SPOKANE, Wash. - (Chris Johnson, Whitworth Intern) The Whitworth women's basketball shot a red-hot 71% in the first half and raced past Whitman 74-58 Tuesday nght at the Whitworth Fieldhouse. The Pirates move to 11-5 on the season and and now stand alone in third place at 5-2 in Northwest Conference play.

Bower made four 3-pointers for 18 points

Whitworth jumped all over the Missionaries early, using a 13-4 run to take a 19-8 lead early in the first half. Alida Bower hit two three-pointers during the run while Cassie Snyder hit a three of her own and found Susan McDaniel down low for two easy lay-ups. The Pirates made a scorching 15 of 21 shots from the field in the first half, including 6 of 8 from beind the arc, and led 43-22 at the halftime break.

The Missionaries (9-7, 4-3) used a 9-0 run to cut the Pirates lead down to 12 points with 10:00 minutes remaining but that was as close as Whitman would get. The Pirates hit another four three-pointers in the second half to finish the game 10 of 15 (66%) from downtown. Whitman was just 1 of 10 from behind the arc. Whitworth finished shooting 59% from the floor, their highest field goal percentage of the season.

Bower paced the Pirates with a game-high 18 points, going 4-6 from three-point range. Freshman Natalie Orrell added 16 points and 5 rebounds while McDaniel chipped in 8 points and a game-high 8 rebounds. Katie Patneaude led Whitman with 15 points and 6 rebounds. The Missionaries got 12 points and 6 rebounds from Kelsey Krumdieck.

Coming up: Whitworth, now 7-1 at home, will hit the road to take on Willamette Friday in Salem, OR. Whitman will take on Willamette on Saturday.

Willamette is 3-12 overall this season and 1-5 in the NWC. The Pirates swept a pair of meetings with the Bearcats last season, winning 80-54 at home and 59-48 on the road.