BRUNSWICK

One last time, Bowdoin College senior women’s basketball players Kate Kerrigan, Lydia Caputi and Lauren Petit heard the roar of the Morrell Gymnasium crowd as they walked to their bench, with big smiles on their faces, after leading the Polar Bears back to the NCAA Division III “Sweet 16.”

On Saturday in the NCAA second round against FDU-Florham, Bowdoin used a half-closing 10-2 run to take control and a second-half opening 8-0 spurt to put the Devils from New Jersey away, 79-57.

Bowdoin will take on Scranton in the next round, with the home site to be determined later today. Tufts and Messiah are the other teams in the Polar Bears’ bracket.

Against FDU-Florham, Kerrigan put the Polar Bears on her back, just like she has done throughout her Bowdoin career. Kerrigan had a team-leading 18 points, 13 rebounds, five steals and four assists. Even when coach Adrienne Shibles inserted her three seniors into the lineup for their late-game curtain call, Kerrigan didn’t slow down, charging into the paint for one last offensive rebound before a whistle allowed the coach to bring her seniors to the bench.

“She gets in there and grinds for another rebound, where I just wanted her to go in and take it easy, but that is not Kate,” said Shibles.

“It is always fun to compete against good teams, and I was excited to see how we made the adjustments and came out on top,” said Kerrigan.

In a game that had the feel of a high-scoring, back-and-forth affair, it came down to Bowdoin’s relentless defense. The Polar Bears forced 16 turnovers and outrebounded the visitors, 48- 36.

“We didn’t start so strong on the boards, but we did a good job in the second quarter and in the second half,” said Shibles.

Fast frame

Neither team held anything back to open the contest. FDU-Florham (22-6) leading scorer Taiah Thornton scored eight points, while Kendrea Williams added six. For Bowdoin, Hannah Graham nailed a pair of 3-pointers for six points, with Petit coming out strong for a second straight day, scoring her team’s first five points, including a long trey that tied the game early.

“We all had the mentality to be in the attack mode from the get-go and get them back on their heels,” said Petit. “We didn’t want to give them any confidence.”

But, the Devils had some confidence, using a trey from Williams and a quick layup by Thornton for a 16- 13 lead.

However, Bowdoin (26-2) found a rhythm, ending the quarter with an 8-2 spurt for a 21-18 advantage after 10 minutes.

“I wasn’t concerned, but that wasn’t what we wanted to do defensively, giving up that many points. They are super athletic, they slash and they are a balanced squad and I knew they would give us a battle,” said Shibles.

FDU-Florham continued to stay close in the second quarter as Thornton picked up five more points, with the Devils trailing just 28-26.

“She is a great player,” said Shibles of Thornton after watching the sophomore lead all scorers with 13 points at the break.

“I am trying to get to where I can shoot, and if I can get into the lane, I will take it to the basket,” said Thornton.

Fouls began catching up to FDU-Florham, along with an injury to inside presence Bria Smith, who went down in a heap inside the paint with 2:22 remaining until halftime.

“The second quarter was tough,” FDU-Florham coach Marc Mitchell said. “Three of our starters had two fouls and we tried to fight through that.”

Petit started the late first-half run with a short jumper, and Cordelia Stewart put home her own miss for a 32-26 Bowdoin lead. After a pair of free throws by Williams, Stewart made 1-of-2 at the line, followed by consecutive baskets by Kerrigan as the Polar Bears sprinted to the locker room with a 38-28 lead.

“That was a huge run, going into the half with that cushion, and I could see that the adjustments that we were making were working,” said Shibles. “We changed our ball-screen defense three times and ended up doing something that we don’t typically do.”

“We just didn’t do what we were supposed to do,” added Mitchell. “We didn’t do some of the little things that we should have done in certain situations. Bowdoin did exactly what they were supposed to do.”

The 8-0 run to open the second half upped Bowdoin’s lead to 46-28 with 6:39 left in the third quarter.

