WALLA WALLA, Wash.—The Puget Sound women's basketball team took on the number one team in the nation Thursday night, falling 77-60 to the undefeated Missionaries in the semifinal round of the Northwest Conference tournament at the Sherwood Center in Walla Walla, Wash.

Puget Sound once again hung tough in the first half against the Missionaries. Taylor Jones opened up scoring for the Loggers with a three-ball 37 seconds into the contest, giving the guests their first lead on the night. After Amanda Forshay hit a layup with 18:18 left on the clock to tie the game at five, Allie Wyszynski scored the Loggers' next four points. She gave Puget Sound the lead on both of those buckets. More than a minute later, Forshay gave the Loggers their final lead of the night, hitting a layup to go up 11-9.

The Missionaries took a permanent lead at the 12:52 mark in the first half, but the Loggers kept it close for the next eight minutes. A layup by Forshay at 7:51 left in the half brought the Loggers within three again, and a minute and a half later they'd be within that same difference at 24-21 thanks to another Forshay layup. Three minutes after that, Ashley Agcaoili hit another free throw to pull the Loggers within one bucket for the last time in the game.

Ten seconds after Agcaoilli's free throw, the Missionaries took a six-point lead for the first time, and they tallied a 10-point advantage with three minutes left in the first. Whitman also scored the last six points of the half to take a 15-point lead into the break at 41-26.

After one minute passed in the second half, the Loggers scored seven straight to pull back within 10 points. Emily Sheldon started the stretch with a layup at the 18:41 mark, and Jones continued it after finishing a pass from Sheldon for another three-pointer. One defensive stop later, Sheldon netted another layup with exactly 17:00 left on the clock to finish the Logger stretch.

Puget Sound's deficit didn't change much for the next five and a half minutes, but a steal by Forshay led to Agcaoili getting fouled while shooting. She made one of the resulting two free throws and brought the Loggers back within seven at 53-46 with 11:35 left in the half. One minute later, the Loggers would come within six after a jumper by Sheldon, the closest they'd get to Whitman during the rest of the game.

The Missionaries slowly built their lead back, taking a 17–point advantage with 54 seconds left in the game. They finished with a 17-point advantage as well after two free throws with 26 seconds left to end the game at 77-60.

Forshay led the Loggers with 14 points after hitting seven of 15 field goal attempts. Jones, in her final collegiate game, saw her best performance of the season by scoring 12 points, all of which came from three-point range. Forshay also added five rebounds, five assists, and five steals against the top-ranked Missionaries, leading Puget Sound in all categories. For the Missionaries, Heather Johns scored 30 points while Meghan White grabbed 12 rebounds to pace Whitman.

The two teams shot similarly from the field as both netted 25 field goals with the Loggers shooting 46.3% while the Missionaries hit 49.0% from the field. From the free throw line, however the Loggers went 6 of 12 with a 50.0% mark while Whitman made it to the line 33 times, making 24 charity shots for a 72.7% clip. Whitman also out-rebounded the Loggers 40-22, scoring 14 second-chance points on the night.

With the win, Whitman advances to 26-0 after entering the game as one of four undefeated teams in all of Division III. The Missionaries are also the number-one ranked team in the nation according to D3Hoops.com.

Puget Sound finished up the regular season 16-10 with a 9-7 clip in NWC play, taking fourth place in the conference. They only graduate two players – Jones and fellow senior Kristine Miller – and return three All-Conference players in Forshay, Sheldon, and Katy Ainslie.