Makana Stone capped her sophomore season at Whitman Friday, tossing in six points and grabbing seven rebounds in a playoff loss. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
The dream died at the free throw line.
East Texas Baptist University scored the game’s final seven points on charity shots Friday, turning a one-point deficit into a 65-59 win over Whitman College.
The loss, coming in a first round game at the NCAA D-III women’s national championship tourney in Richardson, Texas, ended the season for the Blues and their stellar sophomore, Makana Stone.
The Coupeville grad went for six points, seven boards and two assists, including a gorgeous pass to set up Emily Rommel for a key bucket in the final two minutes.
Snagging a pass deep in the paint, Stone shoveled the ball under the defense to her senior running mate, who knocked down a bank shot to knot the game at 58-58.
When senior Casey Poe drained a free throw at the 1:22 mark, Whitman took its final lead, but couldn’t hold on.
Unable to net a field goal in the final minute and 45 seconds, and unable to score at all after Poe’s free throw, the Blues had to foul, and East Texas made them pay.
Erin Meeks, who entered the night shooting an ice-cold 44% from the free throw line, netted four straight in the final minute, giving her a season-best 7-8 performance at the stripe.
Add two freebies each for Madison McCoy and Kim Childress, and the Tigers (23-6) advanced to play in the regional final Saturday night.
Whitman, which made a run to the Elite Eight last season, closed at 22-5.
After ripping off 21 straight wins at one point this season, the Blues struggled down the stretch, losing four of their final five games.
Poe, the Northwest Conference player of the year, had a very off night Friday, with her only point being her late-game free throw.
She averaged 17 a night during the season.
Making up for things a bit was sophomore Mady Burdett, who knocked down four balls from behind the three-point arc in the first quarter alone.
She finished with eight treys, helping Whitman hold a 9-0 advantage in that shooting category, and scored a college career-high 24 points.
While the Blues were hot from the outside, East Texas went inside time and again, and ended with a staggering advantage at the free throw line.
The Tigers netted 23-26 at the stripe, while Whitman was 6-10.
The game was a prime slice of March Madness, as the teams exchanged leads for much of the night.
Up 19-17 after one quarter (Stone fed Maegan Martin for the three-points-the-hard-way play which gave Whitman the lead), the Blues stretched it to 33-27 at halftime.
East Texas, with the support of the local crowd, surged 19-13 in the third quarter to knot the game at 46-46 headed into the final quarter.
Twice the Tigers started to threaten to pull away and twice Burdett dropped treys to get Whitman back in things, before she and her teammates went cold at the end.
The game closed a very strong season for Coupeville’s finest, as Stone finished with 332 points, 194 rebounds, 52 assists, five blocks and 18 steals.
She shot a very-strong 51.2% from the floor (140-273) and 76.5% from the line (52-68).
A First-Team All-Conference pick this year, she was Whitman’s #1 rebounder and #2 scorer.
Whitman, which loses captains Poe, Rommel and Sierra McGarity to graduation, has gone 48-10 during Stone’s first two seasons.
