Coming into the NESCAC tournament, the Bowdoin Polar Bears had a lot of well-deserved confidence. Winners of 24 of 25 games on the year, the top-seed and defending conference champ steamrolled its way through the playoffs, defeating second-seeded Middlebury 68-57 yesterday to earn its second NESCAC title. With the win, the Polar Bears earned their second straight bid to the NCAA National Tournament. Middlebury (22-5) will keep its fingers crossed for one of the at-large bid to be announced today.
Both teams came out firing in the first half as the Polar Bears took a 13-9 edge just five minutes into the game. Bowdoin raced on a 15-0 run over the next five minutes as Jessie Mayol, Lora Trenkle and Kristi Royer all connected on three-pointers to lift the Polar Bears to a 28-9 lead with 9:53 remaining in the first half. Middlebury had a surge of its own, and closed the gap to 12 points, 39-27, on a Megan McCosker three pointer just before the intermission.
Early in the second half, Bowdoin put the game out of reach with a 15-3 run, opening up an insurmountable 59-35 lead. The Panthers rallied, scoring 17 of the final 19 points, but it was too little too late, as Bowdoin walked away with the title.
Royal led the Polar Bears with 19 points on eight of 11 shooting. Trenkle and Mayol also finished in double figures with 15 and 11 points respectively. Kristen Hanley led the Panthers with 15 points, although she struggled from the field, with 6-17 shooting. McCosker also chipped in 14 points for Middlebury including four threes.
Bowdoin's season was nearly unblemished, save the solitary 56-54 point loss to the Bates Bobcats on Feb. 1. Tufts gave Bowdoin another scare on the following day, as it led by as many as 13 points in the second half, but could not hold on as Bowdoin won the game 50-48. Tufts finished 1-8 in the conference and did not qualify for the playoffs this year.
Last year, Bowdoin finished the season 21-8, and advanced all the way to the third round of the NCAA National playoffs, where it lost to New York University 64-60 in the Sectional round.
Bowdoin advanced to the finals after defeating fourth-seeded Williams (18-8) 56-40 on Saturday afternoon. Mayol (13), Trenkle (11) and Kristi Royer (ten points, eight rebounds) led Bowdoin, while Williams was led by Kerri McMahon (12) and Amy Geant (ten).
Middlebury defeated third-seeded Bates on Saturday 71-66, as Alexis Batten scored 18 points for the Panthers. Middlebury opened up a 36-21 point lead in the first half, holding Bates to a mere 30 percent shooting, but Bates closed to within two points with seven minutes remaining. Hanley led Middlebury on a 11-2 run, as it polished off the Bobcats.
