Box Score TACOMA, Wash. –
Heather Johns' double-double helped keep Whitman College within striking distance Friday evening at 21st-ranked University of Puget Sound but the host Loggers were able to hold off Johns and the Missionaries, 70-64, at the end of a Northwest Conference women's basketball contest in Memorial Fieldhouse.
Whitman (15-9, 10-5 NWC) repeatedly clawed its way back from deficits to pull within a bucket of the nationally-ranked Loggers (21-3, 12-3) but each time the Missionaries got within reach Puget Sound would answer, twice knocking down 3-pointers to push its lead back above a one-basket game.
Trailing by six, 31-25, at halftime and falling behind by nine early in the second half, Whitman was able to fight back and threaten to tie or wrest the lead away.
A Johns jumper and free-throw conversion at the 14:07 mark drew the M's within two, 41-39, but an Amanda Forshay layup at the opposite end gave the Loggers breathing room.
Three minutes later Whitman's
Emily Rommel connected on a jumper then added a layup after a Puget Sound miss to cut the deficit to just a point, 45-44, but Erin Stumbaugh answered with a trey to pad the narrow lead as the half approached the midway point.
With a little less than nine minutes remaining Johns sliced through the paint and a pair of UPS defenders for a layup at the 8:53 mark that pulled Whitman with two points, 51-49 but once again the Loggers repelled the threat with a three-point play, this time a layup and free throw by Katy Ainslie.
Three more times would Whitman pull within three points but
Casey Poe's trey with 4:54 left would be the closest Whitman would come over the remaining minutes as the Loggers salted away the win to keep their battle for second place in the league standings alive.
Johns led both teams on the night with 26 points and 12 rebounds while
Emily Rommel tied her career high with 14 points and narrowly missed adding her first double-double after ripping down nine rebounds.
Chelsi Brewer also reached double-figures in scoring, chiming in with 11 points.
Hailey McDonald, in her first game back after an extended stay on the sidelines due to an injury, came up with a game-best three steals.
Emily Sheldon's 16 points led a quartet of Loggers into double-figures in their offensive end. Puget Sound was buoyed by a 46-percent shooting night from the floor which offset Whitman's 47-38 rebounding advantage.
The M's finish off their regular season Saturday at Pacific Lutheran University but Friday's loss combined with other results within the league locks Whitman into a fourth-place finish in the standings, sending the Missionaries on the road to league leader and No. 3 George Fox University for a first-round match-up Thursday, Feb. 26 in the conference's postseason tournament.
