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Posts Tagged ‘Mady Burdett’

Stone, Blues back in the penthouse

Posted in Basketball, Wolves in college, tagged , , , , on January 25, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Coupeville grad Makana Stone rattled the rims for a game-high 22 points Saturday as Whitman pounded Linfield. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Hello first-place, my old friend.

Riding high after a big win Saturday night, the Whitman College women’s basketball team is back on top of the Northwest Conference standings.

The Blues did their part, bashing visiting Linfield College 82-63 in Walla Walla behind a game-high 22 points from Coupeville grad Makana Stone.

But they also got a little help, as Pacific Lutheran University shocked Pacific University 61-58 in Tacoma, handing the Boxers their first league loss.

Now, Whitman, 7-1 in conference action, 15-2 overall, moves back into a tie with Pacific (7-1, 13-4) atop the nine-team league, two games up on George Fox (5-3, 13-4) with eight to play.

The Blues, whose only league loss was a one-point thriller against Pacific, gets their rematch with the Boxers February 15 in Walla Walla.

Until then, Whitman will hit the road, playing its next four games away from the Sherwood Athletic Center.

Next weekend, the Blues travel to Tacoma to play PLU and the University of Puget Sound.

Saturday, Whitman led from start to finish, busting out to an 8-0 lead and never looking back.

A 25-20 advantage after one quarter stretched out to a 42-31 lead at the half, then a 61-44 bulge headed into the final frame.

Stone paced the Blues, dropping in 14 of her 22 in the first half, while three of her teammates also finished with double-digits scoring.

Kaylie McCracken pumped in 16, Mady Burdett banked home 14, and Shaira Young tickled the twines for 11.

Along with her point explosion, Stone added eight rebounds, three assists, a steal, and a blocked shot in 30 minutes of floor time.

On the season, the former Wolf star has 264 points, 130 rebounds, 25 assists, 20 steals, and 16 blocks, while shooting 109-202 (53.9%) from the floor and 43-55 (78.1%) from the free throw line.

Saturday’s game was the 100th of Stone’s collegiate career.

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Some angina, but a win

Posted in Basketball, Wolves in college, tagged , , , , , on January 21, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Coupeville’s Makana Stone delivered big plays late Tuesday as Whitman held off Whitworth for an important league win. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

They didn’t crack.

Playing a rare Tuesday game, the Whitman College women’s basketball team blew out to a 27-point lead on the road, then gave it all back, yet still found a way to win.

With their senior leaders, Mady Burdett and Coupeville’s Makana Stone, coming up big in the final moments, the Blues held on to edge host Whitworth 84-79.

The win lifts Whitman to 6-1 in Northwest Conference play, 14-2 overall, and pulls it within a half game of league leader Pacific University, which sits at 6-0 in conference action.

The battle of the Whits looked like a blowout in the first half, as a veteran Blues squad torched a very-young Whitworth team.

With Burdett rattling home 18 first-half points, including hitting all four of her three-point attempts, Whitman surged to a 49-22 lead with seconds to go before the break.

Whitworth swished a three-ball at the very end of the half, but, in the moment, it seemed like an afterthought, a way to make a 27-point deficit look slightly better as a 24-point gap.

Instead, it was a sign of things to come, as the host Pirates suddenly started dropping treys from every part of the floor.

Hitting six shots from behind the arc in the third, including one literally at the buzzer, Whitworth scored more points in the quarter than they had in the entire first half.

And yet, even with a 30-19 tear, the Pirates still trailed the Blues 68-55 with 10 minutes to play.

That changed quickly, however, as Whitworth opened the fourth quarter with 10 straight points fueled by another pair of three-balls, eventually using a 16-3 run to knot the game up at 71-71.

Pirate sophomore gunner Sydney Abbott, who finished with a game-high 26, knifed through the Blues defense for a hard-earned running layup, then plopped in a free throw to complete the game-tying three-point play.

Whitman’s experience paid off, though, as it reclaimed the lead on a Kaylie McCracken free throw and a Taylor Chambers layup.

Then, Stone and Burdett slid back to the forefront to ice the game.

Coupeville’s progeny pulled off back-to-back sparkling plays to shove the lead from 74-72 to 78-72, and Whitman never looked back.

On the first play, Stone delivered a dagger, nailing a leaning jumper over her defender.

Then, next time down the floor, she delivered a sensational entry pass to Lily Gustafson, who banked in a runner to quiet the raucous crowd.

