REDLANDS, Calif. -
Carly Martin scored a team-high 19 points and equaled a game-high with six assists to help the No. 23 Whitman College women's basketball team to a 73-60 win over Chapman in a neutral site game played on Saturday night at Currier Gym.
Elena McHargue put up solid numbers as well. She scored 13 points on 5-11 shooting while handing out four assists and posting two steals. Whitman (3-1) was aided by a plus-11 rebound advantage leading to seven second chance points.
Julia Strand did the work for the Panthers, putting up a double double with game-highs of 20 points and 10 rebounds. She also recorded four assists, three blocks and three steals.
Whitman started slow and didn't get its first bucket until Korin Baker's layup an even four minutes into the game. The Blues then began to see their shots fall as Megan Taylor scored, then Natalie Lundberg hit back-to-back buckets to give Whitman a 10-6 lead with 3:31 to play. The Blues closed on a 7-2 run to take a 17-12 lead into the second quarter.
Whitman made six of its first seven shots in the second quarter and opened up a 30-17 lead. After Cristin Lue's three ball made it a 19-15 score, the Blues unleashed an 11-2 run highlighted by another Martin three pointer. Whitman extended the lead to as many as 14 points in the quarter before entering halftime with a comfortable 38-26 lead.
The Blues and Panthers played each other fairly even in the second half but Chapman could never make up its first-half deficit. Lue made it a 10-point game with a bucket early in the third quarter, but a three pointer by Martin and another by Sydney Abbott helped maintain a double-digit lead.
The fourth quarter saw Chapman run off nine unanswered points to whittle the lead to five points. Timely three pointers, though, from McHargue down the stretch kept the Panthers at bay and helped her team close out the win.
The Blues remain on the road and return to action on Tuesday, Nov. 22 at Pomona-Pitzer. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m.
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