WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- With 6-foot sophomore Megan White sweeping the backboards for 17 rebounds and six of her teammates scoring between eight and 15 points, Whitman College rolled over Pennsylvania's Lancaster Bible College 76-28 at Friday night's fifth annual Kim Evanger Raney Memorial Classic in Sherwood Center.

Whitman, which lost its first four games this winter by a combined margin of 11 points, elevated its season record to 2-5. Lancaster is 2-3 to start its season.

White

In Friday's early tournament game, Whitworth University rallied for a 70-65 victory over the University of California-Santa Cruz.

Lancaster's Brooklyn Wilson scored inside to give the Chargers their only lead of the night at 2-0, but sophomore Tiffani Traver responded with the first of her 3-pointers to stake Whitman to a lead it held for the rest of the game.

After feeding a ball to junior Kelly Peterson for a jumper, Traver hit another three and Peterson added two free throws as Whitman extended its lead to 10-4 after five minutes of play.

Jumpers by Shiann Dreadfulwater and first-year Missionary Hallie Buse, followed by a Dreadfulwater 3-pointer stretched the margin to 20-9 by the midway point of the first half.

Dreadfulwater

Traver's third 3-point strike helped Whitman finish the opening 20 minutes on a 7-2 run to lead 37-19 at the break.

Any Lancaster hopes for a rally faded quickly after Whitman outscored the Chargers 15-1 over the first seven minutes of the second half.

Whitman sent all 14 of its players into the game and all but three made it into the scoring column.

Traver, who had 11 points at halftime, finished with a career-high 15 points in just 22 minutes on the floor. She also had four assists and three steals.

Senior Jenele Peterson, the only other Missionary scoring in double figures, had 11 points, five assists and four steals, also in 22 minutes. Dreadfulwater added nine points and four assists.

Sarah Heilenman led Lancaster with nine points and five rebounds. Wilson finished with seven points while Lauren Heliger combined six points with a team-high seven rebounds.

Forge

White pulled down her career-high 17 rebounds for Whitman in just 16 minutes of playing time. Eight of her boards came at the offensive end of the floor.

Junior Mary Madden reached for seven rebounds for the Missionaries, but Whitman hit the glass en masse to build an overwhelming 61-31 advantage on the backboards.

Buse and one of her first-year teammates, Heather Lovelace, added eight points apiece for Whitman. Senior Anna Forge contributed eight points, five rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots.

The tournament, which honors the memory of 2002 Whitman graduate and former basketball player Kim Evanger Raney, concludes Saturday night with two more games.

Whitworth and Lancaster play at 6 p.m. with Whitman and UC-Santa squaring off at 8 p.m.

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CONTACT: Dave Holden
Sports Information Director
Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wash.
509 527-5902; holden@whitman.edu