WALLA WALLA, Wash. – It wasn't wire-to-wire but it was pretty darn close as Whitman College's women's basketball team rolled to a 58-43 non-conference victory over visiting Rutgers-Newark Saturday afternoon at the Sherwood Athletics Center.

The Scarlet Raiders (1-2) scored the opening basket but Whitman (1-2) answered with the next six points to take command.

Hailey Ann Maeda pumped in a short jumper to tie the score at 2-2, followed by a rebound from Emily Rommel on a Rutgers miss its next time down the court. A Raiders foul in their defensive end put the ball just to the left of the basket on the baseline for the Whitman inbounds play.

Hailey McDonald timed her inbounds pass perfectly, hitting Heather Johns -- slicing between a pair of Rutgers defenders under the bucket -- at the top of her leap where she easily transferred the pass into a soft bank shot off the glass to push the Missionaries in front, 4-2, for good.

Soon after, Johns drained a pair of free throws to complete the six-point run for a 6-2 lead. Tia Taylor would sink a jumper for Rutgers to trim the deficit to 6-4 but that would be the narrowest of margins over the remainder of the game as Whitman built the lead to 10 (17-7) on a Chelsi Brewer three-pointer then toted a 30-14 advantage into the halftime break.

Whitman's defense limited Rutgers to just five baskets from the floor over the first 20 minutes, while the Missionaries hit 43 percent (13-of-30) from the floor.

Second-half action -- eventually -- saw more of the same results.

The lead grew to 18 before Rutgers put on a spurt to cut its deficit to just eight, 37-29, with a little less than 12 minutes to play. But another Brewer trey ended the Raiders' final threat as the Missionaries enjoyed a double-digit advantage for all but 38 seconds over the remainder of the contest.

Johns finished with a game-high 19 points and added in five rebounds, three assists and three steals to her day. Brewer scored 12 points with all of those points coming from a 4-for-7 day from beyond the arc. McDonald provided the Missionaries with a game-best five assists while also reaching double-digits for the offense, adding in 10 points to her two steals and assists total.

Arianna Williams' 14 points and Sharee Gordon's game-high nine rebounds led Rutgers in its losing efforts.

Whitman finished the afternoon hitting 47 percent (23-of-49) from the floor while things improved only slightly from the first half for Rutgers which finished at 28 percent (15-of-42). The Missionaries also owned the advantage on the glass, pulling down 41 rebounds to just 33 by the Raiders.

The Missionaries will look to build on their first win of the season when they travel to Colorado College for their next outing at the Radison Inn Thanksgiving Classic. Whitman will face Iowa Wesleyan College on Nov. 28 before taking on the host Tigers the following day.