NEWBERG, Ore.  In a game that likely could have deceived the casual fan, Whitman College's 21st-ranked women's basketball team earned its 78-71 road victory at host and 22nd-ranked George Fox University on Thursday evening, capturing the Northwest Conference semifinal game to propel the Blues into Saturday's championship affair.

Whitman (22-4), despite opening the game Thursday on a 6-0 run, trailed the Bruins (21-5) by five points at the end of the first quarter. And then at the halftime break the Blues were still behind, 37-33, but over the course of those 20 minutes the foundation for success was being laid.

"A lot of it was really good stuff," said head coach Michelle Ferenz. "We just needed to make one more pass, not be so quick to go back up after the rebound, be more patient."

It required an adjustment, one that was made and turned the tide.

While trailing for much of the first half, the basis of the comeback was forming – "we needed to inside-out, inside-out," explained Ferenz.

Whitman outscored the Bruins, 18-17, in the second quarter as it began to employ the patience and style of attack that Ferenz was preaching.

But Fox regained its energy and spark during the intermission, opening the third by building its advantage to 10 points, at 45-35 with 6:27 to play in the period.

Momentum can be sweet, and it can be toxic.

Facing that 10-point deficit Whitman elected to take the sweeter side of the equation leaving the alternative for its hosts.

A turn-around jumper from Emily Rommel cut into the margin, and then a couple of rebounds from Makana Stone and Rommel turned into an opportunity from the free-throw line for Casey Poe, who drained both chances.

The choir that Ferenz had been preaching to finally turned all the good things they were doing in the first half into points in the second half.

Soon the deficit sat at six, 47-41, which is where everything began paying off up on the scoreboard.

"My teammates kept on me to keep shooting," said Chelsi Brewer who had hit one bucket, a 3-pointer, in the first half. She certainly heeded their advice.

Brewer knocked down a trey from the right wing after Alysse Ketner's defensive rebound.

A Fox miss and Rommel rebound transitioned into a tying 3 from Mady Burdett…off a feed from Brewer.

Rommel's steal turned into a lead-changing 3-pointer from the top of the key by Brewer, and for good measure a steal by Sierra McGarity quickly evolved into a run-closing trey by Burdett.

"They knew I was getting shots, and they kept looking for me," understated Brewer.

The ball movement that Ferenz was looking for, that extra pass, some patience, had changed the game. "(Those) were the first really good looks they got all night, and they hit a couple, and the momentum totally shifted."

Brewer noted that "when Mady was hitting, and I was hitting it makes it hard for the (Fox) to play defense. Who are you going to guard?!"

And the shift in momentum up on the scoreboard began to force changes in Fox that didn't work out as well.

"We played such great defense in that fourth quarter," noted Ferenz. "Without fouling," she artfully added.

Still, a team doesn't get to be ranked in the top 25 without some grit, and Fox battled back from a 13-point deficit to pull within five, 67-62, at the 3:29 mark, in front of its own raucous fans at the Wheeler Sports Center.

That's when Brewer pulled out the dagger. A 3-pointer upped the advantage to eight, only to see the Bruins answer with a trey of their own.

Following a timeout on the inbounds play Brewer beat her defender down court, easily gathered the leading in-bounds pass, and easily laid in her easiest basket of the game.

Sure, Fox dropped in a late trey to find a glimmer of hope, but the clutch 3 and the layin from Brewer were the dagger that ended the Bruins' night regardless of the 93 seconds still left on the clock.

Free throws and stingy defense led Whitman to the horn, as it cashed its ticket to Saturday's conference championship game at No. 6 University of Puget Sound -- which won its semifinal with a late basket-and-one, 61-58, over visiting Lewis & Clark College.

Most notable about Thursday's performance was the turn-around from Whitman's home loss five days earlier to the same George Fox team.

"After Saturday, when we played with very little focus and energy, this was a nice response," explained Ferenz. "It was perfect. These kids battled, they just battled."

Four players reached double-figures for the Blues, led by Brewer's 20 points which included six 3-pointers. Poe and Rommel added 15 each and Stone chipped in with 10, while also coming down with a team-high seven rebounds.

Brewer was proud of her teammates' defensive effort, "the ones that don't show up on the stat sheet, like with how Sierra (McGarity) played at the end there."

The Blues forced 25 Fox turnovers, and after surrendering 52 rebounds to the Bruins in Saturday's loss they pulled within three, 43-40, in Thursday's win.

In hitting 41 percent from the floor in the offensive end of the court, including exactly 50 percent in the second half alone, Whitman picked up a noteworthy 20 assists.

"That's team basketball right there!" exclaimed Brewer.

Yes. A team that's going back to the Northwest Conference championship game.