WALLA WALLA, Wash. - Carly Martin scored a game-high 20 points including a sizzling 6-9 in three pointers and the No. 7 Whitman College women's basketball team used a dominant third quarter to race past Pacific Lutheran 86-59 in Northwest Conference action on Friday night at the Sherwood Center.

Kaylie McCracken added 15 points and five rebounds and Sydney Abbott chipped in a solid overall performance of 12 points, six assists and seven rebounds.

Josie Napoli led the Lutes (3-8, 0-4 NWC) with team highs of 18 points and four assists.

After the first 20 minutes of action yielded a 41-41 score, in large part due to Martin's buzzer beater three ball, the Blues (11-1, 3-0 NWC) returned from the locker room and outscored the Lutes by 16 points to take complete control of the game. Whitman used a 10-0 run midway through the period, capped by a Martin three, to take a 57-46 lead with four minutes to play. The lead continued to swell with a pair of buckets from Elena McHargue, the second inside of a minute, to help the Blues take a 68-52 lead into the final quarter.

The first half featured quite a competitive battle. Stacie Spahr's bucket put the Lutes up a point with 5:23 to play in the opening quarter, but the Blues responded. Lindsay Drango regained the lead with a jumper before Martin drained a triple to put Whitman up 14-12. The momentum shifted back to PLU as Napoli twice hit from distance late in the quarter to give her team a 23-20 lead.

The Lutes led early in the second period before Korin Baker came alive. With the Blues trailing by five points, she hit back-to-back buckets to help Whitman regain the lead at 29-28. Napoli's three snatched the lead back for the Lutes, one they kept for nearly the remainder of the half until Martin's corner three at the buzzer sent the teams into halftime deadlocked at 41-41.

Whitman returns to action tomorrow night against Puget Sound. Tipoff at the Sherwood Center is set for 4:00 p.m.