WALLA WALLA, Wash.  Rather than signaling a detour, Whitman's now-distant seeming hiccup one week ago has instead emerged as the prelude to something more promising and March-looking: a winning streak.

The 20th-ranked Blues picked up their third consecutive victory in emphatic fashion Saturday at the Sherwood Center, bullying Willamette on the glass en route to a 71-51 victory.

Makana Stone continued her evolution -- from bench player, to starter, to conference elite -- with 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting and ten rebounds for a second straight double-double, Maegen Martin came off the pine for 12 points and nine rebounds, and Casey Poe chipped in 11 points and five rebounds for the winners (17-2, 8-2 in NWC).

A hard-fought, two-point home loss in overtime to first-place, 12th-ranked Puget Sound on Jan. 14th was followed by a maddening setback at a then-middling Lewis and Clark.

A season-turning victory at nationally-ranked George Fox and a grind-it-out win -- with no prep-time in-between -- at rival Whitworth set up Saturday's homecoming.

"We dropped a game we shouldn't have. We bounced back for a huge win. We gutted one out," Blues head coach Michelle Ferenz said. "Willamette tests your defensive discipline. We were patient."

Statistics tell stories, but only one stat was necessary to explain Whitman's total control of the first half -- and ensuing all-game leverage. The teams combined to miss 40 shots. The Blues rebounded 30 of those misses. By controlling the ball -- especially on the offensive glass, where every misfire was inhaled and returned to offensive circulation -- Whitman was able to battle through its own shooting inaccuracy. The first two baskets in a 10-0, first-quarter run that created permanent separation were put-backs. Whitman's only made 3-pointer of the half -- a splash-down from Poe at the 8:23 mark of the second quarter -- came after Emily Rommel ripped a Whitman miss off the boards.

It simply didn't matter that the Blues shot 36 percent from the floor, or that they made 1 of 11 3-pointers, because they gobbled up 30 rebounds, including to 14 on offense, while allowing just two offensive rebounds (and a mere 14 total) for the out-worked Bearcats.

A missed shot meant the end of a scoring opportunity for Willamette.

It meant the birth of a new scoring chance for Whitman.

"We got off to a slow start, defensively," Ferenz said. "But we hustled on the boards. When Sierra (McGarity), Maegen, Makana and Emily (eight rebounds) are going and chasing and crashing, it's a good thing."

Whitman won the glass 53-27, an insane margin that described the dominant nature of the victory better than the scoreboard did.

The Blues visit Pacific in Forest Grove, Oregon on Feb. 3. to begin four-game road trip.