posted her eighth double-double of the season and 19th of her career with 14 points and 14 rebounds and added four blocked shots to lead the Bruins.  Mohsenian chipped in with 13 points, and Cusick and Myers added 12 each.  Rinehart-Young just missed a double-double with nine points and 10 boards.  Cusick passed out four assists. 

Backstrom led Pacific Lutheran with 13 points and three other Lutes - Westering, Shelly Kilcup, and Smith - scored 10.  Samantha Potter grabbed a team-high eight rebounds, and Backstrom passed out four assists. 

While improving to 14-5 overall, 9-0 at home, and 8-2 in the conference, the Bruins recorded their 38th straight home win against NWC opponents in regular season play and 37th in a row counting post-season contests.  The Lutes fell to 4-13 overall and 2-7 in league play.

NEXT: George Fox visits Pacific University next Friday while Pacific Lutheran is back in action Saturday, also at Pacific.  Both contests will tip off at 6:00 p.m., with men's NWC games to follow at 8:00 p.m.