SPOKANE, Wash. -- Co-hosts Whitman College and Whitworth College made it a clean sweep for the Northwest Conference over the visitors from California as the Missionaries and Pirates both rolled to 2-0 records in women's college basketball action at the Quality Inn - Whit Classic on Friday night at the Whitworth Fieldhouse. Whitman defeated UC Santa Cruz 52-37, while Whitworth rolled past Cal State East Bay 91-59.

Whitman 52, UC Santa Cruz 37
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Whitman (4-6) overcame a sluggish first half with tough second half defense to pull away from UCSC. The Missionaries held the Banana Slugs to 24% shooting in the second half and only 14 points in the period.

Santa Cruz (3-11) took a 21-16 lead with 3:20 to play in the first half before Whitman closed the half with a 9-2 run. Whitman led 25-23 at the break after outrebounding the Banana Slugs 21-12. But UCSC was 4-8 from three point range in the first period.

The Missionaries opened the second half with a 13-3 run to open up a 12 point margin (38-26) with 11 minutes to play. Lizzy Washburn scored twice during the rally. Santa Cruz pulled as close as 44-35 on a basket by Megan Gaynor with just under four minutes to play, but the Slugs would only be able to score two more points the rest of the game. Whitman scored six of its final eight points from the free throw line.

Washburn led Whitman with 16 points and nine rebounds. Laura Vertatschitsch and Kelsey Krumdieck added 10 points apiece.

Kayleigh Calandri scored 16 points to lead UCSC. Rachel Ocampo chipped in six points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Whitworth 91, Cal State East Bay 59
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Whitworth used a huge first half to roll to the easy win over Cal State East Bay, which came into the tournament ranked 12th in the latest NAIA Division II poll.

The Pirates (6-4) shot 60% from the field and held the Pioneers (8-3) to 24% in the first period. Whitworth also outrebounded East Bay 33-9 in the half to open up a 56-21 lead at the break. Holly Ridings scored 14 of her team-high 23 points in the first stanza.

The Pirates never trailed, jumping to a quick 12-2 advantage, and stretching the lead 56-19 on a three point play by Emily Hendrickson with just under a minute to go in the half. Terrilyn Goode scored a bucket for East Bay at the end of the period.

The Pirates' largest lead was 39 points (60-21) early in the second half. The Pioneers got as close as 76-50 after a three pointer by Julia Aguila with 5:39 to play. But the Whitworth bench answered with seven straight points to extend the lead again.

Hendrickson joined Ridings in double figures with 15 points and eight rebounds. Chelsea Combs came off of the bench to score 13 points, while Teresa Zeitler scored 11 points.

Aundrea Jones had 11 points off of the bench to lead East Bay. Iman Young, who scored 35 points the previous night against Whitman, finished with only ten points before fouling out in the second half.

2005 Quality Inn - Whit Classic All-Tournament Team

Holly Ridings - Whitworth (So., G, Spokane, Wash.) - MVP
Laura Vertatschitsch - Whitman (Sr., G, Issaquah, Wash.)
Lizzy Washburn - Whitman (Sr., F, Mundelein, Ill.)
Emily Hendrickson - Whitworth (So., F, Valleyford, Wash.)
Iman Young - CS East Bay (Sr., G, Hayward, Calif.)
Kayleigh Calandri - UCSC (Fr., G, Alameda, Calif.)