WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Korin Baker was too much for Whitworth to overcome on Tuesday night, preventing the visiting Pirates from pulling off an upset of host Whitman at the Sherwood Center.  The Blues solidified their hold on fourth place in the Northwest Conference women's basketball standings with a 59-46 win.

Baker, the Blue's All-NWC post, totaled 31 points and 11 rebounds as Whitman improved to 15-5 overall and 7-4 in the NWC).  Emma Maxwell came off the bench to lead Whitworth (6-14, 3-8) in scoring for the second game in a row.

The Pirates managed to hang with the Blues in the opening half despite committing 13 turnovers.  They did so by outrebounding Whitman 18-15 and holding the hosts to a 32.3% shooting percentage in the opening 20 minutes.  Whitman scored six straight points near the end of the first quarter, opening a 17-9 lead on a layup by Emmie Ogden.  But Kimberly Dewey hit a basket just before the buzzer to cut the margin to six.  Both teams scored ten in the second and the Blues went to the locker room with a 27-21 lead.  Neither team scored after Cheyenne Rodgers made the last basket of the quarter with 2:55 left in the half.

Whitworth opened the second half on a 7-0, including five points by Alyssa Fitzgerald and a layup by Zalissa Sanfo, to give the Bucs their first lead of the game since Dewey opened the contest with a three-pointer.  The teams traded leads three times before Whitman closed the quarter on a 7-1 run for a 41-35 lead heading to the fourth.

Cheyenne Rodgers hit the first two baskets of the fourth quarter for the Pirates to keep Whitworth within 45-40 with just over six minutes to play.  The Bucs would get no closer as Whitman took its first double-digit lead (51-41) on Baker's layup with 3:43 left.  Whitworth went 3-16 (19%) from the field in the final period.

Maxwell hit 4-7 from three-point range to finish with 12 points for the Pirates.  No other player reached double figures as Whitworth finished the game 16-54 (29.6%) from the floor.  Dewey and Fitzgerald scored nine apiece.  Mya Edwards led the Pirates in rebounds for the second straight game with eight boards. 

With Baker scoring more than half of Whitman's points, no other Blues player reached double figures in scoring. 

Whitworth will try to end a four-game losing streak on Saturday when the Pirates host Lewis & Clark College.