Tacoma, WA – A big second half and stifling defense produced a fourth straight win tonight for the Whitman Women's Basketball team as they felled the Loggers 59 – 40 in Tacoma. The Whits are, now, 8 – 2 in the NWC, and could hold a share of first place, depending on the outcome of tonight's Lewis & Clark vs. Linfield contest. For full NWC standings click Standings.
For the season, Whitman is 15 – 3. Puget Sound drops to 3 – 7 and 10 – 9.
After a tight first half that ended in a 24 – 24 tie, the Missionaries outscored the Loggers 35 – 16 in the second half, holding UPS to just 18.5 % from the field (22.4 % for the game).
The Loggers actually scored the first bucket of the second half, a layup by Sarah Stewart, but forward Mary Madden (Sr, Huntington Beach, CA) responded with a layup of her own to knot the game at 26 – 26 and the Whits were off and running.
Whitman extended its lead to six, 36 – 30, on a Heather Lovelace (So, McKinleyville, CA) drive at the 11:25 mark, and then pushed it out to ten when freshman point-guard Alyssa Maine (Spokane, WA) sank a jumper with 7:17 remaining.
The Missionaries would only give up a one field goal, an Emily Sheldon layup, and two free-throws by Kelsey McKinnis, the rest of the way. In the process, the Whits scored 15 points, producing the final 19-point margin.
Whitman got 18 points from the bench, Lovelace leading the way with 10, Hailey Ann Maeda (So, Kailua, HI) chipping in 6 with 6 rebounds, and Maine with 2. Three starters finished in double-figures: post Sarah Anderegg (Jr, Redmond, WA) and point-guard Heather Johns (So, W. Richland, WA) tallied 11, and guard Tiffani Traver (Jr, Oregon City, OR) poured in 10 with 5 assists. Madden had 7 points with 7 rebounds – 6 on the defensive end.
No Puget Sound player hit double-digits. The Loggers' top scorer was McKinnis with 9. Sheldon had 8. McKinnis entered tonight's contest averaging over 15 ppg, second best in the NWC, but was held to just 2-of-12 and 1-of-9 from three-point land.
The Missionaries, now, come home to host Pacific on Friday and major foe, Lewis & Clark, on Saturday – both 6 pm tips.
Contact:
Andrew Holt
Whitman Sports Information Director
509.527.5902