Monday, Jan. 2, 2012

WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Senior Jennifer Keyes and sophomore Sarah Anderegg came off the bench to score 12 points apiece as Whitman College rolled over La Sierra 74-45 in non-conference basketball action Monday night in Sherwood Center.

Whitman, improving to 4-7 on the season, sent 14 players into the game and all but one scored.

La Sierra, an NAIA independent from Riverside, Calif., slipped to 3-22 on the season.

Keyes

Whitman, which led 37-22 at halftime, hit nine of 21 three-point shots, made 15 of 16 attempts from the free-thow line and out-rebounded the Eagles by a 40-33 margin.

The 29-point margin of defeat was the largest suffered by La Sierra in its four recent games against Northwest Conference teams.

The Eagles lost by 25 points to Lewis & Clark, by 11 to Pacific and by four to Linfield.

Monday's game was close through the first 10 minutes, which ended with Whitman on top 18-16. But junior Shiann Dreadfulwater drained a three to trigger a 19-6 onslaught over the next 10 minutes that had the Missionaries in firm control by the break.

Anderegg

The closing rush prior to intermission included three straight buckets from Anderegg and a pair of 3-point bombs from Keyes. The second of her long-distance strikes was a buzzer-beating running heave from well outside the 3-point stripe.

La Sierra briefly closed to within 13 points early in the second half, but juniors Kelly Peterson and Mary Madden combined for 11 quick points to give Whitman a 52-30 cushion with 14:32 left to play.

La Sierra's Natalia Hawthorne countered with back-to-back threes, but a 13-5 response from the Missionaries buried whatever hopes the visitors harbored for a late-game rally. Keyes connected on her fourth 3-pointer of the night and Anderegg added six points to the game-clinching spurt.

Whitman's reserves finished the night outscoring the five starters by a 40-34 margin. The starters had their moments, however.

Peterson finished with nine points and four rebounds while senior point guard Jenele Peterson (no relation) had nine points and four assists.

Madden called it a night with a game-high eight rebounds and six points. Sophomore Meghan White hit the boards for seven rebounds and also chipped in with six points.

Sophomore Tiffanie Traver handed out five assists to go with four points and three rebounds.

White, Dreadfulwater, Anderegg and Jenele Peterson each blocked a shot.

While Keyes was four of six from beyond the 3-point arc, five of her teammates also rang the long-distance bell. Both Petersons hit the bull's-eye, as did Dreadfulwater and two more reserves, junior Emilie Gilbert and sophomore Marah Alindogan.

J. Peterson

Ashley Baumgaertel, a 6-foot-1 senior, had a strong night for the Eagles, making nine of 15 shots from the floor in scoring 18 points and snaring seven rebounds. Hawthorne finished with 10 points.

Jenele Peterson opened the scoring with a 3-pointer and White added a jumper to give Whitman an early 5-0 lead. The Missionaries never trailed. 

Whitman returns to Northwest Conference play this weekend with two games in Tacoma, Wash. It plays at Puget Sound Friday and Pacific Lutheran on Saturday. Both games start at 6 p.m.

Peterson needs just eight points this weekend to become the 13th player in the history of Whitman women's basketball to reach the 1,000-point plateau in career scoring.

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Immediately prior to Monday night's game, a moment of silence was observed in memory of Dr. George Ball, who passed away on Sunday at age 96 after five decades as a professor of religion and mentor-at-large to the Whitman community.

Dr. Ball was on hand last April to see the men's tennis team win a fourth straight NWC championship.

The basketball floor in Sherwood Center was recently named in Dr. Ball's honor, and he was elected in 2009 as an honorary member of the Whitman Athletics Hall of Fame.

At the time of his Hall of Fame induction, Dr. Ball was remembered as a "coach of the spirit" by former tennis and basketball standout Steve Ronfeldt '64 (also a HOF member).

One of Whitman's most ardent sports fans and proponents of sportsmanship, Dr. Ball "brought affirmation in the face of defeat, a calm, focused mind in the heat of battle, and joy to our love of the game," Ronfeldt said.

Monday night's moment of silence was led by Adam Kirtley, Whitman's Stuart Coordinator of Religious and Spiritual Life.

Earlier in the day, Whitman President George Bridges praised Dr. Ball as a "standard-bearer for ethics and justice, a beloved and exceptional teacher of and adviser to generations of Whitman students, and an extraordinarily decent and caring person."

In 1998, Dr. Ball penned an "open letter" on sportsmanship to the Whitman tennis teams.

In 2001, the Seattle Times wrote a lengthy piece about Dr. Ball.

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