From there, Whitman closed the game with a series of trips to the free throw line, led by Burdett, who went 4-4 at the end to cap a 22-point night.

The senior from Edmonds tallied her 1,000th career point in the first half, joining Stone in that exclusive club.

The Blues put four players into double figures, with McCracken (16), Kaelan Shamseldin (12), and Gustafson (12) joining Burdett.

Stone, who was restricted by foul trouble much of the night, finished with nine points, five rebounds, a steal, and an assist.

On the season, the former Wolf has 242 points, 122 rebounds, 22 assists, 19 steals, and 15 blocks, and is shooting 98-184 (53.3%) from the floor and 43-55 (78.2%) at the free throw line.

Whitman returns to action with a home game Saturday against Linfield, which will be the 100th game of Stone’s collegiate career.

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Heartbreak on the hardwood

Posted in Basketball, Wolves in college, tagged , , , , , on January 17, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Makana Stone singed the nets for 13 points Friday, but Whitman fell in a one-point thriller. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

They only trailed once, but it was one time too many.

Playing on the road in Oregon Friday, the Whitman College women’s basketball team lost a 19-point lead and fell 65-64 to Pacific University in a first-place showdown.

The defeat, coming in a game in which the Blues roared out to an 11-0 lead and dominated play for a considerable amount of time, drops them to 4-1 in Northwest Conference play, 12-2 overall.

It snaps a six-game winning streak for Whitman, which plays at George Fox University Saturday, while Pacific, picked to finish 5th in the preseason poll, sits atop the nine-team league at 5-0, 11-3.

The Boxers, who never led until the game’s final 71 seconds Friday, have won seven straight.

Fighting back after Whitman savaged it in the early going, Pacific tied the game up with a hair over three minutes to play, but immediately fell back behind.

Coupeville’s Makana Stone slid a free throw through the net with 1:52 to play to stake Whitman to its final lead at 62-60, but the Blues couldn’t land the knockout punch.

Whitman failed to connect on a field goal over the final two minutes and 43 seconds, and didn’t score at all between the 1:52 and 0:04 mark of the fourth quarter.

That left the door open for Pacific, and Kaylssa Kleinschmit answered, banging home a three-ball to put the Boxers up 63-62 with 1:11 to play.

Under pressure, Whitman turned the ball over several times in the final minute, while Pacific stretched the lead out to 65-62 thanks to free throws.

The Boxers actually missed four of six freebies in the final moments, and had to foul Whitman to deny them a chance to toss up a potentially game-tying three-ball.

Blues freshman Shaira Young netted both of her chances at the line, pulling Whitman within 65-64, then Pacific clanked its own charity shots with just three ticks on the clock.

But a miracle finish wasn’t in the books, as the Boxers picked off the Blues inbounds pass to end the game and send the local fans into hysterics.

Kaylie McCracken paced Whitman with 22 points, while Mady Burdett rained down 14, with 10 of those in a torrid first quarter.

Stone finished with 13 points, three rebounds, two assists, and a blocked shot.

On the season, the former Wolf has 214 points, 113 rebounds, 18 assists, 18 steals, and 13 blocks, while shooting 87-164 from the field and 38-48 at the free throw line.

With 1,142 career points, Stone is four points from passing former teammate Casey Poe to claim 6th place on the Whitman women’s basketball career scoring list.

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Makana milestone, Whitman win

Posted in Basketball, Wolves in college, tagged , , , , on November 25, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Coupeville’s Makana Stone has netted 1,000+ points as both a high school and college basketball player. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Four digits, ring ’em up.

Hitting a major milestone Monday, Coupeville’s Makana Stone powered the Whitman College women’s basketball team to its fifth-straight win.

The former Wolf became just the ninth female player in school history to crack 1,000 career points — achieving the feat on her first basket of the night — as she and the Blues rolled to a 71-52 victory against Whittier College in California.

Now 5-0 on the season, Whitman is off until Dec. 6, when it plays Concordia University in Austin, Texas.

Stone, who scorched the nets for 1,158 points during her high school career, has 1,010 points at the collegiate level, with 20 regular season games (plus a potential postseason run) left to play.

She’s #3 in CHS hoops history (trailing just Brianne King and Novi Barron and ahead of all-time Wolf boys co-leaders Jeff Stone and Mike Bagby), and is now #8 among Whitman women.

Entering play Monday with 998 points, Stone tossed in 12 against Whittier, netting that on 5-8 shooting from the floor and 2-3 from the line.

