TACOMA, Wash. Whitman's 21st-ranked women's basketball team has grown comfortable living on the edge, and Saturday night their ability to again rally from behind turned into a Northwest Conference title when the Blues raced past host, and sixth-ranked, Puget Sound, 81-72, in the tournament championship final at Memorial Fieldhouse.

Two days prior the Blues (23-4) faced a 10-point deficit on the road in the semifinal round but reeled off a 43-26 advantage over the final 16 minutes to win and advance into Saturday's championship game against the Loggers (25-2).

Approaching four minutes into Saturday's game the Blues found themselves looking up at an 11-2 deficit, and by the time the quarter ended they trailed 21-9.

"I wasn't surprised at how (UPS) opened up," said Whitman head coach Michelle Ferenz. "After Thursday I figured they'd be a little bit more dialed in."

The Loggers had fallen behind Lewis & Clark early and weren't able to chip into a double-digit lead for nearly the entirety of the semifinal game -- until the final minutes when they caught fire and scored the winning basket with nine seconds remaining.

"It's a long game so I didn't want us to panic," explained Ferenz about the outlook during Saturday's early deficit. "We were doing some things offensively that were hurting us, so we had to make some adjustments. Forcing things, and then not being aggressive enough when we had opportunities.

"But in the second quarter when we started cutting into (the deficit) I knew we were going to be ok."

With 8:31 to play in the second quarter the Logger lead had ballooned to 17, at 28-11, but like in the semifinal round Whitman turned to leading scorer Chelsi Brewer.

Her 3-pointer cut into the UPS edge and steady progress -- thanks to 14 points and three 3-pointers from Brewer -- was being made as halftime approached.

With 12 seconds left in the second a Brewer trey closed out the scoring and sent Whitman into the locker room carrying only a 37-35 deficit, and a whole lot of relief.

The intermission failed to cool off the surging Blues who blew past the Loggers in that 10-minute span, outscoring the hosts -- who had not lost since December 17, 2016 -- 25-12.

"I thought the surprising part was how we dominated in the third," reflected Ferenz. "And we had some kids in foul trouble and we got a nice lift from kids off the bench."

Indeed, by game's end Whitman's non-starters had contributed 21 points, while Puget Sound's bench accumulated just three points.

"That is where we feel we have an advantage -- when we do have to go to the bench. For example, Sierra McGarity had a couple of key steals down the stretch for us. Maegen Martin and Lily Gustafson stepped up, and Mady Burdett played really well (13 pts., three 3-pointers)," added Ferenz.

Whitman's dismal first quarter, hitting 3-of-15 (20 percent) from the floor, was nullifed by the successes of the second and third quarters, when the Blues hit 53 percent of their shots in each of those 10-minute spans.

Speaking of keys to victory, a rebounding margin of nine, 44-35, Saturday night was a turnaround from the last game the two teams played 15 days ago when the Loggers pulled down 49 boards and won in overtime.

The Blues pushed five players into double figures in scoring, paced by Brewer's 19 points. Casey Poe came up with 17, Emily Rommel added 14 to Burdett's 13, and Makana Stone finished with a double-double, scoring 10 points and ripping down a game-high 11 rebounds.

Next up will be a trip to the NCAA Division III national tournament as the league's automatic qualifier. Selection Monday will reveal the where's and the when's Whitman will hit the court next.

Whatever does come next, Ferenz feels her team is ready for those challenges.

"Though at times we might not have played our best basketball in a few of these recent games, this team has really matured, the kids have really toughened up."

With Saturday's victory, that's now 'tournament tough.'