THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Host California Lutheran broke open a tight game with a late run and then used free throws down the stretch to defeat Pacific University in a non-conference women's basketball game on Monday afternoon, 65-60.

The Regals won their fourth straight game to improve to 5-3 on the season, while the Boxers dropped to 4-6. Pacific wraps up their southern California trip with a 1-2 record.

Sarah Curl led Pacific with 19 points, 12 rebounds and four assists. Karli McHone added 15 points for the visitors.

For a game that had a its suspense throughout, it began slow enough. California Lutheran didn't convert a field goal attempt until 2:09 was left in the first quarter. The Boxers had jumped out to an 8-1 lead, but the Regals warmed up enough to pull within two points at the end of the low scoring quarter, 10-8.

The Regals outscored Pacific 20-12 in the second staza to take a 28-22 halftime lead, and led for all of the third quarter as well until Curl's lay-up with 27 seconds left in the third period gave Pacific a 41-40 edge. The two teams went into the final period notched up at 41-41.

Another Curl lay-up tied the game again at 45-45 with 7:32 left, but ten seconds later CLU's Haley Hodgson scored to give the hosts a two-point lead and they would never trail again. As the Boxers went cold for the next few minutes, the Regals built a lead as big as eight points forcing Pacific to foul. PU pulled to within one point with 3:55 on a McHone trey, but the home team kept hitting free throws in the final minutes to keep the Boxers at bay.

The Boxers hit all nine of its free throw attempts, but only connected on 34 percent of their shots from the field and were just five of 18 from three-point range--with three of those five makes coming in the final four minutes. California Lutheran of the SCIAC used 34 bench points and had four players in double figure scoring. Chelsea Jacoby led the way for the Regals with 14 points, six rebounds and seven assists. Trianna Owen added 13 points, Taylor Messick had 11 points and nine rebounds while Haley Hodgson had 11 points and six rebounds.

The Boxers will now get time off until a January 3 game at Walla Walla College.