Coupeville Sports

   Makana Stone (center), seen here with Lindsey Roberts (left) and Amy Briscoe, had another strong college hoops game Saturday. (John Fisken photo)

After 14 straight wins to open the season, the Whitman College women’s basketball squad has taken back-to-back losses as it plows through the most dangerous stretch of its schedule.

Saturday afternoon, despite seven points and five rebounds from former Coupeville star Makana Stone, the Blues fell 79-70 on the road in Portland against Lewis and Clark College.

The loss drops Whitman to 5-2 in Northwest Conference play and knocks it, for the moment, into third-place in the nine-team league.

The University of Puget Sound (8-0), which nipped the Blues in overtime a week ago, is in first, while George Fox University (6-1), which Whitman plays Sunday, sits in second.

Saturday’s game was a close one until Lewis and Clark pulled away down the stretch in the fourth.

Whitman trailed by just a point at the half, 32-31, but a 27-22 fourth quarter surge by the hosts was too much to overcome.

Stone, who was the first sub in for the Blues, tallied a free throw, a rebound and an assist — feeding Casey Poe on a layup — in the first quarter, than was a vital part of a Whitman run of success in the second.

She pulled down four of her rebounds during the one quarter the Blues won (21-19), and scored five of her seven points.

The best came on a three-point play the hard way, as Stone corralled an offensive rebound and took it back up for a basket while being hammered. She then slipped the charity shot through the twines as well.

Chelsi Brewer paced Whitman with 21 points.

On the season Stone is averaging 5.0 points and 4.9 rebounds a night. Her 78 boards are the third-most grabbed by a Blues player.

She also has 12 assists, five blocks and 11 steals while averaging 16 minutes a game.

Of the seven Blues freshmen, Stone is getting the second-most playing time, narrowly trailing Mady Burdett.