Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Mady Burdett’

Stone unflappable, unbeatable

Posted in Basketball, Wolves in college, tagged , , , , , on May 8, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Makana Stone went for 20 points and 14 rebounds Saturday, icing a win with four free throws in the final seconds. (Photo property Loughborough University)

Ice water in those veins.

Coupeville’s Makana Stone drained three free throws in the final 12 seconds Saturday in England, lifting the Loughborough University women’s basketball team to a thrilling 75-73 win over Nottingham Trent.

Trailing by a point, the Riders forced a turnover down low as the clock ticked down, with their American assassin fouled in the ensuing scrum.

Stone calmly drained both ends of the one-and-one to put Loughborough up 74-73, then came back around to hit another freebie after a technical foul on Nottingham’s coaching staff with just 2.8 seconds to play.

Nottingham gunner Mady Burdett, who played alongside Stone for four spectacular seasons at Whitman College, had a three-ball from the corner to win the game at the buzzer, but the ball refused to stay in the basket.

With the win, Loughborough finishes the regular season at 12-5 overall, 12-3 with Stone in the lineup, and clinches a top-three finish in the 10-team National Basketball League.

The Riders will be the league’s #2 seed headed into the playoffs, unless CoLA Southwark sweeps a pair of games this weekend.

The top eight squads, led by league champs Ipswich, begin the single-elimination playoffs next Saturday, May 15.

The battle against Nottingham Trent was a furious one, with neither squad able to pull away.

Loughborough, riding an eight-point opening quarter from Stone, led 20-15 at the first break, but was clinging to just a 34-33 advantage when halftime rolled around.

The Riders stretched their lead out, but just slightly, at 53-51 headed into the fourth quarter, and things got dicey from there.

With Stone strapped to the bench due to foul trouble, Nottingham claimed the lead at 61-60 with five-and-a-half minutes to play, and there were six lead changes over the next five minutes.

Coupeville’s progeny bounded back into the game, slapping home a layup to stake Loughborough to a 68-67 lead at the 2:30 mark.

But her former Whitman running mate was on fire, as Burdett drained a pair of three-balls to push Nottingham up 73-68.

Loughborough’s defense proved to be its biggest weapon down the stretch, with the Riders holding Nottingham scoreless over the game’s final 77 seconds.

Robyn Ainge singed the nets for a long trey to get the Riders back within a bucket, before Stone scored the game’s final four points at the charity stripe.

The former Wolf finished with a team-high 20 points (Burdett rattled the rim for 21) and snagged a game-best 14 rebounds to go with three assists and a steal.

Katie Januszewska dropped in 16 points for the Riders, while Ainge finished with 13.

On the season Stone sits with 240 points, 215 rebounds, 32 assists, 54 steals, and eight blocked shots.

Read Full Post »

Another week, another honor

Posted in Basketball, tagged , , , , , on April 20, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Makana being Makana. (Photo illustration by FocusHoops)

Right back where she belongs.

Coupeville grad Makana Stone has been almost a fixture on the National Basketball League Team of the Week in her first season playing basketball in England, a proper reward for her titanic two-way play.

And boom, another Tuesday rolls around, and there is she again.

This time out Stone, who reps Loughborough University these days, is being honored for a near triple-double thrown down this past Saturday in a win over Thames Valley.

The former Wolf racked up 13 points, 15 rebounds, and nine steals, while hitting a big bucket late to seal the victory for a Rider squad which is 10-4 overall, 10-2 with Stone in the lineup.

In a nice twist, one of the other honorees is sweet-shooting Mady Burdett, Stone’s former running mate for four sizzlin’ seasons at Whitman College.

Burdett now plays for Nottingham Trent and rippled the nets for 26 points, including six three-balls.

On the season, Stone sits with 185 points, 177 rebounds, 26 assists, 44 steals, and seven blocks.

Loughborough, which has four regular-season games left on its schedule, returns to action this Saturday, April 24, when it scraps with league cellar-dweller Cardiff Met.

Read Full Post »

Nerves of steel, feats of strength

Posted in Basketball, tagged , , , , , on December 19, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Makana Stone recorded her sixth straight double-double Saturday, lifting her English hoops squad to another win. (Photo property of Loughborough University)

The American Assassin abides!

