Makana Stone torched the University of Puget Sound for 30 points Saturday, her collegiate career high. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
She didn’t start, but she finished.
And how.
Coming off the bench for the first time this season, Coupeville’s Makana Stone threw down 30 points Saturday in Tacoma — her collegiate career high — powering Whitman College to a big road win.
The former Wolf also snagged a game-high 13 rebounds, despite the fact she and Mady Burdett, Whitman’s undisputed star combo, didn’t enter the contest until almost seven minutes in.
Even with a late start, the duo were more than enough to power Whitman to a 59-47 win over the University of Puget Sound, in a game which was closer than the score might sound.
With the victory, the Blues return to Walla Walla with a weekend sweep, an active five-game winning streak, and sole possession of first-place in the Northwest Conference.
Whitman, ranked #9 in NCAA D-III women’s basketball, is 9-1 in league action, 17-2 overall.
Pacific University, which entered play Saturday tied with Whitman, stumbled against Linfield, falling 61-56.
With a second loss in its last three games, the Boxers are now 8-2, 14-5, a game back of the Blues with six to play.
Saturday’s rumble in Tacoma was a close affair through three-plus quarters, as UPS hung tough with high-flying Whitman.
The game was 10-7 in favor of the home team when Stone and Burdett popped up off the bench and hit the floor for the visitors, and Coupeville’s progeny was locked and loaded from the get-go.
Once in the game, she stayed there, playing 31 of the game’s final 33 minutes.
Stone whirled and hit a sweet pull-up jumper over a defender who was two steps late to kick things off, eventually ripping off nine straight points for Whitman.
She finished the first half with 13 points, including nailing another jumper to knot things at 26-26 heading into the halftime locker room, but the best was yet to come.
The former Wolf star, playing in front of a contingent of Coupeville fans who ventured into the big city, rained down another eight points in the third quarter, then wrapped things up with nine more in a game-deciding final frame.
Whitman clung to a 40-38 lead headed into the fourth, and still led just 47-44 late in the game.
Enter Makana, and exit the Loggers.
Finishing with a flourish, Stone banked in seven points across the final three minutes, spurring Whitman on a 12-3 surge to close the game.
She flew past the defense, hauled in a pass and slapped home a vicious layup to kill the spirit of every UPS fan in the joint, tossed in a few free throws to ice things, then hit the big 3-0 with a breakaway layup right before the buzzer.
Whitman ended up needing every one of Stone’s points, as Saturday was the rare time this season when the Blues had only one player finish with double-digits scoring.
Lily Gustafson (7 points), Kaylie McCracken (6), and Burdett (5) chipped in with some key buckets to back up their star on her big night.
On the season, Stone sits with 306 points, 154 rebounds, 27 assists, 20 steals, and 16 blocked shots.
The Whitman senior, who is 11 points shy of moving into 5th place on the Whitman women’s career scoring list, has hit 126-233 (54.1%) from the field and 51-66 (77.2%) from the free-throw stripe.
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