Walla Walla, WA -- All five starters scored in double figures tonight as the Whitman Women's Basketball team pulled away from a feisty Linfield squad to win 69 – 58 at the Sherwood Center .
The win improves the Missionaries record to 12 - 3 overall and 5 - 2 in conference. The Loss drops the Wildcats to 0 - 6 in the NWC and 1 - 11 on the season. The Wildcats got a game-high 28 from Katelyn Henson. Whitman was led by senior post Mary Madden's 16.
Madden (Huntington Beach, CA) was moved down low early in the second half when Whitman's leading scorer Sarah Anderegg (Jr, Redmond, WA) drew her fourth foul with 16:07 remaining. "We had Mary play a little more in the interior" said Head Coach Michelle Ferenz. "And I think she stepped in and made some key passes and got some key rebounds. I thought Meghan White (Jr, Huntington Beach, CA) played great."
Leading 43 – 40, the Missionaries went on a 6 – 0 run to extend their lead to eight when sophomore guard Heather Johns (W. Richland, WA) drove for a bucket. After a media timeout, center Tyra Barawis muscled in a layup for Linfield but the Missionaries responded with three-ball from junior point-guard Marah Alindogan (Everett, WA), a follow-up by junior post White and at the 10:49 mark the Whitties had their first double-digit advantage of the game.
Henson hit several threes down the stretch but the Wildcats could never get closer than nine as the Missionaries consistently hit buckets from their half-court set and pulled away down the stretch, getting scoring from many different players.
"I think we're at our best when we're balanced", said Ferenz. "We don't have a single player on our roster who was all-conference last year . . . we have to play together. We are not a team of superstars. We have some talented kids but our strength is playing together."
In addition to Madden's 16, Tiffani Traver (Jr, Oregon City, OR) added 12, White 11 and Anderegg and Johns each had 10. White and Madden both pulled down 8 boards with Traver contributing 6 from the guard spot. The Missionaries won the rebound battle 38 to 26 – they lead the conference in rebound margin averaging +13.
Linfield came into the game without a conference victory but gave the Missionaries all they could handle in the first half. After falling behind early, the Wildcats put together an 8-to-nothing run to tie the game 21 – 21 on center Tayler Martinez's layup. Moments later, guard Catie Mets drove in for a deuce and Linfield had a two-point advantage. Traver responded with a trey to reclaim the lead for the Whitties and the teams battled back-and-forth the rest of the first stanza with Whitman entering the intermission with a 34 – 33 advantage.
The Missionaries helped themselves at the charity stripe; the Wildcats did not. Whitman sank 73% from the line while Linfield managed just 38 %.
Whitman faces Willamette tomorrow night at George Ball Court – 6 pm tip-off. Linfield makes the trek north to face Whitworth