SPOKANE, Wash. - Mady Burdett scored her 1,000th career point, putting up 22 for night and the No. 12 Whitman College women's basketball team held on to beat Whitworth 84-79 in Northwest Conference action, Tuesday night at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.
Lily Gustafson added a double double with 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Blues (14-2, 6-1 NWC) who had to withstand a furious fourth quarter rally. Kaylie McCracken had a near double double of her own with 16 points and eight rebounds off the bench and Kaelan Shamseldin contributed 12 points.
Sydney Abbott dropped a game-high 26 points to go along nine rebounds for Whitworth (9-7, 2-5 NWC) who stayed in the game on the heels of a hot three-point shooting night (46%). Talia Brandner scored 22 points on 5-7 shooting from distance and Quincy McDeid added 12 points.
Whitman dropped 30 points in the third quarter and at one point led by as many as 25. Gustafson's layup with 6:55 remaining put the Blues firmly in control up 59-34. The Pirates then reeled off eight straight points and later, with 2:10 to play, made it a 12-point ball game off a Brandner three-pointer.
Whitworth scored the first 10 points of the fourth quarter and all of a sudden the game was in the balance. It took nearly half the quarter, but the Blues finally got one to go when Gustafson scored to put her team up 71-68. Two possessions later, however, Abbott completed an and-one three-point play and the game was tied.
Whitman hit several key buckets down the stretch and clamped down on defense to hold on for the win. The Blues held the Pirates to without a basket for a 3:23 stretch broken only by a Brandner three pointer with 35 seconds remaining. The Blues had gained a six-point cushion by that point and grabbed the win.
The Blues return home this weekend and will face Linfield on Saturday, Jan. 25 at 4:00 p.m.