WALLA WALLA, Wash. - Less than 24 hours after clinching a share of the Northwest Conference regular season title, the No. 7 Whitman College women's basketball team assured itself of the top seed in the league tournament with a dominant 72-46 win over Pacific (Ore.) on Senior Night at the Sherwood Center.

Aside from clinching the NWC title outright, the win atoned for Whitman's loss to the Boxers earlier in the season, their lone defeat in league play. Makana Stone posted game highs of 18 points and 13 rebounds and Mady Burdett dropped 14 points. Whitman forced the Boxers into a poor shooting night and dominated the paint to the tune of a 32-18 points in the paint advantage.

Camy Aguinaldo led the Boxers with 16 points and Brille Kovalhoff added 10 more.

The Blues (21-2, 13-1 NWC) got off to a fast start. After an Aguinaldo bucket to open the game, Whitman ran off seven straight points. Lily Gustafson nailed a three pointer before back-to-back Stone buckets gave their team a 7-2 lead with 5:47 to play in the first quarter. Sydney Gray drained a three pointer for the Boxers to shave the lead to two points, but the Blues responded to take a six-point lead into the second quarter.

Whitman turned it on in the second period at both ends of the court. Kaylie McCracken's layup extended the lead to 20-12 less than two minutes into the period and blocks from both McCracken and Gustafson maintained the momentum as the Blues continued to lead.

Pacific would grab the momentum down the stretch of the first half. Holding the Blues to only six points in the final 6:08, the Boxers got to the line 10 times and sunk eight of their free throw attempts to head to halftime down only three points.

Whitman looked unstoppable as the second half got underway. Sandwiched around a Stone jumper, Gustafson scored at the hoop and hit a three pointer and it was a double-digit Blues lead in the blink of an eye. The run continued as Whitman opened up a 46-29 lead with 3:10 to play and, outscoring Pacific 22-5 in the third, took a 20-point lead into the fourth quarter.

The final 10 minutes proved to be a formality as the Blues cruised to the win.

Whitman plays its regular season finale this Tuesday, Feb. 18 against NWC rival Whitworth. Tipoff at the Sherwood Center is set for 6:00 p.m.