PORTLAND, Ore – The Lewis & Clark Pioneers hosted the George Fox Bruins Tuesday night at Pamplin Sports Center, coming back from an 18-point deficit to win 58-53. The Pioneers shifted the momentum early in the third quarter and held the Bruins to just 19 points for the last two quarters while scoring 42 points for one of their best second-half performances this season. In their last meeting at the beginning of this year, the Pioneers fell short after being outscored 3-8 in overtime. With the win tonight over the Bruins, the Pioneers have snapped a 16-game losing streak to George Fox dating back to Feb. 21, 2013. 

Delsie Johnson and Jamison Richards led the scoring efforts for the Pioneers with 17 points apiece. Johnson put up a double-double with 12 rebounds while shooting 92 percent from the free-throw line and adding four steals. Richards put the Pioneers on the scoreboard with a three-pointer and went on to hit three more in the second half. Charlotte Carroll added 10 points for her eighth double-digit game this season, while Karli Mukai contributed four assists.

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Key Moments

Lewis & Clark (10-10, 5-6 NWC) started slow, finally getting onto the scoreboard off a three-pointer from Richards at the top of the key with 6:58 left in the first quarter. Although this was one of their two scores of the first half, Richards came back in the second half to drop another 14 on the night. The Bruins (7-10, 3-5 NWC) went on a 7-0 run in the first quarter led by Ella Roberts who went 3-3 from the field.

George Fox continued to push the gap in the second quarter, forcing the Pioneers to play catch up. With 4:29 left until the half, Mukai went down with an apparent ankle injury before the inbound under the Bruins basket but needed no assistance off the court. Down 34-14, the biggest deficit for the Pioneers on the night, Richards came off the bench to make a momentum-changing jumper with 0:02 left on the clock. 

Coming out of halftime, Mukai returned to the court and immediately made an impact, hitting a lay-up 20 seconds into the quarter to start a relentless scoring drive for Lewis & Clark. Down 36-19, the Pioneers went on a 10-0 run that forced the Bruins to call a timeout. The scoring run was led by Carroll, whose eight points included two lay-ups in the span of 30 seconds to shrink the Bruins lead down to just seven points. After scoring only 16 points in the first half, the Pioneers went on to score 21 points and hold the Bruins to just 10 in the third.

Down by seven at the start of the fourth quarter, Carroll and Richards put up two quick lay-ups to close the gap to four points. These two key baskets started a 12-1 run in the fourth quarter for the Pioneers. With 2:26 left in regulation, the Bruins finally scored a lay-up to make it a two-score game and bring the Pioneers' lead to 51-47. Despite a late George Fox effort, it wasn't enough to win the lead back. Johnson, Richards, and Mukai combined for the final seven points of the game to seal the 58-53 win.

Deeper Look 

• The Pioneers' win snapped a 16-game losing streak to George Fox
• Johnson is 20 points away from 1,000 career points
• Richards surpassed 250 career points (264) with 12 of their last 13 games being double-digit games
• Gabby Beltran added one assist and seven rebounds on the night and leads the team in steals with 35
• Laurel Marchant added five points, two rebounds, and one steal
• Logan Kelly and Piper Curry contributed one assist each
• Coco Shafer leads the team with seven blocks on the season
• Mukai's 51 assists lead the team and put her in in the top 10 in the conference

Looking Ahead

The Pioneers play again on Friday when they'll host the Puget Sound Loggers at home. Tipoff is at 6 p.m.