FOREST GROVE – Somebody once said its good to be on the road back home again.

After a seemingly endless stretch of conference road games, Pacific returned to the Stoller Center and returned to the win column with an 80-64 victory over Willamette.

The Boxers (4-8 Northwest Conference, 11-9 overall) blew open a close game with a three-minute firestorm, a flurry of fast breaks and a dominating defensive stretch that was the catalyst of a 15-0 second half run. Down 44-43 after a McKenzie Lamson basket with 14:21 remaining in the game, the Boxers scored on eight straight possessions to open up a 58-44 lead with 11:27 to go, maintaining the double-digit lead to the final horn.

Paige Jensen (Jr., Bemidji, Minn.) led five Boxers players in double figures with 19 points and pulled down 13 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season. Jensen was front and center during Pacific's game-deciding run, but it was the combined defensive effort of Jensen, Erica Schultz (Sr., Medford, Ore.), Erica Colter (Jr., Kennewick, Wash.), Heather Hitch (Jr., Enumclaw, Wash.) and Annette Highley (So., Juneau, Alaska) that got the Boxers rolling.

After Colter tied the game with a free throw, Hitch put the Boxers in front on a lay up with 13:50 remaining in the game.  The Boxers proceeded to turn the defensive setting to frenzy mode, as Hitch rejected a Kaileigh Westermann shot, leading to a driving layup by Highley. On the ensuing inbounds pass, Colter stripped Westermann of the basketball, deflecting it off her leg out of bounds, leading to a Willamette time out that would do nothing to stop the Boxers' momentum. Hitch inbounded the ball to Schultz, who knocked in a short jumper to make it 50-44 Pacific then Jensen stole the ball from Willamette's freshman point guard and dribbled coast-to-coast for a layup. The energized Boxers forced another turnover when Hitch stole the ball at midcourt and passed ahead to Schultz, who centered a perfect feed to Jensen in the lane for another easy basket, giving them a 54-44 lead with 12:31 to go. After another Bearcat time out, Pacific did not gear down, as Jensen rebounded a missed Westermann shot, threw an outlet to Highley and the Alaskan Assassin did the rest, making a beeline for the bucket for yet another layup. After yet another stoppage of play for a media timeout, Jensen rebounded a missed Daena Mau 3-pointer and threw another long outlet pass downcourt to Highley for another layup, capping a run of eight straight scores, six of them coming on layups, including four straight fast break conversions.

Pacific scored 29 points off 21 Willamette turnovers and had one of its best shooting games of the season. The Boxers were right at 50 percent for the game until Dailey Koga's (Fr., Caldwell, Idaho) final 3-point shot rimmed off with a minute to play. The Boxers connected on 25 of 51 from the field (.490) and hit five of their nine 3-pointers. The Boxers also hit season highs in free throw attempts and makes, canning 25 of 32 (.781) to outscore the Bearcats by eight at the stripe (17-22). Willamette hit 23 of 58 from the field (.397), but connected on just 1 of 6 from 3-point range.

Hitch scored 14 points, with Schultz, Highley and Kaila Johnson (Fr., McKinley, Calif.) each adding ten. Johnson went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc in a career-best performance, while Brittney Anderson converted 7 of 7 at the line to finish with nine points.

The Boxers hit 18 of 20 free throws in the first half, but only had a 36-35 lead as the Bearcats shot 47 percent to Pacific's 32 percent in the first 20 minutes. The Bearcats got off to a scorching start, hitting seven of their first 10 shot attempts on the way to a 16-6 lead with 14:21 to go in the half. From there, the Boxers held Willamette without a field goal for nearly seven minutes, pulling ahead at the line. After missing two of their first three at the charity stripe, the Boxers closed the half by making their next 17 free throws in a row, including a stretch of four straight possessions where they hit eight free throws. Anderson sank a pair, then hit both ends of one-and-one free throws to give Pacific its first lead, 20-19 with 7:10 to go in the half. After freshman forward Julia Brand scored for Willamette, Hitch hit one-and-one, followed by a pair of Jensen charity shots to put Pacific in front 24-21 with 6:22 to go.

Brand, who had a career night with 20 points to lead the youthful Bearcats, converted a 3-point play to tie the game 24-24, then hit both ends of one-and-one free throws to put Willamette back in front 28-26 with 4:08 left. Another three-point play, this time by Maya McFaddin, gave Willamette a 31-26 lead before Johnson hit the second of her three 3-pointers, followed by a pair of Anderson free throws to tie the game at 31. Jensen hit two more freebies to answer a Brand basket, before Anderson converted a three-point play of her own to put the Boxers in front 36-33 with 1:26 to go in the half.

Willamette got the first score of the second half to go up 37-36, but Colter answered with a 3-pointer. After Brand tied the game at 39-39 with a pair of free throws, Schultz extended Pacific's streak to 19 consecutive made free throws. The lead bounced back and forth three more times before Pacific went on their game-deciding 15-point sprint. There were nine ties and 11 lead changes in the first 27 minutes of the game.

Pacific has two more games at the Stoller Center next weekend, entertaining Whitman on Friday, Feb. 10 followed by Whitworth on Saturday. Both games tip off at 6 p.m. and will be webcast live on www.goboxers.com.