Coupeville’s Makana Stone dropped in a team-high 14 points Saturday, but Whitman College had a seven-game winning streak snapped. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
A dangerous weekend turned deadly at the end.
Haunted by foul trouble, the Whitman College women’s basketball team watched a big one slip away Saturday, falling 75-67 to visiting University of Puget Sound.
The game, which was a one-point affair with less than 90 seconds to play, hinged on free throws, and frequent foul calls, at the end.
Using a 9-2 surge to close the game, with a brutally-effective three-ball and then six straight charity shots, the Loggers threw the Northwest Conference standings into disarray with eight games left on the schedule.
With the loss, Whitman falls to 7-1 in league play, 13-4 overall and slips back into a first-place tie with George Fox (7-1, 14-3).
Technically, the Blues still have a slight edge, as they won the first of two games against George Fox. The rematch is Feb. 8 in Walla Walla.
Whitman gets a second crack at UPS, which sits a game off the lead at 6-2, 13-3, a week later on Feb. 15.
After facing two of the top four teams in the league this weekend — they drilled Pacific Lutheran Friday — the Blues have a softer schedule awaiting them.
Whitman’s next four games, the ones prior to the showdown with George Fox, pit them solely against teams in the bottom half of the league.
Which makes Saturday’s loss to UPS even tougher, as a win would have kept the Blues, who had a seven-game winning streak, alone and untouched at the top of the league.
Instead, they got roughed up two times against the Loggers, unable to stop the one-two duo of Jamie Lange and Elizabeth Prewitt, who went for 27 and 25 points, respectively.
Coupeville grad Makana Stone did what she could to fire back, popping for a team-high 14 points on 7-11 shooting, but both she and front-court mate Maegan Martin were fouled out of the game by fairly one-sided reffing.
Puget Sound finished the game with no player having more than two fouls to their credit, while Whitman lost their interior stars, and had several other players with at least three fouls each.
Still, the game was close almost from the opening tip to the final buzzer.
Knotted at 19-19 after one quarter, the teams swapped two-point leads at the next two breaks. UPS went to the half up 37-35, before Whitman jumped back in front 55-53 after three quarters.
The Blues final lead, at 59-57, came when Taylor Chambers slashed to the hoop for a layup with a hair over eight minutes to play.
While Lange powered her way through the Blues defense for her own personal 6-0 run after that, Whitman stayed close, and was down just 66-65 in the late moments.
Prewitt was a savage, however, drilling a game-busting three-ball with 1:24 on the clock.
After that, it was all free throws for UPS, as the Loggers closed by hitting six straight at the line.
Given far more opportunities at the charity stripe, Puget Sound hit 14-19 on freebies, while Whitman could only scrape out four tries, nailing three of them.
UPS also out-shot the Blues from the floor, sinking 50.9% of its shots to 43.1% from the home team.
Before she fouled out, Stone added three rebounds, two assists and a steal to her 14 points.
On the season, the junior has 270 points, 151 rebounds, 27 assists, 21 steals, and 17 blocks. She’s shooting 113-217 from the floor and 43-55 at the line.
Stone, who was playing in the 74th game of her collegiate career, passed a personal milestone, crossing the 800-point barrier with her second bucket of the night.
