ORANGE, Calif. – Completing a successful two-game swing through southern California, the 24th-ranked George Fox University Bruins got a career-high 23 points from Justine Benner and defeated the Chapman University Panthers 65-62 in a non-conference women's basketball game Saturday night here at the Hutton Sports Center.

With a sweep of the University of La Verne and Chapman on their first road trip of the season, the Bruins improved to 4-0.  The Panthers suffered their first setback of the season after winning their first two games.  George Fox is 9-1 all-time against Chapman, but this was their first meeting on the Panthers' home floor.

Chapman scored the game's first four points on baskets by Lynne Higashigawa and Kimi Takaoka before the Bruins got on the board with a jumper by Benner at the 17:11 mark.  A 6-0 run on two goals by Sandra Gao around a pair of Takaoka free throws enabled the Panthers to build a 14-8 lead at 14:37, and they stretched it to 18-11 on a bucket by Andrea Villanueva with 12:03 left in the half.

Back-to-back jumpers by Hayley Cusick and Benner started the Bruins on their way back.  Nicole Blizzard's three-pointer with 7:11 to go gave the Bruins their first tie at 22-22, and Cusick drained a three 27 seconds later for their first lead.  The Panthers tied it twice more, at 25-25 and 34-34, but the Bruins scored the final five points of the half on three Benner free throws and a Cusick layup to take a 39-34 edge.

Gao scored on a layup to start the second half, cutting the Bruin lead to three at 18:46, then no one scored for four minutes until Cusick hit a layup for the Bruins.  The Panthers twice got within one in the second half, the last at 45-44 on a layup by Takaoka with 10:32 remaining, but could never regain the advantage.  The Bruins could not shake the Panthers, however, as their free throw struggles (10-27, a .371 percentage) and 21 turnovers allowed the home team to stay close.

The Bruins took their largest lead at 58-51 on a basket by Cusick with 4:55 to go, and a layup by Benner made it 60-53 with 3:12 left.  A free throw by Gao and two jumpers by Takaoka brought the Panthers within two at 60-58 with 1:09 to play, but two free throws by Lauren Codling and a layup by Cusick made it a six-point game with 45 seconds left.  Two free tosses by Takaoka and a basket by Higashigawa countered a free throw by the Bruins' Dacia Heckendorf, making it 65-62 with 21 seconds left, and the Panthers missed two three-point tries for a tie in the last 13 seconds.

Benner hit 8-13 from the field and seven free throws for her 23 points, and Cusick scored 11 on 5-7 shooting.  The Bruins hit .542 from the floor (26-48).  Benner just missed her first double-double with nine rebounds, leading George Fox to a 39-29 advantage on the boards, and passed out three assists.  Heckendorf made three steals, and Megan Arnoldy and Jordyn Peacock had two blocked shots each.

Takaoka led the Panthers with 26 points and Gao added 19, along with a team-high seven rebounds.  Villanueva handed out six assists.  Chapman shot .424 (25-59) from the field and .909 (10-11) from the charity stripe. 

NEXT: George Fox is off until Tuesday, Dec. 3, when the Bruins go to Corban University for a non-conference clash with the Warriors at 7:30 p.m. … Chapman likewise has a long break until Thursday, Dec. 5, when they will visit the University of Redlands for a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest at 7:30 p.m.