One game into her sophomore season of college basketball and Makana Stone is already at the front of the pack. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
The season hasn’t officially started, and already Makana Stone is on fire.
The Coupeville High School grad kicked off her sophomore basketball campaign at Whitman College with a 13-point, eight-rebound performance Nov. 2 in an exhibition game against The Master’s (Calif.) University.
Paced by Stone, the Blues, who are coming off a run to the Elite Eight in last year’s NCAA D-III women’s tourney, rolled to a 72-47 victory.
While the win doesn’t officially count on Whitman’s win-loss record, it was a nice tune-up before the start of the regular season.
That’s Nov. 15, when the Blues, ranked #6 in preseason polls, play at Eastern Oregon in a non-conference game.
After that comes a pair of tournaments, one in Spokane and one in Walla Walla, as the season gets into full swing.
In the exhibition opener, Whitman gave time to all 14 players on its roster, but none shone brighter than Stone, who worked her way into the starting lineup midway through her freshman season.
She pumped in her game-high 13 points on 6 of 11 shooting from the field, tossing in a free throw to round out the effort.
Stone also dealt out two assists and made off with a steal to go with her eight rebounds, while putting in 24 minutes on the court.
Fellow returning players Emily Rommel (11 points, five rebounds) and Maegen Martin (10 points, nine boards) were strong as well, while freshman Kaelan Shamseldin netted 12 points, all off of three-balls.
Whitman was savage on the glass, out-rebounding its foes 50-30, while limiting the Mustangs to an ice-cold 23% shooting performance.
Coupeville Sports 