WALLA WALLA, Wash. - Hannah Miller scored four goals, Sage Ali added four more, but it wasn't enough as the Whitman College women's lacrosse team fell 23-15 to George Fox in a battle of Northwest Conference heavyweights, Saturday at the Whitman Athletic Field.
 
The Bruins (9-2, 6-0 NWC) spoiled Whitman's home opener with a dominant second half to remain atop the league the standings. Jennifer Burke scored a game-high seven goals, only slightly outshining teammate Lois Ray who added six goals and two assists.
 
The game truly was a tale of two halves. The first half featured what you would expect from two of the conference's elite. Both teams had several early cracks on goal with Ella Rand turning away a handful of Whitman (4-3, 2-1 NWC) shots to keep the score tied early.
 
After a 30 minute weather delay, the Blues turned it on scoring three unanswered goals to take a 5-3 lead. Inside the final 10 minutes of the first half Isabel Regonini added to the Whitman lead with back-to-back goals. The Blues led by five goals at that point and would carry a 12-10 advantage into the break.
 
The momentum switched on a dime during halftime. Whitman would muster only three second half goals while Fox distanced itself for the win. An early second half goal from Miller put her team up 13-10 but three Bruin goals in 90 seconds evened up the score.
 
Whitman would go through a scoring drought in excess of 22 minutes, not scoring again until another Miller goal with just under six minutes to play. By that time the Bruins had all but sealed the win.
 
Rand made six saves on the day for the Bruins with Piper Spencer posting seven.
 
Whitman is back in action Sunday against Willamette. Start time is set for 1:00 p.m.