WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Scoring early and often, Whitman College raced past Pacific Lutheran 64-42 Friday night in Sherwood Center to snare a share of third place in the Northwest Conference women's basketball standings.

Improving to 7-4 in NWC and 11-9 overall, Whitman slipped into a third-place tie with Puget Sound, which was losing to Whitworth in Spokane. 

Anna Forge

Sole possession of the third spot will be at stake Saturday when Puget Sound comes to Walla Walla for a 5 p.m. game with the Missionaries.

Whitman, beating Pacific Lutheran (3-8 NWC, 6-14) for the second time this season, seized early control of Friday's rematch, building a 21-6 lead midway through the opening half.

The visitors trailed 34-15 at intermission and fell behind by as many at 27 points in a second half void of any suspense.

Whitman sent a dozen players onto the floor and nine of them scored.

Senior guard Jenele Peterson, who leads the NWC in assists, paced the Missionary offense with 12 points and seven assists in limited minutes.

Sophomore guard Tiffani Traver added 11 points while senior wing Anna Forge came off the bench to make five of nine shots from the floor, scoring 10 points and just missing a double-double with nine rebounds.

Marah Alindogan

Whitman also got nine points from junior Mary Madden and seven more from sophomore Sarah Anderegg.

Sophomore Meghan White tallied just three points but pulled down 10 rebounds to help the Missionaries dominate the backboards by a huge 48-28 margin.

Whitman shot 45.2 percent from the floor and moved the ball to the tune of 21 assists on 28 baskets.

Samantha Potter sparked the Lutes with 15 points and 14 rebounds. Shelly Kilcup added nine points for the Lutes while Katelyn Smith was good for eight points and five rebounds.

Whitman, which shot past Pacific Lutheran 64-48 last month in Tacoma, has five straight victories over the Lutes. 

Peterson sparked Whitman's game-opening assault with eight points and three assists in the first 10 minutes of action.

White collected one of Whitman's 18 offensive rebounds and sophomore Marah Alindogan capitalized with a layup as the home team stretched its lead to 29-11 with 5:38 left in the first half.

Forge hit a jumper and then fed first-year forward Hallie Buse for a 3-pointer push the Missionary advantage to 34-11 with two minutes left in the half.

Potter, the second-leading scorer in the NWC, scored twice in the final 70 seconds to close the gap a bit at the break.

Three-point bombs from Traver and Madden had Whitman in front by 26 points early in the second stanza. Baskets by Kilcup and Potter twice sliced Pacific Lutheran's deficit to 17 points, the second time with 13 minutes left.

But baskets by Forge and Buse, followed by a Peterson 3-point connection, sent the Missionary lead back over the 20-point mark, where it stayed for the final 10 minutes.

Three straight baskets by Anderegg accounted for Whitman's largest lead of the night, 64-38, with 2:20 left on the clock.

Peterson's 12 points increased her career scoring total to 1,117 points, moving her past 2007 graduate Katie Patneaude into ninth place on the all-time Whitman scoring list.

She needs eight points in Saturday's game to move up two more rungs on the career scoring ladder.

The women's basketball team had many fans Friday, including a brightly painted men's tennis team.                                                                                                                                                    Photos by Greg Lehman

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