Makana Stone and Whitman clinched a playoff berth with a win Saturday. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Mission accomplished.
Sparked by a 12-point, 12-rebound performance from Coupeville’s Makana Stone, the Whitman College women’s basketball team swatted host Lewis & Clark College Saturday, setting up the biggest weekend of the season.
Rolling to a 73-58 victory in Portland, the Blues held on to first-place in the Northwest Conference at 11-1, while improving to 19-2 overall.
With the win, their seventh-straight, they clinch a playoff berth and can finish no lower than third in the nine-team league.
The top four teams square off in the conference postseason tourney, with #1 hosting #4 and #2 hosting #3, then the winners meeting in a game which decides the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Stone and Whitman have made it to the Northwest Conference tourney all four seasons she’s been on campus, but never as the #1 seed.
With their hearts set on a league title, the Blues control their own fate going forward, however.
Two games up on George Fox University (9-3, 17-4) and three ahead of freefalling Pacific University (8-4, 14-7), with four to play, Whitman faces those exact teams next weekend.
Both games will be at home in Walla Walla, where the Blues are 7-0, and go down Friday and Saturday, Feb. 14-15.
The second of those matchups is also Senior Night, where Stone, Mady Burdett, Lily Gustafson, Katie Stahl, and Natalie Whitesel will be honored.
Saturday could have been a trap game, with Lewis & Clark (now 1-11, 2-18) sitting in dead last-place in the Northwest Conference.
And it was for a half at least, as the Pioneers took advantage of a Whitman team that was unexpectedly ice-cold from the field.
Normally one of the best-shooting squads in the country, the Blues hit just 9-34 from the floor in the first half.
While Whitman still managed to scrape out a 14-12 lead after one quarter of play, the shooting woes intensified in the second frame, allowing Lewis & Clark to seize its first lead at 17-16.
From there, the Pioneers stretched the margin out to five, though the Blues cut it back to 27-24 on a nice play right before the end of the half.
Stone, directing traffic from the top of the arc, whipped a note-perfect pass over the top, finding teammate Kaylie McCracken for a layup and a brief burst of happiness for the visitors.
Things took a huge change after the break, as Whitman started to nail all of its shots, especially from the outside.
Tickling the twines for five three-balls in the third quarter — with Taylor Chambers and Kaelan Shamseldin nailing two apiece — the Blues erupted on a game-busting 27-10 run.
Stone gave Whitman a lead it wouldn’t lose with a pair of buckets in the paint, then made off with a steal that triggered a fast-break which ended with a Shamseldin trey.
Lewis & Clark, scrappy but painfully young, never got closer than 12 after that, with the Blues stretching the lead out as far as 20 near the end of the game.
McCracken came off the bench to score a team-high 15 points, while Stone added two assists, a steal, and a blocked shot to her 12 and 12 double-double.
On the season, the former Wolf has 332 points, 175 rebounds, 30 assists, 23 steals, and 18 blocks.
Stone is shooting 136-253 (53.8%) from the floor and 57-74 (77%) at the free throw line.
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