TACOMA, Wash. - Makana Stone was a one-woman wrecking crew tonight, unleashing a career-high 30 points to go along with 13 rebounds as the No. 9 Whitman College women's basketball team completed a Northwest Conference weekend sweep with a 59-47 win at Puget Sound on Saturday night.
Stone accounted for over half of her team's scoring. It was a much-needed effort as Whitman could not hit a three point shot, going 0-13 on the night as a team. Stone shined on an evening where points were at a premium for both teams, but the Blues knew where to butter their bread. She went 12-17 from the floor, taking nine more shots than Mady Burdett (5 pts) who was second on the team with eight shot attempts.
Jamie Lange and Mara Henderson both had 12 points to lead UPS (9-10, 3-7 NWC) with Henderson adding 10 rebounds for the double double. Lily Gustafson added seven points and five rebounds for the Blues (17-2, 9-1 NWC).
The Blues were slow offensively out of the gate as it took until the 6:34 mark of the first quarter before they finally got on the scoreboard. Kaylie McCracken's layup broke the draught then Taylor Chambers completed and and-one three point play to put her team up 5-4. Stone hit a pair of baskets in the later stages in the quarter but it were the Loggers who held the lead heading into the second quarter.
Whitman never led in the second period but tied the game on three occasions. Gustafson began to heat up, hitting on back-to-back shots before Stone's layup tied the game at 22-22. Cassidy Daugherty broke the tie with her three-pointer with 4:06 to play, but the Blues held UPS to without a field goal for the remainder of the half and evened the score as the teams headed to the locker rooms.
The Blues began to take control in the third quarter. They kept the Loggers off the scoreboard for nearly the first four minutes of the period, meanwhile building a six-point lead off back-to-back buckets from Stone. Whitman couldn't quite shake its NWC foe however and was unable to put another point on the board for the final 3:23, and settled for a two-point lead heading to the fourth.
Whitman put its foot on the pedal in the fourth quarter and never let up. Locking in defensively, the Blues held UPS to just one score in the final 6:23 of the game, a too-little-too-late three pointer from Henderson with 31 seconds to play. The Blues slowly built up the lead with Kaelan Shamseldin's layup giving her team a 10-point lead with 48 seconds to play.
The Blues head back out on the road again next weekend, first facing Willamette on Friday, Feb. 7 at 6:00 p.m.