While Whitman basketball’s doubleheader triumph against Linfield University held more significance in terms of playoff seeding for the women’s team, both Whitman squads sent fans home happy and left the court with victories worth celebrating on Feb. 7. The women’s team played a nail-biting, 58-53 overtime contest and the men’s team triumphed in a decisive 64-40 victory. 

The women’s team kicked off the doubleheader in a battle of NWC heavyweights. The Blues, ranked third in the conference, played strong against tough competition, in first-place, Linfield. Strong, defensive play and evenly matched energy from both teams in the first quarter set the tone for the game. 

Whitman went into halftime ahead 25-24. Between halves, Head Coach Michelle Ferenz talked to her team about improvements on defense, which shined through during the second half.

“We weren’t doing a very good job of what we call digging defensively in the first half,” Ferenz said. “I thought in the second half we did a much better job of really attacking and digging the ball. It was very disruptive for them.”

The Blues’ disruption forced 22 Linfield turnovers, which Whitman converted into nine crucial points. It also held Linfield to just 23.6% from the field and 15% from three-point range.

Despite these improvements, and a 46-40 lead early in the fourth quarter, the score was knotted 48-48 at the end of regulation. In large part, Linfield was able to force the game into overtime because of its free throw shooting, going 24 of 28 from the line.

In overtime, however, the Blues’ offense shined, finally overwhelming Linfield’s defense. With the win, Whitman handed Linfield its first conference loss of the season and moved within one game of the visitors in the NWC standings. 

First-year guard Morgan Montgomery credited the success in overtime to cooperation and selflessness from the whole team.

“Our whole team is very unselfish,” Montgomery said. “We’re not afraid to pass the ball and trust our teammates. We were all trusting each other and working our hardest.”

Junior guard Holly Morgan echoed this sentiment, stating that communication played a big part in the outcome of the game.

“Our communication was one of our better things in this game,” Morgan said. “We definitely had scouted their offense pretty well, and we were prepared and talking to each other a lot on our switches.”

Following the women’s team’s victory, the men’s team took the court and proceeded to dominate throughout the entire first half. After gaining the lead two minutes into the first half, the Blues never looked back, maintaining the lead for the rest of the game. 

Against Linfield, the Blues exhibited a well-balanced style of play that fired on all cylinders. Whitman outpaced its opponent in every major statistical category, especially in rebounds (41-30) and three-point percentage (44% to 21.1%).

Based on the dominance the team asserted, sophomore forward Jacob Fotu noticed a distinct contrast in the game from others this season.

“This game was a lot different to the other games [with] how we came out and were the aggressor with everything,” Fotu said. “We put up our players that could step up, and they all stepped up.”

The Blues’ dominance continued in the second half with increased momentum and energy. Though their defense let up some, Whitman’s offense increased its field goal percentage, three-point percentage and free throw percentage rates from the first half to lock up the win. To top it off, senior guard Ali Efe Isik moved into seventh place on Whitman’s all-time career scoring list, further cementing his legacy as an all-time great in Blues basketball. Isik finished with a game-high 18 points. 

“I don’t think we faced that many difficulties,” Isik said when reflecting on the game. “We dominated them offensively and defensively.”

With their respective wins, the women’s team increased their win streak to seven to stay hot in the stretch run of NWC play, while the men’s win snapped their two-game losing streak as they attempt to avoid the bottom of the conference standings. Four conference contests remain for each team before the NWC playoffs.