Coupeville Sports

Makana Stone filled up the stat sheet Thursday, lifting Whitman to a tourney win in California. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

The power was out all across Whidbey Island Thursday, but Makana Stone lit up California.

The Coupeville High School grad, playing for the first time in 12 days, filled up the stat sheet in the opening game of the Hyatt Place December Classic in Santa Cruz, lifting the Whitman College women’s basketball squad to its fifth victory in its last six games.

The Blues, showing remarkable consistency, scored exactly 16 points in every quarter, holding off a late rally by non-conference foe Williams College to escape with a 64-59 win.

Whitman, which plays the University of Northwestern Friday, then is off until Jan. 5, sits at 7-3 on the season.

Stone, as she has been in every game during her junior season, was a major driving force Thursday for the Blues.

She recorded 12 points, seven rebounds, three assists and a steal, while rising high above the Kaiser Permanente Arena floor to reject five shots.

The blocks were a collegiate career-high for Stone.

Whitman surged out to a 16-14 lead after one, turned it into a 32-28 margin at the half, then pushed things out to 48-36 headed into the fourth.

While Williams snuck back into the game in the final quarter, it never got closer than five points.

The first two times it did, at 56-51 and 58-53, Stone responded with a score to push the margin back out.

A three-point play the hard way, with just a single second left on the clock, allowed Williams to make the final deficit look a bit closer than reality.

Stone, who passed a personal milestone when she topped 700 points in college on a second-quarter jumper, sits with 170 points, 85 rebounds, 16 assists, 15 steals and 14 blocks on the season.

She’s shooting 72-133 from the field and 26-36 from the free throw line, and leads Whitman in 13 of 22 statistical categories.