“We talked about the importance of coming out strong for the second half,” Shibles said.

“They were what we expected, and we just didn’t capitalize on our chances,” said Thornton, who tried to keep her team in the game with six third-quarter points, finishing with a game-high 24.

Bowdoin kept charging in the third, with Kerrigan adding five points, along with four big points from freshman Annie Maher, whose second basket gave the Polar Bears a 58- 41 edge late in the frame.

The fourth quarter began the curtain call for the seniors as Bowdoin’s lead stretched out to as many as 22 points, 71-49.

“It was awesome and it helped that we had a huge crowd come, a lot of students came, and it was special for those freshmen and sophomores who came in for us as well,” said Petit.

The win on Saturday helped erase last season’s disappointing first-round exit for the Polar Bears.

“Last year was a big lesson for us, and we realized that we had to show up, that no one was going to hand us anything,” said Kerrigan. “ We came in focused and ready to work every single day. We came out firing. It is special to be one of 16 teams that gets to practice on Monday.”

It also helped ease the team’s NESCAC semifinal loss to Tufts a week earlier.

“We all hate to lose a lot, but I do think that losing like that is an opportunity for growth and we embraced that,” said Shibles. “The team practiced really hard all week. We went hard and focused on rebounding, along with some of the things we didn’t execute well against Tufts.”

For FDU- Florham, Mitchell has a lot to look forward to, with only two seniors graduating and his entire starting lineup set to return.

“ I am super excited about the future. Our commitments that we have, with the players we have coming back, it’s exciting,” said the coach.

Petit had 10 points for Bowdoin, while Graham added nine points, and Taylor Choate, Caputi and Stewart with seven points apiece.

Gabrielle Harris finished with 12 points for the Devils, followed by 10 points and six rebounds for Smith.

Bowdoin 94, Husson 32

The Polar Bears opened on Friday with a dominating win over the Eagles.

Bowdoin was never challenged in this one, using a 20-0 run in the first quarter to claim a 24-8 edge after 10 minutes. The Polar Bears kept rolling in the second, closing the half on a 12-2 spurt for a 45-14 halftime lead.

All 14 Polar Bears saw action in the half, which saw Bowdoin shoot 45.9-percent and hit six 3-pointers, while Husson made just 6-of-27 shots (22.2-percent).

Husson came out strong in the early stages of the second half as Kenzie Worcester hit the Eagles’ only trey (1-of-17), while Joan Overman and Anna MacKenzie scored inside.

But, Bowdoin closed the third quarter on a 24-4 spree, then opened the fourth by scoring the first 13 points for an 86-27 lead.

Choate led the Polar Bears with 14 points, while Kerrigan chipped in 10 points, three assists and two steals. Graham hit three shots from beyond the arc for nine points, with Petit adding eight points, and Caputi, Sam Roy, Maddie Hassan and Fallon Field chipping in seven points apiece.

Worcester had 13 points to pace Husson, which finished the season with a 19-10 mark.

FDU-Florham 70, Skidmore 66

The Devils used 7-0 late run for a 10-point lead, then held off Skidmore in the opening game of the regional inside Morrell Gymnasium on Friday.

Leading 60-57 with 2:25 remaining, FDU-Florham received a 3-pointer from Williams, along with a pair of hoops from Smith and Harris for a 67-57 lead with one minute remaining.

The Thoroughbreds made things interesting when Veronica Moceri nailed a pair of treys in within 12 seconds to close Skidmore to 67-63. But, Thornton made a pair of free throws to ice it for the Devils.

Thornton led all scorers with 23 points, while Smith added 18, Williams 11 and Harris 10. Smith pulled down 10 rebounds, while Raven Dowling dished out nine assists.

Moceri scored all 16 of her points in the second half to equal teammate Kelly Donnelly for team-scoring honors. Donnelly also had 11 rebounds and four steals.