Makana Stone (left) and Kailey Kellner, seen here in their younger days, kicked off new college basketball seasons Wednesday night. (Amy King photo)
And so it begins.
Coupeville High School grads Makana Stone and Kailey Kellner officially began their college basketball seasons Wednesday, though both players may not be totally pleased with the end result.
Kellner, a freshman, made her debut in New York with D’Youville College, playing 11 minutes in a 68-47 loss at Keuka College.
Way, way across the country, in LaGrande, Oregon, Stone and her Whitman College teammates experienced something they rarely dealt with a year ago, falling 73-64 to host Eastern Oregon.
Whitman:
The Blues, coming off of a season in which they fell just short of the NCAA D-III Final Four, entered their opener ranked in the top 10 in both national polls (#6 on D3hoops.com and #9 on WBCA.com).
Wednesday, though, Whitman was playing without senior Casey Poe, a preseason All-American, and a five-point halftime lead melted away under a 27-point third quarter barrage from Eastern Oregon.
While the Blues were taking their first shots of the season, the Mountaineers are already locked in, boasting a 4-1 record prior to tip-off.
Stone, who became a starter midway through last season, did her best to lead the resistance.
She finished with 10 points, tore down a team-high five rebounds, and managed to get a steal and an assist on the same play.
On that one, Stone pilfered the ball, then fed freshman Kaelan Shamseldin, who knocked down one of her four three-balls on the night.
Shamseldin and Maegen Martin tied for team-high honors with 12 points, while Stone, who took Whitman’s first shot of the season (nice trivia fact) scored six of her 10 in the second half.
Whitman, which started 14-0 last season, returns to Washington with back-to-back games on the schedule this weekend.
The Blues are playing in the Ramada at Spokane Airport Whit Classic, with games Friday (University of La Verne) and Saturday (Whittier College).
D’Youville:
Kellner, who blossomed into a three-ball shooting sniper in Coupeville after unexpectedly arriving one day from England, is now off on a new adventure in Buffalo.
The Spartan have a 17-player roster, with 15 of those hoop stars hailing from New York.
Then you jump all the way across the USA to Washington state, where Kellner and CeDrice Howard, a sophomore from Curtis High School, form the small, but vital, West Coast arm of the basketball crew.
Getting some quality floor time right out of the gate, Kellner received the ninth-most minutes of any Spartan on opening night.
While she missed both of her shots in her first game, she snagged a rebound and may have begun to shape a second career as an enforcer.
Keuka College, which bolted out to a 43-21 lead at the half and then coasted in for the win, was much more physical, at least on the foul chart.
The KC Wolves out-fouled D’Youville at a 2-to-1 rate all night (26-13 overall), but Kellner was the lone Spartan to slug right back, picking up a team-high three fouls.
Just call her Killer Kailey.
