BRUNSWICK

Home against the second ranked team in Division III women’s basketball, a big crowd turned out at Morrell Gymnasium ready to cheer on their Bowdoin College Polar Bears on Friday night.

But, Amherst had other ideas, quieting the Bowdoin faithful with a game-beginning 11-0 run and easily handling the Polar Bears, 66-45, in New England Small College Athletic Conference action.

The Purple & White left Bowdoin with a perfect 16- 0 record, including 4-0 in the NESCAC, while the Polar Bears dropped to 2-2 in conference play, 12-3 overall.

Amherst showed its talent right out of the gate, scoring on its first three possessions and finishing the 11-0 run with a 3-pointer by Ali Doswell.

“They put us back on our heels and we didn’t control the things that we could control with poise, we didn’t box out, didn’t get our rotations or take away middle penetrations,” said Bowdoin coach Adrienne Shibles. “We sort of lost our focus with their run. They are long and athletic. Credit to them, they are a great team, a skilled and well-coached team.”

Bowdoin finally found the scoreboard when Emily Campbell entered the game and made three free throws. Taylor Choate hit a short jumper, and Campbell scored two buckets inside to get the Polar Bears to 15-9.

Amherst guard Jaimie Renner hit a trey to close the opening quarter, giving the Purple & White a 20-11 advantage.

Another run

Amherst opened the second quarter strong again, scoring the first eight points for a 28-11 lead, and 14-3 spurt to close the half upped the advantage to 42- 18 at the intermission.

“We’ve had trouble in this gym before and knew that we had to come out strong and put the game away early,” said Doswell, who led the second-quarter Amherst onslaught by scoring seven points. “We are tall in the guard play. We try to pressure people around the top. If teams get inside, we try to pressure and help. We had to get our rotations down and we did that.”

Bowdoin continued to test Amherst inside, but the Purple & White refused to allow an easy basket, with Meredith Doswell blocking four shots and Jackie Nagle getting her hands on three Polar Bear attempts.

“We talked about going more high-low, and if they were going to collapse, we would look opposite with our penetration, but in the heat of the moment in making those reads, we didn’t show our poise against a long athletic team,” said Shibles.

Amherst’s lead continued to grow in the second half, extending out to a game-high 30 points, 62-32, on a Madeline Eck put-back. Bowdoin closed the game on a 13-4 spurt to get a bit closer at the end.

“We played even in the second half, but I just wish we would have had more poise in the first half,” said Shibles.

Ali Doswell, who had a game-high 15 points, said her team knew that they had to prepare for several combinations of Bowdoin players.

“They keep us on our feet, and they play 15 or 16 players. We have to be ready to play against them all,” said the senior. “We knew coming in here about their rotation, and we were prepared.”

Eck came off the Amherst bench to score 14 points, while Emma McCarthy had 10. The Purple & White outrebounded Bowdoin, 44-31, with Meredith Doswell grabbing nine and McCarthy eight. Renner dished out seven assists.

Brunswick native Lydia Caputi joined Campbell with a team-high 11 points for 16th-ranked Bowdoin, which shot 31.6-percent (18-of-57).

Saturday afternoon

Bowdoin bounced back on Saturday, overcoming a 10- point second half deficit for a 76- 61 NESCAC win over Trinity at Brunswick.

The Polar Bears improved to 13-3 overall, 3- 2 NESCAC, while the Bantams fell to 11-5, 2-3 NESCAC.

Trinity led 37-32 at the half thanks to 58- percent shooting from the field. The Bantams came out strong to open the second half, scoring the first five points for a 42- 32 edge.

Bowdoin clawed back into the game thanks to eight points apiece from Caputi and Marle Curle in the third quarter and evened the score at 53 on a Curle hoop-and-harm late in the period.

Abigail Kelly gave Bowdoin its first lead since the opening quarter with a 3-pointer on Bowdoin’s next possession, but Trinity was able to trim the lead to 56-55 at the end of three quarters.

Bowdoin owned the fourth, scoring 20 points and holding Trinity to just six.

Caputi picked up a game-high 19 points for the Polar Bears, with Kate Kerrigan adding 17 points, four rebounds, four assists, four steals and three blocked shots to pace Bowdoin. Kelly chipped in a dozen points off the bench.

Bowdoin will travel to Bangor to play Husson at 7 p. m. on Tuesday night.

Amherst 66,
Bowdoin 45

Friday, at Morrell Gymnasium in
Brunswick
Amherst — 20 22 12 12 – 66
Bowdoin — 11 7 12 15 – 45
Amherst — Jaimie Renner 1-1-4,
Meredith Doswell 4-0-8, Emma
McCarthy 4-2-10, Hannah Hackley
4-0-8, Ali Doswell 6-0-15, Meghan
Sullivan 0-0-0, JJ Daniell 0-0-0,
Madeline Eck 6-1-14, Jenna Schumaker 0-0-0, Cam Hendricks 0-0-
0, Maeve McNamara 0-0-0, Hannah Fox 0-0-0, Jackie Nagle 3-1-7.
Totals — 28-5-66.
Bowdoin — Kate Kerrigan 0-0-0,
Rachel Norton 1-0-2, Marle Curle
1-1-3, Lydia Caputi 5-0-11, Abigail
Kelly 1-0-2, Sydney Hancock 0-1-
1, Sam Roy 1-0-3, Taylor Choate
1-0-2, Lauren Petit 0-0-0, Hannah
Cooke 0-0-0, Maddie Hasson 1-0-
2, Ally Silfen 1-2-4, Olivia Ware 0-
0-0, Emily Campbell 4-3-11, Hannah Graham 0-0-0, Cordelia Stewart 2-0-4. Totals — 18-7-45.
3-point field goals — (A) A.
Doswell 3, Renner, Eck; (B) Caputi,
Roy.
Records — Amherst 16-0, 4-0
NESCAC; Bowdoin 12-3, 2-2
NESCAC.
Up next for the Polar Bears —
Tuesday at Husson, 7 p.m.

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