PORTLAND, Ore. - A 15-0 run through the middle of the opening half gave Whitman College's women's basketball team control of Friday evening's Northwest Conference-opener at Lewis & Clark College, and a second run nearly as long to start the second stanza put the game on ice for the Missionaries in their 64-48 victory over the host Pioneers.

Heather Johns and Chelsi Brewer paced Whitman (6-4, 1-0 NWC) in its victory with 11 points apiece while Ayisat Afolabi was nearly a one-woman show for L&C with a game-high 22 points. The Missionaries' defense limited the rest of the Pios to a combined 26 points.

The first-half streak began with Whitman trailing 11-7. Katie Gray's jumper trimmed the deficit to two before Heather Johns would knot things at 11-11 with a driving layup from the right. The next time down the court Casey Poe pulled down a rebound off a Hailey Ann Maeda miss and put back a short jumper from close in on the left to extend the scoring string while pushing the Missionaries back in front.

By the time the run finished a four-point deficit had quickly turned into a 22-11 lead.

Coming out of the halftime break, with a 28-18 advantage, Whitman reeled off 12 consecutive points to open the second. Less than four minutes in the lead more than doubled to a 40-18 edge. The margin continued to grow, eventually hitting 29 points on an Alysse Ketner layup off her rebound of a Johns miss with a little more than seven minutes remaining.

Afolabi shouldered the burden in the second half for Lewis & Clark, knocking down 20 of her points -- and two-thirds of the team's output -- over the final 20 minutes.

Whitman won the battle on the glass against the Pios, finishing with a 37-29 advantage in rebounding as Poe came away with a team-best five for Whitman. Katilin Mathewson snared a game-best six boards for L&C in its losing efforts.

A pestering defense also played a large role in Friday's win. Whitman finished with six steals and forced 17 turnovers with the most dynamic stretch coming out of the gate after the intermission. Nineteen seconds after Hallie Buse initiated the start of the second-half run with a 3-pointer, Maeda picked up a steal and converted the turnover into a layup. The L&C inbounds play following Maeda's bucket was stolen by Hailey McDonald who quickly added another layup to continue the run. The early rust, from nearly three weeks between games, was clearly shaken off.

The Missionaries continue with conference action Saturday at 4 p.m. against host Willamette University.