McMINNVILLE, Ore. – A roaring start and dominant third quarter provided a margin that was too hard to overcome for host Linfield College as Whitman College fended off a late rally by the Wildcats for a 61-56 Northwest Conference women's basketball win Saturday at Ted Wilson Gymnasium.

Whitman (15-3, 8-2 NWC) earns a series sweep of Linfield (10-9, 3-7) with Saturday's triumph, closing out the sweep after taking a 16-point decision from the Wildcats to kick off the conference slate back in early December.

The Missionaries opened the afternoon with a 7-0 run to start the game and held Linfield scoreless for the opening six minutes of action. By the time the first quarter was complete the Whitties had doubled up the Wildcats, 20-10.

Neither team would gain the upper hand in the second 10-minute frame, sending Whitman into the halftime intermission with the same 10-point advantage, at 31-21, it had held at the start of the second. But the third quarter, though not very explosive, proved dominant enough as Whitman built its cushion into a 17-point lead after out scoring its hosts 18-11.

Six different players scored in the quarter for Whitman and none of them notched more than four points.

Defensive pressure, forced turnovers and ball control were the Whitties' weapons of choice in the frame.

And in the end they needed nearly every one of those points.

Over the final six minutes of the game Linfield trimmed a 13-point deficit into as little as four points.

A chilly night from the floor by Whitman – it hit just 35 percent – turned a bit colder down the stretch, while Linfield seemingly hit everything, including a 40-foot 3-pointer from Paige Graham with the shot clock expiring in the final minute of action.

After stretches of domination in a game during which it never trailed, it ended at the free-throw line as a 7-for-10 performance in the last two minutes by Whitman iced a win that appeared from its frenetic final minutes to be much closer than the score actually indicated.

Casey Poe, with 14 points, Hailey Ann Maeda (13) and Maegen Martin each cruised into double-figures in scoring for the Missionaries. Maeda pulled down a game-best nine rebounds to narrowly miss a double-double.

Offensive rebounds proved a valuable statistic on the night as Whitman's 18 doubled the nine the Wildcats could muster. Those 18 rebounds in the offensive end along with forcing 23 turnovers turned into 11 second-chance points and 14 points from turnovers for Whitman.

Graham's heroics for Linfield ended with her Curry-esque trey from just inside the half-court line and she led all scorers with 20 points.

Saturday's win and season sweep of Linfield comes on the heels of a Friday victory at Lewis & Clark College which marked a season sweep of that home-and-home series for Whitman.

Whitman squares off against visiting Whitworth University in its next match-up. The Pirates and Missionaries will tip off at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Sherwood Athletics Center.