NEWBERG, Ore. - Anna Melville and Lindsay Schwartz scored two goals apiece, Sarah Myers came up with seven ground balls, and Savannah McNichol accumulated 10 saves between the pipes but Whitman College wasn't able to overcome a five-goal, 10-minute first-half stretch by host George Fox University in a 16-6 Northwest Conference women's lacrosse loss Saturday afternoon on the turf at the Bruins' Austin Sports Complex.

Whitman slips to 2-9 overall and 2-3 in the conference while league-leading George Fox (7-3, 5-0) remains unbeaten in Northwest Conference action.

Neither team could establish an advantage over the game's initial 10 minutes with the combatants trading goals through a 3-3 tie with 20 minutes remaining in the half. Melville, Schwartz and Maddie Florer tallied the Whitman markers with Schwartz picking up assists on Melville's and Florer's goals.

George Fox began it's 5-0 run at the 16:19 mark on a man-up goal from Alexa Nakashimada, who would net four of the team's five goals in that stretch.

Whitman ended the Bruins' streak with Melville's second of the half to cut the deficit to 8-4 at the intermission and Schwartz and Sam Sheffer added goals in the second half, but that mid-half unanswered string proved too deep of a hole to come back from for the Whitties.

Whitman and Fox were within one shot of each other, a 29-28 edge for the Bruins, and within one draw control, a 12-11 advantage for Fox, and both teams came up with 21 ground balls.

Two contributing factors in the margin between the two teams could have been Fox goalkeeper Mikaela Easterlin's 15 saves and Whitman's 1-for-7 day in free-position attempts.

Nakashimada ended the contest with a game-high six goals while two teammates added three each.

Schwartz added three ground balls, three draw controls and a caused turnover for Whitman, and Myers added a pair of caused turnovers and one draw control win to her stellar defensive efforts.

The Whitties continue their weekend on the road Sunday afternoon with a conference match at University of Puget Sound.