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   Makana Stone is here to destroy any team foolish enough to get in her way. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

The best one-two combo in the land.

The Whitman College women’s basketball team is destroying anyone and everyone in its path right now, and a heapin’ helpin’ of the abuse is coming from its twin stars.

Senior All-American Casey Poe, and sophomore sensation Makana Stone, she of the Coupeville pedigree, are on fire, and so is their team.

Saturday Whitman rolled into Salem, Oregon to face a strong Willamette squad, then rolled right over the Bearcats.

With Stone throwing down a new college single-game personal-best 23 points, and Poe notching her 1,000th career point, the Blues roared to a 68-49 win.

Having swept two games in Oregon, Whitman, which is ranked #4 in D-III ball, heads back to Walla Walla boasting an 8-0 mark in Northwest Conference play.

The Blues sit at 16-1, with their only loss coming way back in the season opener to non-conference foe Eastern Oregon, when Poe was away on an academic trip.

Whitman’s splendid senior was on the court Saturday, tossing in 15 points to back Stone.

Poe joined the 1,000-point club with a silky running hook shot in the fourth quarter.

Her younger teammate is well on her own way to joining that exclusive fraternity for scorers, having already dropped in 456 points in less than two full seasons.

Stone, who also snagged seven rebounds, saved her best for crunch time against Willamette, dropping in 14 of her 23 points after halftime, spurring a game-busting 34-20 run by the Blues.

She leads Whitman in points (248) and rebounds (111) this season, while also collecting 32 assists, 13 steals and two blocks.

Stone is hitting 59% of her field goals (107-183) and 76% of her free throws (34-45).

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   Makana Stone went off for a team-high 18 points Friday, leading Whitman to its 15th straight win. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

She used every second they gave her.

Limited to just 17 minutes by foul trouble Friday, Coupeville grad Makana Stone still threw down a team-high 18 points, spurring Whitman College to its 15th straight win.

With Stone and All-American Casey Poe combining for 35 points, the Blues held off pesky Linfield 69-62 on the road, lifting their record to 7-0 in Northwest Conference play, 15-1 overall.

Whitman wraps up a two-game trip to Oregon Saturday with a big-time showdown at Willamette University, where the Bearcats will enter boasting a 6-1, 10-6 record and their own six-game winning streak.

Friday night Stone picked up four fouls (probably due to blind refs), but exploded in the second half.

The third quarter belonged to the sophomore sensation, as she went for nine points, draining jumper after jumper.

With the game close down the stretch, Whitman turned to its big two, and the duo answered the call.

Stone hit a shot to lift the Blues to a late four-point lead, then she and Poe combined to make seven free throws down the stretch to ice the win.

Through 16 games, Stone has scored 225 points (passing the 208 she scored as a freshman) while piling up 104 rebounds, 31 assists and 13 steals.

She’s shooting 58% from the field (97-166) and 76% from the line (31-41).

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   A flashback to when current college baller Kailey Kellner helped lead Coupeville to the state tourney. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Need a rebound? Call Kailey.

A slow start crippled the D’Youville College women’s basketball squad Wednesday, but while the Spartans fell 74-63 at Medaille, it wasn’t for lack of effort from one of its freshmen.

Coupeville grad Kailey Kellner ripped down a season-high nine rebounds, dished out four assists, blocked a shot and dropped in a bucket while playing 25 minutes for the Spartans.

Making her sixth start, the former Wolf raised her season totals to 43 points, 37 rebounds, 18 assists and eight steals.

D’Youville, which has dropped four straight, sits at 3-5 in Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference play, 4-11 overall, while the Mavericks improve to 5-4, 8-8.

Medaille jumped out to a 23-10 lead after the first quarter, then basically played keep-away the rest of the night.

If you only counted the second through fourth quarters, the Spartans finished up by two points … but that, unfortunately, is not how basketball games work.

Kellner and her teammates return to the court Saturday for another road game, but they’ll have their work cut out for them, as they face league power Mt. Aloysius (8-1, 10-4).

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   Kailey Kellner, seen here in her high school days, started Monday for D’Youville College. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Some nights you just try to survive.

Facing one of the two powerhouses in its league Monday, the D’Youville College women’s basketball team ended up smack-dab in the path of a buzz-saw.