Having passed Lizzy Washburn, who scored 1,003 points between 2002-2006, she has seven players left to chase.

Casey Poe, who was a junior and senior when Stone was a freshman and sophomore, sits at #6 with 1,145 points, while Katie Rubenser (1,693) and Jennifer McClure (1,639), who played together from 1990-1994, top the charts.

Monday night, Whittier came out and drilled a three-ball to open things, then Whitman went to work, using a 10-0 run to retake the lead and effectively ice the win early.

Capping the surge, Stone swished a jumper at the 5:30 mark of the first quarter to reach 1,000 points.

From there, the Blues kept their feet smashed through the gas pedal, turning a 21-9 advantage at the first break into a 37-23 halftime bulge, then a 55-38 lead through three quarters.

Mady Burdett paced Whitman with a team-high 17 points, notching five treys along the way, while Stone, Kaelan Shamselden, and Caira Young netted 12 apiece.

Playing 26 minutes, Stone added a season-high four steals, two rebounds, and two assists to her line on the stat sheet.

Through five games, she’s scored 82 points, snatched 28 rebounds, made off with 10 steals, dealt out five assists, and rejected five shots.

Stone is shooting 32-55 (58.1%) from the floor and 18-23 (78.3%) at the line.

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She’s a Stone-cold killer

Posted in Basketball, Wolves in college, tagged , , , , , , on November 23, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Makana Stone is off to a 4-0 start during her senior season at Whitman. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

The spotlight found its star.

Saturday night in California, two undefeated women’s basketball teams went down to the wire, but the squad with the Coupeville connection came out on top.

Throwing down 19 of her 21 points in the second half, Makana Stone gave Whitman College a fighting chance against their host, the University of Redlands.

Then, with the Blues clinging to a one-point lead, the former Wolf slammed the door shut, springing forward and rejecting what could have been a game-winning shot with just five ticks left on the clock.

Elevating at the exact right moment, Stone slapped away Redlands bid for a win, then corralled the loose ball, even as she was roughly knocked to the floor.

Tack on two ensuing free throws from fellow Whitman senior Mady Burdett, and the Blues headed to the door with a hard-fought 79-76 win.

The non-conference victory, coming in night one of a two-game trip to Cali, lifts Whitman to a pristine 4-0 on the season.

The Blues play at Whittier College Monday, then head to Texas for two games, as they play their first seven games away from home.

Whitman’s home opener in Walla Walla isn’t until Dec. 13.

Both teams entered play Saturday sporting identical 3-0 marks, and the game was a beautiful battle.

With Burdett trading three-balls with Redlands gunner Alyssa Downs — the duo finished with 26 and 31 points respectively, while netting seven treys apiece — the squads vied for control of a wild game.

Up 22-17 after one quarter, Whitman found itself trailing 42-37 at the half after Redlands momentarily took control.

That was when the Blues handed the ball to Stone, and let the one-woman wrecking crew go to work.

Pounding the ball inside, Coupeville’s progeny couldn’t be controlled in the second half, racking up nine points in the third quarter, then going for another 10 down the stretch.

With the game knotted at 64-64 headed into the fourth, Stone knocked down the first three points of the final frame, before Redlands surged back to take a 71-70 lead.

Cue Stone running wild through the paint, with three layups and a free throw on the offensive side of the ball and a big block on the defensive side, as Whitman turned the deficit into a 77-71 lead.

Things weren’t going to be that easy, however, as Redlands swished a three-ball, then rattled home two free throws, off a fairly bad call, to get back within 77-76.

Both charity shots bent the laws of physics, popping up, rolling around, then somehow crawling back into the net at the very last second.

With Whitman unable to get the ball inside to its red-hot second-half hero in the final moments, the Blues missed a layup, then a three-ball off of an offensive rebound, giving Redlands its final shot.

Not that the Bulldogs had a realistic shot, as Stone sprang on the shot like a jaguar, sending shock waves all the way back home to Whidbey.

The Coupeville grad finished with nine rebounds, three blocks, and two assists, to go with her 21 points, which she racked up by hitting 9-15 from the field and 3-4 at the line.

On the season, Stone has piled up 70 points, 26 rebounds, six steals, five blocks, and three assists, while shooting 27-47 (57.4%) and 16-20 (80%).

Heading into Monday’s game, she sits with 998 career points, a basket shy of becoming just the ninth woman in Whitman history to top 1,000.

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