Makana Stone, seen here last season, had 10 points and 11 rebounds Saturday as Whitman won the Northwest Conference tournament. (Sylvia Hurlburt photos)
Puget Sound sign-makers regret their choices in life.
Makana and Sylvia, reunited and it feels so good.
They won when it mattered most.
Avenging two regular-season overtime losses, the Whitman College women’s basketball team shocked Puget Sound 81-72 Saturday in the championship game of the Northwest Conference tourney.
The win, coming on the road at Tacoma, lifts the Blues to 23-4, while snapping an 18-game win streak for the Loggers (25-2).
It also punches Whitman’s ticket to the NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Championships for the first time since 2014.
Back then, the school, still playing as the Missionaries, finished second in the nation, falling 80-72 to undefeated FDU-Florham in the national championship game.
One player, Alysse Ketner, connects both Whitman squads.
She was a freshman reserve in 2014 and is a senior starter now for the team, which adopted a new mascot this season.
One of the biggest keys to Saturday’s win? A first-year player who came to the school just as it made the switch from Missionaries to Blues.
I speak of that rampaging Wolf of yore, Coupeville grad Makana Stone, who threw down 10 points and snatched a game-high 11 rebounds in the tourney title tilt.
The former Wolf garnered eight points and five rebounds during a mid-game hot streak that turned around Whitman’s fortunes.
Puget Sound, which won the first two meetings this season 73-71 and 89-82, bolted out to a 21-9 advantage after one quarter Saturday night.
Not to be deterred, the steady Blues chipped away at the lead with a 26-16 run in the second, then broke UPS with a 25-12 surge in the third quarter.
Five Whitman players landed in double figures in the scoring book, led by Chelsi Brewer with 19 and Casey Poe with 17.
Stone, who hauled in eight of her rebounds in the second half, out-dueled Puget Sound’s Jamie Lange, the league’s Freshman of the Year, to lead all players in cleaning the glass.
She also had two assists, setting up Mady Burdett and Emily Rommel on back-to-back buckets in the first quarter.
For the season, Stone has played in 26 of 27 games, starting 10. She has 175 points (6.7 a night), 159 rebounds (6.1), 27 assists, 13 steals and 11 blocks.
Whitman will find out its postseason path when the NCAA tourney bracket is announced Monday morning.
Coupeville Sports 
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