SALEM, Ore. - Willamette built a big first half lead, then held on to defeat visiting Whitworth 64-58 in a Northwest Conference women's basketball game on Friday night at Cone Field House.

Cassie Snyder had 12 points and three assists

The loss may come back to hurt the Pirates (11-6 overall, 5-3 NWC) at the end of the season, when only the top three teams in the conference make the NWC tournament. The Bearcats (4-12, 2-5), after going winless in the NWC in 2005-06, picked up their second NWC victory of the season.

Willamette jumped to leads of 10-3, 19-9 and 32-16 in the first half as they dominated the Bucs. The Bearcats eventually led 34-23 at halftime after shooting 51.9% (14-27) in the period. Meanwhile Whitworth only made 8 of 27 shots from the field in the first half.

Willamette still led 45-35 with 14:30 left in the game before the Pirates fought back. A pair of free throws by Alida Bower finally tied the game 54-54 with 1:27 to go. But Willamette's Keilyn Fujioka made a basket, and after a Whitworth miss Sara Brooks sank a free throw. The Bearcats rebounded the next miss, then made two more free throws. After a Pirate turnover, they made another free throw before rebounding again. Two more free throws gave Willamette a 62-54 lead with 20 seconds to play.

Bower made one free throw before Cassie Snyder sank a three to get the Bucs within four in the final few seconds, by Laura Payne dropped two more free throws for the final margin.

Snyder, Bower and Natalie Orrell each scored 12 points for the Pirates. Tiffany Corigliano added nine points and 10 rebounds off of the bench. Payne led Willamette with 17 points, while Kari Woody scored 12. Fujioka finished with a game-high 14 rebounds.

Whitworth is off until next Friday, when the Pirates return to Oregon to take on Pacific University at 6:00 pm. Willamette will host Whitman tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 pm.