PORTLAND, Ore. --- Freshman Ellie Woerner erupted in the fourth quarter to finish with 15 points, sophomore Ashley Gray added 13 points and the Pilots nearly came all the way back, but the Pacific Tigers held on for a 72-64 win in a West Coast Conference women's basketball game played at the Chiles Center on Thursday night.
 
12 of Woerner's points came in the final frame as the Pilots (2-17, 0-8 WCC) tried to recover from a 19-point deficit. Trailing 61-42 with 8:06 to play, Portland held the Tigers to only one field goal the rest of the way, which included a nearly five-minute scoring drought.
 
Down 19, the Pilots went on a 10-0 run, with Woerner scoring eight of those points. Rachelle Owens then capped the outburst with a lay-up on a nice bounce pass from Hannah Mattson, and just like that Portland was within 61-52 with 4:43 remaining.
 
Najah Queenland momentarily stalled the run with a pair of free throws, but the Pilots answered with two at the line from Gray and two more by Woerner to pull the Pilots within five points with 2:06 showing on the clock. Ameela Li then hit a clutch lay-up at the other end for Pacific's first field goal in almost eight minutes to push the lead back to seven points.
 
Following a free throw from Gray, the Tigers tried to clinch the game at the free throw line, but junior Holly Blades came through with a big-time three-pointer to make it a five-point game once again, this time with only 45 seconds left to play.
 
But Pacific (10-9, 3-5 WCC), who shot 18-for-22 from the free throw line on the night, hit enough foul shots during the closing seconds to ice the game.
 
Woerner extends her streak of scoring in double figures to nine straight games. Gray reaches double digits for the third time in the last four games, while Blades did a lot of damage in the first half and finished with 12 points. Blades was seemingly all over the court all night long, registering a career-high three blocks, while corralling five rebounds.
 
Woerner was Portland's top rebounder with seven boards, but the Tigers won the battle of the glass 40-36. 17 of those rebounds came on the offensive end, which helped Pacific out-score the Pilots 17-5 in second chance points. Both teams were hurt by turnovers, and the Pilots out-shot the Tigers 41.8 percent to 35.3 percent.
 
Four Tigers scored in double figures, including three players off the bench, and Chelsea Lidy scored a team-best 12.
 
The Tigers led 38-29 at the half and were ahead 54-40 to start the final period.
 
The Pilots next welcome the Saint Mary's Gaels to the Chiles Center on Saturday for a 1 p.m. WCC contest. The game will be shown live in the Portland area on Comcast SportsNet.