Box Score The Whitman Blues (11-5, 6-2), on the backs of their advantages in the post, took an early lead they never relinquished, taking care of business in Salem vs the Willamette Bearcats (9-8, 4-4 NWC) by a final score 79-66
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Blues center Korin Baker got the Blues going early, scoring six of the first eight Whitman points in helping stake the Blues to an early 8-2 lead. Carly Martin then took her turn, scoring six of the next 10, and Whitman found themselves up 18-4 after the first eight and a half minutes of regulation. Martin and Maker during that stretch combined to go 8/10 in helping extended the Blues lead to 14. Willamette's Megan River finally found a rhythm late in the first, scoring four points over the last 90 seconds of the quarter, including a coast to coast effort by Willamette, shaving the Blues lead down to eight at the end of the first quarter.

It was much of the same in the second quarter, as the teams each put up 16 points in the second quarter as the Blues would carry an 8-point lead into the half. It continued to be the Baker and Martin show in the first half, as the duo would amass a total of _____ points on )))))) shooting.

The Blues would use the third quarter to build a cushion, as Korin would hit a layup 10 seconds after the resumption of play to extend the Whitman lead to 10. Over the middle five minutes of the quarter, Whitman began to receive contributions from the entire crew. Led by Lindsay Drango, who scored 19 of her 21 points in the second half to provide the cushion the Blues needed to march onto victory. After Baker fed Elena McHargue to hit a three from the right side of the floor, Drango was fouled driving the baseline and converted the shot, as well as the free throw to keep momentum with the Blues. Whitman and Willamette would go back and forth for much of the quarter, but the Blues began to pull away at the end of the third, and it was capped after Drango, who inbounded the ball with 15 seconds left, would be on the receiving end of a give and go from Kara Marecle, and hit the floater in the paint as time expired to give Whitman the 62-43 lead.  

After Drango made a layup with 9:21 remaining in regulation, extending the lead to a game-high 21 points, the Bearcats began to mount a comeback. Willamette would cut the lead down to six after a 12-0 run, with five different Bearcats making offensive contributions over the six minutes of game clock. Whitman finally broke the run at the 2:14 mark of the fourth quarter by Baker, snapping a streak of eight straight misses, bringing the lead back up to eight at 66-58. The Blues would rely on Drango down the stretch as she went 8 for 8  from the line over the final minute of regulation to help the Blues preserve the win.

Whitman will be back in action next weekend as they return to the Sherwood Center to host the showdown between themselves and the Puget Sound Loggers, who currently sit atop the Northwest Conference standings, at 6 p.m.