Scoring the game-winning point for the second weekend in a row, Coupeville grad Makana Stone propelled her British basketball squad to another big win.

This time out the former Wolf drained a pressure-packed free throw with just seven ticks left on the clock Saturday, as Loughborough University held off Nottingham Trent 71-70.

With the win, the Riders head to winter break boasting a 5-2 record, 5-1 since Stone joined the lineup.

Loughborough is in a tie for second-place in the 12-team Women’s National Basketball League, a game back of Ipswich (6-1), a team the Riders upended last week.

This time out, Stone and her mates faced another rugged test, with Coupeville’s progeny emerging as the best player on the floor once again.

Despite some early foul trouble leaving her stuck to the bench, once she got back in the game, Nottingham had no real answer for the silky-smooth one.

She dropped in 12 of her game-high 18 points in the second half, while also snatching a team-high 13 rebounds and doling out four assists in just 26 minutes of action.

It was the sixth double-double in as many overseas games for Stone, who opened the tilt by pumping in the first basket of the afternoon.

From there, Loughborough bounded out to a 21-16 advantage by the first break.

Two early fouls left Stone out of play for a stretch, though, and Nottingham took advantage, using a 20-13 run in the second frame to net a 36-34 lead by the half.

Freed from her captivity, the double-double machine went off in the third quarter, ringing up nine points, though the Riders still trailed 53-52 headed to the final 10 minutes of action.

Robyn Ainge tickled the twines for a long three-ball (off an assist from Stone), however, staking Loughborough to a a 55-53 lead with just under nine minutes to play.

The Riders never trailed again, pushing the margin out to as much as six points, before Nottingham used a late 4-0 push to knot things back up at 70-70.

Enter Stone, exit any chance at Loughborough losing.

Through six games, the Cow Town hero has compiled 103 points, 95 rebounds, 13 assists, and 13 steals.

With winter break hitting in England, Stone and Co. will be off for three weeks now, with their next game Saturday, January 9 against Southwark.

 

Read Full Post »

One down, one to go

Posted in Basketball, Wolves in college, tagged , , , , , on February 27, 2020| Leave a Comment »

“You can’t contain us! You can’t beat us!!” (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

One win away from punching a guaranteed ticket to the big dance.

The Whitman College women’s basketball team jumped out quickly Thursday on the University of Puget Sound, then held off a late rally to claim a 72-66 home win in the semifinals of the Northwest Conference postseason tourney.

With the win, their 12th straight, the Blues improve to 24-2 and advance to the championship game of the NWC tourney.

They’ll face arch-rival George Fox University (20-6) Saturday, after the Bruins upended Pacific University 56-47.

The winner claims an automatic berth to the 64-team NCAA D-III national championships, which run March 6-22, while the loser waits to see if they can nab an at-large bid.

Win or lose Saturday, it seems all but certain Whitman, currently ranked #7 in the nation, will be part of March Madness.

It would be the third trip to the big dance in four years for the Blues seniors – Lily Gustafson, Mady Burdett, Katie Stahl, Natalie Whitsel, and Coupeville grad Makana Stone.

Whitman advanced all the way to the Elite Eight during their freshman campaign in 2016-2017, and the group is a stellar 92-19 overall since arriving in Walla Walla.

Thursday’s game was one in which Whitman almost pulled away several times, only to have a pesky Puget Sound squad mount mini-comeback after mini-comeback.

Blues gunner Kaelan Shamseldin opened the game with a three-ball, before Stone slapped home back-to-back layups to stake Whitman to a 7-3 lead.

After the game’s one and only tie at 3-3, the Blues led the entire night.

Up 15-5 after one quarter, Whitman stretched the lead out to 33-20 midway through the second quarter, with Stone once again stepping up.

The Northwest Conference Player of the Year hit a jumper and a free throw, then made off with a steal to set up a potentially game-busting jumper from Kaylie McCracken.

But it wasn’t to be, as UPS closed within eight at the half (38-30), fell behind by 13 in the third, then roared all the way back within four points with under two minutes to play.

Clinging to a 68-64 lead, Whitman put the ball in Burdett’s hands, and the sweet-shootin’ assassin from Edmonds closed the game by rippling the nets on four consecutive free throws to cap a team-high 16-point performance.

