ABILENE, Texas - Caleigh Edwards has 12 points and Laura Strenk added 11, but the Whitman Women's Basketball team was able to pull away from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps late and take a 70-54 win in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Tournament on Friday at Hardin-Simmons. 

The loss concludes the season for CMS at 20-8, after qualifying for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017 with a win over Cal Lutheran in the SCIAC title game. Whitman improves to 21-7 and moves on to the regional finals tomorrow. 

CMS was within 39-38 in the closing minutes of the third quarter before Whitman closed out the quarter with five straight points to make the score 44-38 heading into the fourth.

The Athenas got it down to 46-43 early in the fourth on a three-point play from Edwards, but Whitman's Kaella Peters hit two three-pointers on successive possessions to make it 52-43. 

Haylie Wang and Edwards hit two straight baskets to get CMS within 52-47 with 5:15 left, and Strenk answered a Whitman basket with 3:06 left to close it to make it 54-49. The Blues, though, scored two straight baskets in 25 seconds to stretch it to 58-49 and hold on the rest of the way. 

Wang finished with 10 points, Tanya Ghai had nine and Katie Resendiz added eight for the Athenas. Holly Morgan led all scorers with 19 for Whitman, while Morgan Montgomery added 17.