AMHERST, Mass. — Rarely are basketball games won or lost in the second quarter, but this one was.

The University of Rochester outscored Bowdoin College 16-4 in the second quarter Friday en route to a 60-53 victory in the third round of the NCAA Division III women’s basketball tournament.

“You can’t score four points in one quarter,” Bowdoin Coach Adrienne Shibles said. “We needed to show a little more poise and discipline like we did in the second half.”

The Polar Bears (22-7) managed to make a game of it but couldn’t get closer than five points in the second half.

Bowdoin opened the third quarter with a 10-3 run to cut Rochester’s lead to 38-29.

“In the first half our shots just didn’t fall,” said Marle Curle, who finished with 17 points for Bowdoin.

Nothing went right for the Polar Bears in the second quarter. They were outplayed, outworked and outhustled by the Yellowjackets, who turned a 19-15 lead after one quarter into a 35-19 halftime advantage.

“You’ve got to credit Rochester for making big shots, playing great defense and putting pressure on us,” Shibles said.

“We did a good job of collecting our thoughts and we made a good run at it during the second half.”

Bowdoin had no answer for Rochester’s quickness. The Polar Bears were beaten repeatedly under the boards and couldn’t get many second-chance opportunities.

Bowdoin’s first-half plunge was largely because of its inability to shoot. It shot just 18.9 from the field in the first half and finished the game at 23.1 percent.

“We forced a lot of our shots,” Shibles said.

Senior Shannon Brady scored a game-high 22 points in her final game for Bowdoin. But after Brady and Curle, the rest of the Polar Bears combined for only 14 points.

“We never gave up,” Brady said.

In the third quarter, Bowdoin used a 13-6 run to close to within 41-35. But Rochester (23-5) responded with an 8-4 run to restore its double-digit lead at 49-39.

Again, the Polar Bears refused to go away. Curle’s layup with 2:57 remaining in the fourth quarter sliced the lead to 49-43. Then Brady connected on a set shot with 2:10 remaining to make it 49-45.

Tylar Guerrieri of Rochester then tucked the game away by swishing a 3-pointer with 1:27 remaining to build a 52-45 advantage.