Area Women: Pirates land Higgs 200th victory

Helen Higgs’ 200th career win could have come at a better time – i.e., Friday night – but reaching that milestone against the conference’s second-best team will have to do.

Susan McDaniel’s free throw with 14 seconds remaining lifted Whitworth to a 63-62 victory over visiting George Fox in a Northwest Conference basketball game.

One night after shooting 28 percent from the field in a humbling loss against Linfield, the Pirates (13-8, 7-5) demonstrated what Higgs termed resiliency in outlasting a George Fox squad that fell to 13-6, 9-3. The Bruins came into the game trailing first-place Puget Sound by just a game in the standings.

Higgs is in her 13th season leading the Whitworth program, and she has a career record of 200-125.

“Stephanie Hawk’s monster game helped Gonzaga bounce back from its first West Coast Conference loss of the season in a 66-56 win over Loyola Marymount at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

The senior registered a game-high 21 points, career-tying 15 rebounds and four blocks for the Bulldogs (16-9, 8-1), who roared back after being down 29-27 at the half.

Heather Bowman chipped in with 14 points and seven rebounds for Gonzaga.

Gonzaga compiled a 29-13 rebound advantage over Loyola Marymount (13-10, 5-4) in the second half.

“Mandy Morales scored 23 points and handed out nine assists to lead Montana to a 71-53 Big Sky Conference win over Eastern Washington at Cheney.

Nicole Scott paced Eastern Washington with 12 points and seven rebounds. Britney Lohman added 21 points for the Lady Griz (20-2, 8-1), who jumped out to a 33-27 halftime lead.

Sydney Benson and Katy Baker added 10 points apiece for the Eagles (7-16, 2-8).

“Cameo Hicks scored a team-high 25 points to help Washington snap a three-game losing streak with a 79-64 win over Arizona in Pac-10 play at Seattle.

Jill Bell scored 11 for the Huskies (14-10, 7-6), who outrebounded the Wildcats (8-17, 2-11) 36-29.

“Chelsie Morrison dumped in a game-high 19 points to lead Yakima Valley (22-2, 8-1) past CC Spokane 63-49 in Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges play at Yakima.

Ali Mittlestadt led the Sasquatch (15-7, 5-4) with 15 points.

“Chantella Perera scored a game-high 16 points to lead Fresno State (12-9, 5-3) to a 75-53 win over Idaho in Western Athletic Conference play at Fresno, Calif.

Idaho’s Katie Madison scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds, but the Bulldogs pulled away in the second half. Sara Dennehy added 11 points for the Vandals (5-16, 2-8).