WALLA WALLA, Wash. – In a titanic defensive battle in which both top 10 teams had trouble getting any kind of offensive rhythm going, the Whitman College Missionaries edged the George Fox University Bruins 51-46 in Northwest Conference women's basketball action Friday night here at the Sherwood Center.

George Fox, ranked 7th in the D3hoops.com national poll and 8th in the WBCA poll, slipped to 19-2 overall and 10-2 in the conference, with both losses to the Missionaries.  Whitman, ranked 2nd in D3hoops and 3rd in the WBCA, improved to 22-0 overall and 13-0 in the NWC.  With Whitworth University taking an 82-60 win over Linfield College in Spokane, Wash., Friday to move to 17-5 overall and 11-2 in the league, Whitman now leads Whitworth by two games and George Fox by two-and-a-half.

The first half saw six ties and five lead changes, but it was almost three minutes into the game before anyone could get on the scoreboard.  Justine Benner finally connected for the Bruins on a jumper at the 17:15 mark, and the teams swapped leads back and forth until Heather Johns' two free throws with 2:26 left put the Missionaries ahead for good.  Baskets by Hailey McDonald and Meghan White gave Whitman a 22-16 lead, but Lauren Codling drained her first three-pointer of the season from the top of the key with 14 seconds left to trim the home team lead to 22-19 at the break.

Whitman maintained a lead the rest of the way, but the Bruins never left the Missionaries off the hook.  A 7-0 run enabled Whitman to build its largest lead of nine points at 32-23 with 11:24 to go after two Sarah Anderegg free throws, but the Bruins responded with an 8-0 run of their own on baskets by Jami Roos, Megan Arnoldy, Dacia Heckendorf and Benner to make it a 32-31 game with 8:54 left. 

The Missionaries again pulled away to an eight-point lead of 43-35 with 5:25 remaining, but the Bruins rallied once more and trimmed the deficit to two at 45-43 on an Arnoldy jumper with 2:58 to go.  However, they could manage only three Hayley Cusick free throws the rest of the way while the Missionaries got a layup by Tiffani Traver and four free throws to keep the Bruins at bay.

Arnoldy was the only Bruin in double figures with 10, but Benner and Roos were right behind with nine each.  Codling had nine rebounds while Cusick made three assists and picked up four steals.

Traver with 15 points, Anderegg with 13, and Johns with 12 paced the Missionaries.  White had a team-high nine boards, Johns handed out five assists, and McDonald and Hailey Ann Maeda made three steals each.

NEXT: George Fox goes to Whitworth Saturday for a 6:00 p.m. tip-off, with the men's game to follow at 8:00 p.m. … Whitman hosts Linfield Saturday at 4:00 p.m., with the men's game at 6:00 p.m.