PORTLAND, Ore. – A steady effort with a strong dose of spread-the-wealth scoring led Whitman College to a 74-56 win over host Lewis & Clark College Friday evening in Northwest Conference women's basketball action at the Pioneers' Pamplin Sports Center.

The Missionaries (14-3, 7-2 NWC) received a game-best 14 points from Chelsi Brewer but eight of her teammates netted between 4–8 points as Whitman never let Lewis & Clark (2-16, 1-8) focus its defense on any one player.

The Whitties out scored the Pios in each quarter -- by 3, 3, 5 and 7 points -- but other than the final 10-minute quarter never looked overpowering. They just simply played better.

The early minutes in the opening quarter saw four lead changes and, eventually, the home-standing Pioneers clinging to a 9-8 lead shortly after the midway point of the stanza.

Hailey Ann Maeda pulled down a defensive rebound and Whitman worked up court where it finished the transition with a Maegen Martin jumper from the right side to erase the narrow deficit and lift Whitman to a lead, at 10-9, which it would never relinquish as the advantage blossomed throughout the remainder of the contest.

Throughout the game Whitman consistently picked up a key play, ones that would mesh crushing moments for L&C and advancements for the Whitties.

One such moment came at the end of the second quarter after the Pios had clawed back to with a point, 29-28, on a Natalie Kelly 3-pointer.

Casey Poe answered with a short jumper on Whitman's next time down court and then with five seconds in the quarter Alysse Ketner would drain a trey from the top of the arc to grow what had been a one-point lead into a six-point edge heading into the halftime break.

Right out of the gate in the third quarter L&C trimmed the lead to just four with a bucket but a seven-point run from Whitman squelched that rallying attempt.

Hailey McDonald's defensive rebound turned into a transitional jumper from in the paint by Maeda, which was followed by a defensive rebound by Martin and a Poe layup. Lewis & Clark turned the ball over on its following possession and the miscue turned into a 3-pointer by McDonald to push Whitman into a double-digit lead at 41-30, less than three minutes after owning that four-point advantage.

The lead hovered around 11 or so for the remainder of the quarter, then grew larger in the fourth -- by as many as 17 not even four minutes into the quarter -- finally eclipsing a 20+ advantage late.

Whitman was simply workman-like in dispatching the Pioneers on their home court. They squared up with the Pios, and when the opportunity presented itself, made the home team pay.

Adding the most to Brewer's night from the floor were Maeda and Ketner with eight points apiece and Emily Rommel, Sierra McGarity and McDonald with seven each. Maeda's scoring totals were a basket shy of a double-double after she ripped down a game-best 11 boards.

The team stats told the story one expected within each associative category. Whitman came away with 20 offensive rebounds and put in 23 second-chance points. It forced 21 L&C turnovers which resulted in 20 Whitman points off turnovers. And the Pioneer turnovers along with 20 Whitman defensive rebounds and a quick transition game became 34 points from in the paint for the triumphant Whitties.

The weekend road trip continues Saturday when Whitman will make the short trip from Portland proper to the 'burbs of McMinnville, Oregon, to take on host Linfield College at 4 p.m.