Coupeville grad Makana Stone delivered 17 points and 11 rebounds Saturday, as Whitman College won a battle for first-place in its league. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
They can’t pronounce her name, but they also can’t deny her game.
The announcers working the stream for Saturday’s women’s college basketball rumble between Whitman College and host George Fox University were rabid homers, but they were blown away by Coupeville’s Makana Stone.
They loved her power in the paint. Her speed on the open floor. Her ability to soar above others and snatch rebounds away, then spin and knock down a second-chance bucket.
Even if they kept on saying her first name as if there were somehow an E and not an A sitting there as the second letter.
But, let’s cut them a small break, as they spent the second half all but only weeping into the microphone, as Stone and Whitman decimated George Fox in the biggest game of the season.
It was a match-up which pitted two teams undefeated in Northwest Conference play, though, after a sensational third quarter, only Whitman can still lay claim to a zero in its record.
Busting out 31 points across 10 torrid minutes, Stone and Co. turned a one-basket game into a blowout, rolling past George Fox to the tune of 73-54.
The win, the sixth-straight for Whitman, lifts it to 6-0 in league play, 12-3 overall.
After knocking off the #12 team in NCAA D-III basketball, the Blues sit alone at the top of their league, a game up on George Fox (5-1, 12-3) and two ahead of Pacific Lutheran and Puget Sound (both 4-2, 11-3).
While there’s still 10 games left in the conference schedule, including a rematch with George Fox Feb. 8 in Walla Walla, Saturday’s win was huge for Whitman.
The Blues jumped out to a quick lead behind a pair of buckets from Stone, who finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds, then the two teams went toe-to-toe.
Whitman knocked down a jumper right before the first quarter buzzer – after yanking down four straight offensive rebounds – to exit with a 17-15 lead, then things got tense.
With both squads jabbing at each other, neither team could get more than a bucket or two ahead and were tied with under 30 seconds to play in the half.
Taylor Chambers and Kaelan Shamseldin each notched a single free throw to push the lead out to 31-29 at the break, but things seemed set up for a knock-down, drag-out brawl in the second half.
Except only one team came out ready to go in the third quarter.
Whitman struck fast and it struck hard, clamping down on defense, grabbing every rebound and then pushing the ball at the hoop.
With Stone slapping home seven of her points in the quarter, including getting three the hard way on a sensational flying layup and ensuing free throw after being belted upside the head, the Blues went nuclear.
They doubled their point total, using a 31-11 explosion to reduce George Fox fans to a deafening silence.
Two stats stand out in particular.
George Fox was astonishingly bad shooting the ball Saturday, draining just 19 of 76 shots, including missing 23 of 26 tries from behind the three-point arc.
Then, when the ball skipped off the rim, the Blues dominated, pulling down 53 rebounds with Maegan Martin (12) and Stone (11) playing the role of twin titans.
The duo were a powerful one-two combo, both scoring 17 points apiece, while Mady Burdett popped for 13.
Stone added three assists and a steal to her stat line, and, for once, wasn’t picked on by road refs, not whistled for her first foul until the fourth quarter.
On the season, the former Wolf star, who leads Whitman in most major stat categories, has 245 points, 138 rebounds, 25 assists, 20 steals and 17 blocks.
She’s shooting 104-199 from the field and 37-49 at the charity stripe.
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