NEWBERG, Ore. – Led by Hannah Munger's double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds, the third-ranked George Fox University Bruins rallied from 10 down at the half for a 54-41 win over the seventh-ranked Lewis & Clark College Pioneers in Northwest Conference women's basketball action Tuesday evening here at the Wheeler Sports Center's Miller Gym.

George Fox remained unbeaten at 20-0 overall and 11-0 in the NWC while moving two games ahead of Lewis & Clark, which slipped to 18-2 overall and 9-2 in the league, both losses to the Bruins.  Each team has five games left in its conference schedule.

After a brief flurry of early turnovers, the Bruins broke the scoring ice on a Megan Arnoldy free throw at the 17:37 mark, but the Pioneers answered with three-point inside play by Megan Spence.  An Arianna Mohsenian long-range three gave the Bruins the lead again, but Spence hit a long three of her own to start a 9-0 Pio run, capped by a Daron Dean layup, that put the visitors in front 12-4 with 12:22 left in the half.  At that point, the Bruins were 1-8 from the field and had made six turnovers.

Munger scored the Bruins' first points in over five minutes to cut the margin to 12-6 at the 10:50 mark, but they could get no closer than five points the rest of the period.  Lewis & Clark maintained its lead by hitting 12-of-13 free throws in the half to only 3-of-6 for the Bruins and taking advantage of 12 George Fox turnovers.  Two free tosses by Katie Anderson with 1:08 left gave the Pios their largest lead and a halftime score of 29-19.

Both teams struggled from the floor, the Bruins making only 7-of-23 (.304) and the Pios slightly better with 8-of-26 made (.308).  Munger led the Bruins with seven points, while Spence had eight for the Pios.

After an early exchange of baskets in the second half, the Bruins finally pulled within three points on a three by Mohsenian and a Munger free throw to make it 33-30 with 12:43 remaining.  A pair of Spence free throws boosted the Pios' lead back to five, but Munger fueled an 8-0 Bruin run with two baskets and a free throw to give the Bruins a 38-35 lead with 8:53 to go.

Dean ended the Bruins' streak with a layup, but Arnoldy hit a three and Keisha Gordon drove in for two to build the lead to six at 43-37 with 5:22 to play.  Arnoldy twice hit baskets to boost the Bruin lead to nine, the last at 50-41 with 1:18 to play, and gave George Fox its largest lead and final score of 54-41 on a pair of charity tosses with 12 ticks left.

George Fox out-scored Lewis & Clark 35-12 in the second half by limiting the Pios to a .143 shooting percentage (5-35) while the Bruins were making half of their shots (12-24).  The final marks had the Pios making .213 (13-61), including only 1-13 on threes, and the Bruins at .404 (19-47).  Lewis & Clark also went to the line only twice in the final period.

Munger, who also had five blocks, recorded her 10th double-double of the season and 35th of her career.  Arnoldy added 14 points, and Gordon grabbed 12 rebounds while passing out five assists.  Jami Roos scored nine points and had three assists, and Mohsenian scored eight with three blocks.  Hayley Cusick picked up three steals. 

Spence scored 10 points and had eight rebounds to lead the Pios, while Tayler Wang also had eight boards.  Wang and Sara Villanueva handed out two assists each, and Spence made three steals.

NEXT: George Fox completes a string of five straight home games Friday when the Bruins host the Pacific University Boxers at 6:00 p.m. ... Lewis & Clark returns to action Saturday, visiting the Linfield College Wildcats for a 6:00 p.m. tipoff ... Both games are parts of NWC doubleheaders, with men's games following at 8:00 p.m.