SPOKANE, Wash. -- Co-hosts Whitman College and Whitworth College rolled to impressive women's college basketball victories on the first night of the Quality Inn Whit Classic on Thursday in the Whitworth Fieldhouse. Whitman upset Cal State East Bay 82-71, while Whitworth rolled past UC Santa Cruz 74-49. The teams will flip flop opponents on Friday, with East Bay taking on the Pirates and UCSC playing the Missionaries.

Whitman 82, Cal State East Bay 71
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Five Whitman players scored in double figures to overcome the stellar effort of East Bay's Iman Young, who led all players with 35 points.

After Young opened the game with a lay-up, Whitman scored the next seven points and never trailed again. The Missionaries went on to take a 39-27 halftime lead, outshooting the Pioneers 49% - 37% and outrebounding East Bay 24-14, including a 10-5 edge on the offensive glass.

Whitman stretched the lead to 55-36 after a pair of free throws from Leyla Khastou with 13:51 to play. But East Bay began to slowly chip away behind Young, who scored 23 of her points in the second half, and Sarah Thornton, who finished with 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Back to back jumpers by Young pulled the Pioneers within 74-69 with 1:15 to play, but Laura Vertatschitsch answered with a tough jumper in the key as the shot clock was winding down on Whitman's next possession to extend the lead back to seven points. Whitman then went 6/6 from the free throw line in the final 30 seconds to secure the win.

Vertatschitsch led the Missionaries with 24 points, while Lizzy Washburn and Kate Patneaude added 13 points each. Khastou scored 12 points off of the bench and added a game-high 11 rebounds. Megan Higgins posted 11 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

Whitman improved to 3-6 this season, winning its second in a row after struggling through a six game losing streak. Cal State East Bay, ranked 12th in the latest NAIA Division II rating, fell to 8-2.

Whitworth 74, UC Santa Cruz 49
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Five Whitworth players scored in double figures to lead the Pirates to a win over the Banana Slugs. Whitworth improved to 5-4 this season, while UCSC fell to 3-10.

The Pirates took a commanding 32-15 lead at halftime after holding the Slugs to 26% shooting and gaining a 30-12 edge in rebounding, including a 17-3 advantage on the offensive boards. Holly Ridings scored 10 of her game-high 17 points in the period to lead Whitworth.

The Pirates extended the lead to as many as 33 points when Emily Hendrickson hit back to back three pointers with 11:33 to play in the game. Santa Cruz closed to as close as 23 points on three different occasions, but could not get any closer.

Ridings had eight rebounds to go with her 17 points. Amy Ridings and Danielle Wegman each scored 14 for the Bucs, while Hendrickson finished with 10 points and Chelsea Combs came off of the bench for 11 points.

Megan Gaynor led UCSC with 12 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, including eight offensive boards. Jenna Chabot scored 10 points.