The Blues only got scoring from six players, but four of those finished in double-digits.

McCracken pumped in 15, Gustafson banked home 13, Shamseldin made the nets jump for 12, and Taylor Chambers popped for nine.

Hampered by foul trouble all night, Stone had a relatively quiet night, finishing with seven points, four rebounds, an assist, and a steal in just 26 minutes of action.

Also having a very muted game was Puget Sound’s First-Team All-Conference player Jamie Lange, a double-double machine who was held to just eight points and three rebounds in her collegiate swan song.

On the season, Stone sits with 405 points, 220 rebounds, 37 assists, 26 steals, and 25 blocked shots, while shooting 166-313 (53%) from the floor and 70-88 (79.5%) from the free throw line.

The 405 points is the 10th best individual scoring season by a Whitman women’s player.

Read Full Post »

Big rebounds, bigger win

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

CHS grad Makana Stone became the #2 rebounder in Whitman College women’s basketball history Friday night. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

It’s as close to a sure thing as possible.

Put Whitman College and Linfield College on the floor for a women’s basketball game, and the squad from Walla Walla is going to triumph.

Friday night was more of a great thing for the Blues, as Whitman got 18 points from Coupeville’s Makana Stone and hit its free throws down the stretch to capture a 74-65 win in its regular-season finale.

The former Wolf also hit a major milestone, moving into 2nd place on her school’s career rebounding chart.

The road victory, coming in front of a raucous crowd in McMinnville, Oregon, marked the 26th consecutive time Whitman has beaten its Northwest Conference foe.

The last time Linfield toppled Whitman came way back in 2007.

While keeping their domination of the Wildcats chugging along, the Blues capped a 15-1 tear through the NWC this season, and head into the playoffs at 23-2 overall, with an active 11-game win streak.

Whitman opens the four-team league postseason tourney next Thursday, February 27, when it hosts the #4 school in a loser-out game.

Several teams are still battling for that slot, though Linfield was eliminated from contention with Friday’s loss.

Win in the tourney semifinals, and the Blues host the NWC championship game Feb. 29 against either George Fox or Pacific, with an automatic bid to the NCAA D-III tourney up for grabs.

Wrapping the regular season, Whitman wasn’t flawless, but it was very good when it mattered most.

Stone dropped in eight of her 18 points in the fourth quarter, as the Blues surged to a 12-point lead, before giving a chunk of it back.

Desperate to keep its playoff hopes alive, Linfield carved the lead all the way back to 66-62 with a minute to play, but Whitman never blinked.

Instead, the Blues made the nets jump while all the players were standing still, hitting 8 of 10 free throws across the game’s final 58 seconds to ice the win.

Taylor Chambers (5), Mady Burdett (3), and Kaylie McCracken (2) all converted charity shots to shush the enthusiastic pro-Linfield crowd, capping a fourth quarter in which Whitman hit 14-16 from the line.

The game was close for much of the night, with Whitman clinging to a 17-15 lead after one quarter of play.

With Stone heating up in the second frame, slapping home her team’s first eight points, the Blues stretched the advantage out to 38-29 at the half, before carrying a 52-44 lead into the fourth quarter.

Even saddled with foul trouble, Coupeville’s ace came up big in crunch time, as Stone capped her scoring effort with a dagger of a pull-up jumper.

On the night, the CHS grad finished with 18 points, six rebounds, two assists, and two blocked shots, tying Burdett for team-high scoring honors.

Lily Gustafson chipped in with 11 points, while McCracken banked home 10 as Whitman put four players into double-digits scoring.

As she heads into her final collegiate playoff run, Stone sits with 398 points, 216 rebounds, 36 assists, 25 steals, and 25 blocks on the season.

She’s shooting 163-304 (53.6%) from the floor and 69-87 (79.3%) from the free throw line.

Already the #5 scorer in Whitman women’s basketball history with 1,325 career points (she’s 18 away from moving into 4th place), Stone is now the #2 rebounder for the program.

She passed Katie Rubenser (824) Friday, and, with 828 rebounds to her credit, trails just Jennifer McClure (902) on the all-time list.

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »