SALEM, Ore.  She is the point guard on the nation's most prolific sharing team. Content, composed and supremely capable as a distributor or decoy, restless and committed on defense, tenacious on the glass, scoring has never been Casey Poe's priority or trademark.

But the secret is out.

The senior can score with the best of the best.

Poe surpassed 1,000 points in her Whitman career when she banked in a running hook shot on the right side of the lane late in the fourth quarter of the Blues' 68-49 victory over Willamette here Saturday in Northwest Conference women's basketball. The basket gave Poe 1,001 career points.

She became the first Whitman woman to crack that plateau since her mentor at the position, Heather Johns ('15), scored 1,411 in the program.

"My thought for today was to focus on the team," said Poe, who finished with 15 points. "I did take some crazy shots, but I wasn't really thinking that I needed to score. I was playing to win. I was playing for the game."

Poe filled a complementary, facilitating role in Whitman's big second half, getting the Blues (16-1, 8-0 in NWC) into their offense and letting her ferocious front line do the rest. Sophomore power forward Makana Stone had 14 of her game-high 23 points after halftime, when Whitman outscored the Bearcats 34-20 and made 16 of 30 field goals.

"We started to have a little more faith in our ball movement. We got it moving side to side," Whitman head coach Michelle Ferenz said. "The kids did a nice job of adjusting. There are a lot of veterans on this Willamette team."

Senior post Emily Rommel had 12 points and six rebounds, and junior power forward Maegen Martin added 10 points and seven rebounds for the Blues, who out-rebounded their hosts 36-29, forced 16 turnovers and surrendered just seven second-half baskets.

"We adjusted a couple things defensively (in the second half)," said Ferenz. "We helped better than we did in the first half."

Poe's milestone-clinching basket came during an 8-0 Whitman run that gave it a 19-point lead midway through the fourth quarter. Her bank shot had made it 58-45, Blues, two trips earlier, and her assist on a Sierra McGarity jumper pushed the lead to 15 points on the next Whitman possession.

Here's a look at all of Poe's baskets in the historic run-up to 1,000 points Saturday:

• 9:33, first quarter: Mady Burdett's steal and long pass sets up Poe for an easy layup and career points 987 and 988.
• 6:46, first quarter: Poe uses a quick crossover, going right to left, then a few dribbles before pulling up to bank an 8-footer. 990 points.
• 5:14, first quarter: Poe banks in a 3-pointer from the top of the key. 993 points.
• 5:11, third quarter: Poe puts back her own miss. 995 points.
• 4:26, third quarter: With a defender in her face, Poe muscles into the paint for a point-blank basket, giving her 997 career points.
• 6:34, fourth quarter: Poe kisses a runner off the glass after slashing in from the right wing. 999.
• 4:47, fourth quarter. Poe clocks a grand for her career, driving along the right elbow and scooping a hook shot over her defender, off the window and through the hoop.

Casey has always been good," said Ferenz. "She's just really grown into herself. We saw the change of her really taking ownership of her job during the second half of last year. She does a great job sharing the ball. She's a great rebounder. She plays the game."

Whitman's 34-29 halftime lead seemed borderline miraculous, given the Blues' shooting woes and Willamette's marksmanship (52.2 percent shooting from the floor).

It wasn't magic, but defensive toughness and rebounding persistence, that allowed Whitman to overcome 13-of-34 shooting from the field (38.2 percent) and just 1-for-6 shooting from beyond the 3-point arc. The Blues scored 10 points off 11 Bearcat turnovers. They out-rebounded Willamette 18-14 and cleared nine offensive rebounds, moving the scoreboard by grabbing their own misses and shooting again, repeating the process until they were fouled. Whitman hit seven of nine free throws while committing just three fouls itself.

There were five ties and 10 lead changes in the first half, but Willamette, which opened the game by making nine of its first 14 shots, never led by more than four points.

Stone's basket with 6:35 left in the half -- one of just three Blues field goals in the second quarter, when they shot 17 percent -- made it 27-21, Whitman. That would prove the largest margin separating the teams before halftime.

Martin and Stone had baskets, and Martin two free throws, as the Blues closed the half on a 6-1 run to break a 28-28 tie.

Rommel's eight points and five rebounds were team highs at the break.

Stone had six points, and Poe, Rommel and Martin four apiece as the Blues won the third quarter 18-9 to take a 52-38 lead. Whitman made nine of 17 shots in the period.

Kylie Towry led Willamette (10-7, 6-2), which saw a six-game winning streak snapped, with 16 points.

The Blues host the University of Puget Sound at 6 p.m. on Jan. 26.

Notes: Poe scored 117 points as a first-year during the 2014-15 season, 296 points as a sophomore and 341 as a junior. She has 247 points this season. Her 17.8 points-per-game average entering Saturday's game led the Northwest Conference, with the Bearcats' Towry second at 16.9 ppg.