WALLA WALLA, Wash. (December 14, 2019) - Fifteenth-ranked Whitman College proved to be too much in the end as the Blues broke open a five-point halftime contest with a strong second half en route to a 72-49 victory over Buena Vista on Saturday night during the second day of the Kim Evanger Raney Memorial Classic.
It was a 13-13 contest after the first quarter and Whitman needed a three-pointer as the first-half buzzer sounded to take a five-point lead into the half. Neither side led by more than three points in the opening quarter, but the Blues opened up a nine-point advantage early in the second. BVU used a 7-0 run to get back within two with 2:26 left in the half before the late three-pointer made it 31-26 at the break.
The Beavers missed their first six shot attempts to begin the second half as the Blues were able to quickly build a 12-point lead at 38-26 midway through the quarter. The lead grew to 17 with three minutes to play and that would be the margin heading to the fourth at 57-40.
Whitman scored the first four points of the final quarter to open up a 21-point advantage, and the Beavers were never able to put together any sort of late-game run.
Junior
Erin Gerke led the way with a game-high 18 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals. She was 8-of-16 shooting and made one of the team's four three-point buckets. Senior
Destiny Einerwold was also in double figures with 13 points, to go along with five boards and a pair of steals. Sophomore
Jennifer Schneider made a pair of treys and finished with six points as BVU was 4-of-15 from downtown. It struggled a bit from the free-throw line, making just 11-of-22 attempts.
A total of 10 different players scored for Whitman in the contest, including Mady Burdett with 12, to lead a trio in double figures. The Blues were 40 percent from the field despite going just 5-of-21 from long range. It got 44 points in the paint and scored 17 points off of 26 BVU turnovers.
Buena Vista is 1-9 on the year and will wrap up the holiday trip on Sunday afternoon with a 4 p.m. contest against Whitworth.
