WALLA WALLA, Wash. – The defensive effort was there -- from both teams -- but the shots simply wouldn't fall for Whitman College as it dropped a 64-46 decision to visiting and 21st-ranked University of Puget Sound on Saturday afternoon at the Sherwood Athletics Center.

The Missionaries (10-7, 5-3 NWC) took 10 more shots than the Loggers (14-2, 5-2) but Whitman hit just 27 percent from the floor while UPS finished at 40 percent.

Both teams' defenses made life difficult on shooters. Puget Sound had early successes, though, to stretch out its advantage to 17 at the half, taking a 40-23 lead into the locker rooms. The Loggers dropped in better than 50 percent of their shots from the floor over the opening 20 minutes, and actually started the game even hotter reaching as high as 61 percent from the floor at the midway point of the half.

The Whitman defense shouldered the burden in the second half, taking a team that had made 17 shots from the floor in the first half and limiting them to just five buckets in the final 20 minutes. A 14-of-15 half from the free-throw line helped UPS maintain its advantage, however.

While the Missionaries were suffocating the Loggers on one end of the court, the offense started to spark. A 19-point deficit early in the half was trimmed to 11 on a Casey Poe layup that made the score 44-33. Though UPS upped its lead to 14 shortly thereafter, the spark for the M's was still lit as they whittled the lead down to just eight on a 6-0 run. Alysse Ketner popped a jumper to start the rally, then Heather Lovelace converted a layup followed by another lay in from Ketner to set the score at 47-39.

Puget Sound scored on its next possession but Heather Johns sank 1-of-2 from the foul line to bring the deficit back down to nine. Emily Rommel then followed with a layup, after a UPS turnover, continuing a rally which now had the M's behind by only seven, 49-42, with 6:42 to play.

That was when the magic finally wore off. Not until three minutes later did Whitman score its next points, while the Loggers ran off a 10-0 run during that span. A Poe jumper from the left of the basket ended the UPS streak, but the M's would only add one more basket, a Hallie Buse 15-footer from the left side with 20 seconds remaining.

Johns led Whitman in scoring with 14 points and she shared game-high rebounding honors with teammate Hailey Ann Maeda as each pulled down 12 boards in the loss. Emily Sheldon paced the Loggers with a game-best 2 points. Katy Ainslie also reached double digits in scoring adding 12 points during the victory.

The season continues Friday and Saturday for Whitman with a pair of home contests against Northwest Conference foes. Willamette University visits Sherwood for a 6 p.m. Friday contest and Lewis & Clark College hits George Ball Court the next day at 4 p.m.