After enduring a 66-45 rout at the hands of visiting Hilbert College, the Spartans sit at 3-4 in league play, 4-10 overall.

The high-flying Hawks of Hilbert (8-1, 10-5) took over sole possession of first-place in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference with the win, moving a half-game up on Mount Aloysius (7-1, 9-4).

While D’Youville struggled, there was one bright spot.

Coupeville grad Kailey Kellner returned to the starting lineup for the Spartans, and the freshman picked up three points, two rebounds and two assists.

For the season, the former Wolf sharpshooter, who has played in all 14 games, starting five, has 41 points, 28 rebounds, 14 assists and eight steals.

D’Youville stayed close in the first quarter Monday, trailing just 22-14 at the first break, but a 24-6 Hilbert surge in the second was a killer.

Down 60-28 entering the fourth quarter, the Spartans showed some gumption, opening the final period with a 13-0 run to slice the lead almost in half.

Kellner and her teammates bounce right back into action Wednesday, when they hit the road to play Medaille College (4-4, 7-8).

The “road trip” isn’t a long one, as both schools are in Buffalo, New York and sit just 10 minutes (on a good traffic day) away from each other.

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   Wolf grad Makana Stone tossed in 20 points and hauled down 10 boards Friday in a crucial win for Whitman. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

If the season comes down to one rebound, start writing thank you notes to Makana Stone.

The Coupeville grad pulled in her tenth and final board Friday with just 15 seconds to play, sealing a nail-biter win for Whitman College in a game with sole possession of first-place in the Northwest Conference on the line.

Stone’s rebound came with the Blues clinging to a two-point lead, and four free throws from Casey Poe later, Whitman had bounced visiting George Fox 77-71.

With their 14th straight win in hand, the Blues rise to 6-0 in league play, 14-1 overall, while George Fox slips to 4-1, 11-3.

Whitman took the battle for league supremacy in large part because it had the two most dangerous players on the court in Poe and Stone.

The All-American senior netted a game-high 29, including two free throws with 10 seconds to play, and then two more freebies with a single tick on the clock.

Poe added five assists, five steals and four blocks as she controlled every aspect of the floor.

Right on her tail came the sophomore sensation from Cow Town, as Stone rattled the rim for 20 points to go with her 10 rebounds. She also made off with a pair of steals.

Whitman, ranked #4 in D-III basketball, led from start to finish, but couldn’t quite pull away from the #25 Bruins.

With Poe (11) and Stone (6) combining for 17 first-quarter points, the Blues stormed out to a 21-12 lead at the first break, only to see George Fox trim it back to five at the half.

The lead hovered in the 7-9 point range through much of the second half, until a late fourth-quarter comeback roused the visitor’s hopes.

Kaitlin Jamieson slashed to the hoop for a layup with 2:33 to play, cutting Whitman’s lead to 72-71, and the home fans went pale in the face.

But never fear, as the Blues defense proved to be the real MVP, holding the Bruins scoreless the rest of the way.

Helping matters was four consecutive missed free throws by George Fox, a surprise since the visitors were a fairly-hot 24-31 at the charity stripe up to that point.

Whitman was on point at the line, hitting 28-34. Poe (13-14) and Stone (6-7) led the way there, as well.

Clinging to the one-point lead, the Blues got a big rebound from Stone, then a solitary free throw from Emily Rommel to push the margin to 73-71.

That set up the pressure-packed final 20 seconds.

The Blues went for the dagger, but sharp-shooting frosh Kaelan Shamseldin clanked a three-ball.

At which point Stone out-jumped the world for the rebound, then promptly fed Poe, who held on to the ball, absorbed the abuse of the quickly-arriving foul and did what she does best — ice games.

Whitman is now off for six days, returning to action next weekend when it travels to Oregon to play at Linfield Friday and Willamette Saturday.

After a strong freshman season in which she quickly became a starter for a team which went all the way to the Elite Eight, Stone has taken her game to another level as a sophomore.

She has 207 points, 98 rebounds, 31 assists and 11 steals, and is shooting 58% from the field (89-153) and 76% from the line (29-38).

Stone tops the team in rebounding and field goal percentage, while trailing Poe by just eight points in the team scoring race.

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