Makana Stone netted a game-high eight rebounds Friday in a tough loss to Willamette. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Britanny Kochenderfer just drove a huge spike through the hearts of Whitman College women’s basketball fans.
The Willamette University junior, who entered play Friday shooting 39.2% on the season, got red-hot and may have shot the Blues out of being league champs.
With Kochenderfer raining down 24 points, on 9-12 shooting, including 3-3 from behind the arc, the visiting Bearcats shocked a cold-shooting Whitman squad 62-55.
The loss, the second-straight for the Blues after they put together a 21-game winning streak, drops Whitman to 13-2 in Northwest Conference play, 21-3 overall.
The news gets worse for Whitman, as their biggest rival, George Fox, took care of business Friday, shredding Lewis & Clark 81-58.
With the win, the Bruins move to 14-1, go a game up on Whitman with one to play and clinch at least a tie for the league title.
The Blues, who split two games with George Fox, need a perfect finale Saturday to gain part of the regular-season league title.
Whitman needs to bounce Linfield (5-10, 9-15), while hoping Pacific (4-11, 5-18) can somehow pull off a miracle against George Fox (14-1, 21-3).
Regardless of whether they finish first or second, the Blues host a playoff game Feb. 22 in Walla Walla.
The top four teams in the nine-team league advance to the postseason, with the winners in the semis facing off Feb. 24 in the title game.
If Whitman is the #2 seed, they get a rematch with Willamette (11-4, 15-9), which is locked in to the #3 seed.
George Fox, at #1, would face either Lewis & Clark (8-7, 13-11) or Puget Sound (7-8, 12-12), which play Saturday for the #4 seed.
After that comes the NCAA D-III women’s national tourney, where Whitman made it to the Elite Eight a season ago.
Friday night, the Blues could not get the ball to stay in the basket, shooting an icy 30% from the floor in the first half.
With their big two, senior All-American Casey Poe and sophomore Makana Stone, a combined 2-14 at the break, and Willamette torching the nets to a 56% tune, Whitman trailed 34-24.
Things got slightly better in the second half, as the shooting numbers finished at 50%-36%, but that wasn’t a big enough change for Whitman to make any huge rallies.
Every time the Blues made a mini-run, such as cutting the lead back to seven headed into the fourth, Willamette responded.
The Bearcats opened the fourth quarter with a 6-0 surge, while holding the Blues scoreless for five minutes-plus, and led 57-44 with 4:53 to play.
Whitman closed the game on an 11-5 run, but could never quite get over the hump.
Stone, the former Coupeville star, hauled down a game-high eight rebounds but was held to a season-low two points.
Heading into the regular-season finale Saturday, she is Whitman’s #2 scorer (308 points) and #1 rebounder (168 boards), while also dishing out 44 assists, rejecting four shots and making off with 16 steals.
Stone is shooting 53% from the floor (131-247) and 78% from the free-throw line (46-59) this season.
