A night after scoring 24 points, Coupeville grad Makana Stone (hand up) torched Montana Tech for 26. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
She had quite a weekend.
A day after setting her collegiate high with a 24-point performance in the opener of the Whit Classic in Spokane, Coupeville grad Makana Stone upped the ante.
The Whitman College junior re-busted her career high-water mark Saturday, tossing in 26 points in a wild and woolly 89-87 overtime loss to women’s basketball powerhouse Montana Tech.
Stone and the Blues charged back from a 13-point deficit, then rode two three-balls in the final five seconds of regulation to somehow, against all odds, force extra play.
But there was no cherry on top of the sundae, as Montana Tech pulled out its own miracle finish in overtime, getting a runner in the paint that dropped through with 0:00.3 on the clock.
With Stone handcuffed to the bench after a blind ref fouled her out in OT, all the former Wolf could do was watch from a distance as Mollie Peoples sliced through the Blues defense.
The sophomore nursing student from Butte flicked the ball skywards at the last second, and it hung in the air for an eternity before caressing the glass and plopping home.
Peoples shot, the only field goal she made in six attempts, capped an extraordinary finish to a game where Whitman didn’t hold the lead until 37 of the 40 minutes of regulation had ticked away.
That lead, at 74-72 off a shot by Kaylie McCracken, was short-lived, however.
Montana Tech, which is 7-1 after the non-conference win (Whitman drops to 2-2) rallied right back, going on an 8-2 tear to go up by four with 40 seconds to play.
Even better for the Orediggers, they were headed to the free throw line, with a chance to all but seal the win.
Except neither charity shot would stay in the basket, keeping alive the slimmest of hopes for Whitman, which hurried down court only to get stuck in some serious defensive traffic.
With way too much time having slithered off the clock, the Blues sent up a prayer, and had it answered twice.
First, Mady Burdett splashed home a three-ball with five seconds to go to cut the lead back to 80-79.
Montana Tech, immediately fouled, reverted back to normal and slipped two free throws through the net, requiring Whitman to hit a buzzer-beater if it wanted to keep playing.
Which it promptly did, as Kaelan Shamseldin drilled the bottom out of the net from the right side, her trey sending the Orediggers reeling and the Blues jumping with joy.
After the emotional roller-coaster of the fourth quarter, it seemed like there was no way for overtime to match the same intensity. And yet it did.
Montana Tech went up by four, Stone slashed to the hoop for a bucket to cut the margin back down, then fouls took over.
The refs bounced three major Oredigger front-court players, as well as Stone, in the late going, but both teams struggled to hit their free throws, largely negating the many fouls.
Whitman, even with its top rebounder on the bench, hit the glass hard in the final seconds, turning a third-chance offensive rebound into yet another game-tier at 87-87.
That came with a little over a minute left in OT, setting up a tension-packed, and scoreless, final 60 seconds, until Peoples went and made herself a folk hero to Oredigger Nation.
That the game even went to an extra period was a bit of a surprise, as Montana Tech controlled the game early, running out to a 23-12 lead at the first break.
The Orediggers stretched the margin to 12 at the half, thanks to a miracle shot which benefited greatly from a lack of replay.
A three-ball which looked, on the live broadcast, like it had been launched well after the buzzer sounded, it flopped through and was counted by the refs, despite some howls from the Blues.
Stone kept Whitman in the game early, pouring in 15 of her 26 points in the first half.
She finished the game shooting 9-16 from the floor and a sizzlin’ 8-9 at the free throw line, while also grabbing a game-high eight rebounds.
Through four games, the former Wolf has 71 points, 35 rebounds, seven steals, six assists and six blocks.
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