NEWBERG, Ore. – Claiming a share of their fifth consecutive Northwest Conference women's basketball regular season title, the George Fox University Bruins shot over 50 percent from the field and ran away from the University of Puget Sound Loggers 83-55 Saturday evening here at the Wheeler Sports Center's Miller Gym.

With their ninth straight win, the Bruins end the regular season 20-5 overall and 14-2 in the conference, tied with Lewis & Clark College, also 20-5 and 14-2, which won 80-50 at Willamette University Saturday.  George Fox shared NWC titles with Puget Sound in 2006-07 and 2007-08, then won it outright in 2008-09 and 2009-10, going 16-0 in conference play in both seasons.  The Loggers, who lost their third in a row, finished 18-7 overall and in third place in the conference at 11-5.

The Loggers took an early 5-0 lead on a three-pointer by Kelsey McKinnis and a jumper by Jocelyn Riordan, their top two scorers.  The Bruins answered with three straight baskets, two by Hayley Cusick and one by Hannah Munger, to go ahead 6-5.  UPS regained the lead on another three by McKinnis with 14:44 left and kept the lead for the next three minutes before Cusick scored to put George Fox ahead for good at 15-14 with 11:26 left in the half.

Despite the 6-5 Munger getting into foul trouble and missing most of the rest of the half, the Bruins continued to build their lead behind Keisha Gordon's 14 first-half points.  They took their first double-digit lead on a layup by Carrie Myers that made it 28-18 with 4:49 left, and used a 9-0 run over the last three minutes, capped by two Carly Towne free throws, to take a 39-23 margin into the break. 

McKinnis hit another three to open the second half, but that 39-26 score was as close as the Loggers would get the rest of the game.  A free throw by Gordon with 14 minutes left gave the Bruins their first 20-point lead at 48-28, and they led by 20 or more all of the last 10 minutes.  Their largest lead was the final score, on a Crystal Blair free throw with two seconds left.

Gordon led all scorers with 21 points for the Bruins, while Munger finished with 12, Cusick 11, and Megan Arnoldy 10.  The Bruins as a team shot .537 (29-54) from the floor and .727 (24-33) from the line.  Munger had nine rebounds, all in the second half, as the Bruins held a 37-35 edge on the glass, and blocked four shots, moving past Melissa Marek-Farris into third on the all-time GFU blocks list with 183.  Arianna Mohsenian and Katie Morse had three assists each, and Cusick made four steals. 

Riordan with 19 points and McKinnis with 13 were the only Loggers in double figures.  UPS was held to a .291 shooting percentage (16-55) and hit .654 (17-26) from the line.  Riordan had a team-high nine rebounds, while Lindsay Layland passed out three assists.

NEXT: The field for the four-team Northwest Conference Tournament is now set, with first-round games Thursday at 7:00 p.m.  Lewis & Clark gets the No.1 seed by virtue of its sweep of UPS and will host No. 4 Whitman College, while No. 2 George Fox hosts No. 3 Puget Sound.  The highest-seeded winner will host the title game Saturday at 7:00 p.m. for the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament.