SPOKANE, Wash. - (Chris Johnson, Whitworth SID Intern) The Whitworth women's basketball team bounced back from a tough Friday night loss by beating George Fox University 63-62 in NWC action Saturday at the Whitworth Fieldhouse. The win was the 200th career victory for Pirate coach Helen Higgs, who has spent 13 seasons at Whitworth. The Pirates are now 7-5 in conference and regain at least a share of third place. The Bruins fall to 9-3 in the NWC and a game back of first place Puget Sound. The top three teams will earn berths to the conference tournament at the conclusion of the regular season.

McDaniel's free throw was the winning shot

The Pirates' Susan McDaniel hit 1 of 2 free throws with 14.9 seconds remaining to snap a 62-62 tie and give Whitworth the one point advantage. After numerous timeouts, the Bruins set a play for Elise Kuenzi on the low block. The Freshman fought through a Pirate double team but her shot fell short as time expired.

The first half was a see-saw battle as the Pirates opened up a 13-6 lead after a McDaniel lay-up. The Bruins responded with an 8-0 run which included jumpers by Robin Taylor and Katy Campbell. Halftime found the teams knotted up at 38-38 as neither team could pull away from the other. Tiffany Corigliano had all 13 of her points in the first half, hitting 3 of 4 attempts from three-point land.

The second half remained close as the teams changed leads ten times. The Pirates biggest lead was 53-48 after Molly Schlander hit a pair of free throws, but the Bruins would tie the game at 53-53 after Campbell sliced through the Pirate defense for an easy lay-in. After the teams traded baskets freshman Natalie Orell nailed a three-pointer from the top of the arc to put Whitworth up 60-58. Another Bruin lay-up tied the game again at 60-60 but Teresa Zeitler hit a tough lay-in and was fouled to put the Pirates up by two. However she wasn't able to convert the three-point play and George Fox responed on the other end with a pair of free throws from Kaleigha Ramey.

On the ensuing Pirate possesion McDaniel was fouled on the low block and knocked down the first free throw which turned out the be the difference.

The Pirates regained their long range touch, hitting 9 of 17 (53%) from behind the arc against the Bruins, after going just 2 of 19 (10.5%) Friday night against Linfield. Eight players scored for the Pirates led by Aldia Bower and Corigliano who each had 13 points. Cassie Snyder added 9 points and 6 assists.

Campbell had a game-high 19 points to go along with 8 rebounds for George Fox. Jaime Hubka chipped in 11 points hitting 3 of 5 from three-point land.

Whitworth hits the road next weekend to play first place Puget Sound in Friday night in Tacoma. George Fox will travel to Salem to take on Willamette.