WALLA WALLA, Wash. Making a habit lately of getting off to fast starts, the 25th-ranked Whitman women's basketball team Saturday night stormed out to an 18-0 lead in the first quarter and eventually cracked the century mark in a 104-43 non-conference victory over visiting Colorado College (1-7) at the Sherwood Athletic Center.
The previous evening the Blues (9-0) had raced out to a 27-9 lead in a 30-point win on the opening night of the Kim Evanger Raney Memorial Classic. The Tigers from Colorado dropped their game Friday and knew Saturday's contest against the nationally-ranked Blues would provide a stiff test in the closing game of the two-day Classic.
Whitman captured the opening tip Saturday and inched in front on a jumper from
Casey Poe.
That slim lead was extended by three on a trey from
Chelsi Brewer, the All-Classic Team Most Valuable Player, and then by two more on a layup by Rommel.
Consecutive steals and fast-break layups pushed the advantage into double-digits where it continued to escalate over the remainder of the game.
Its 104-point output was the first time over 100 since Whitman defeated Chapman (Calif.) University 107-51 on March 7, 2014.
Saturday's point total was spread across the roster as six players reached double digits in points.
Maegen Martin, in just 13 minutes on the floor, and Brewer led the team with 15 points each, but the duo were aided by 14 from
Casey Poe, 13 from
Alysse Ketner, 11 from
Mady Burdett and an even 10 points from Rommel.
Rommel led all players on the glass with eight rebounds -- after a double-double in Friday night's win --Â and helped the Blues forge a 43-23 edge in rebounding.
For the second night in a row Whitman notched at least half of its points in the paint, scoring 52 of 104 from in close against Colorado College, after dropping in 46 points from in deep during Friday's 89-59 victory over Louisiana College.
Turnovers were also key against the Tigers on Saturday as the Blues forced 25 and converted those chances into an astounding 46 points, nearly notching a basket for each CC miscue
Rommel joined Brewer on the all-Classic team from Whitman with the rest of the team comprised of Casey Torbet of Colorado College, Zharian MaxMillion from Louisiana, and teammates Madison Moffat and Grace Douglas of Whitworth University.
The Blues go tropical for their next pair of games, taking on Occidental (Calif.) College and University of Redlands (Calif.) in non-conference games at the 2016 Hawaii Tournament on December 19 and 20.
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