BRUNSWICK — The new top-ranked team in Division III, the Bowdoin College women’s basketball team, sprinted past MIT, 78-57, in a non-conference win at Morrell Gymnasium on Sunday afternoon.

The Polar Bears remained unbeaten at 4-0, while MIT dropped its second straight game to a top-10 team and fell to 3-2.

After a weekend loss by Amherst to Eastern Connecticut State (70-67), Bowdoin claimed the No. 1 ranking according to d3hoops.com.

Hot early shooting by the Engineers put the Polar Bears in an early hole as the visitors held a 14-10 lead following a Kara Holinski 3-pointer with 3:37 left in the first quarter.

Bowdoin got hot from the field, sparked by a Hannah Graham 3-pointer, to close the quarter on a 15-5 surge to take a 25-19 lead at the end of the frame.

The Polar Bears clamped down defensively in the second quarter, holding MIT to 28-percent shooting as they slowly pulled away. The Engineers came within three points after a Kristen Ngan trey, 29-26, but Bowdoin closed the half on a 14-4 run to take a 43-30 lead into halftime.

Bowdoin put all thoughts of a comeback to bed with a 9-0 run out of the gate in the second half, keyed by another Graham 3-pointer.

The Polar Bear lead sat at over 20 points for almost the entirety of the second half as Bowdoin led by as many as 27 points in the fourth quarter en route to the win.

Eleven different players scored for Bowdoin, led by 16 and six rebounds from Stewart and 14 points off the bench from Graham. Taylor Choate (12) and Maddie Hasson (10) also saw double figures, while Samantha Roy had seven points and eight assists.

Taylor V’Dovec battled foul trouble to score a team-high 13 points for MIT. Kristen Ngan and Kara Holinski had 11 points each for the Engineers.

Bowdoin finished at 50.8-percent shooting for the game and held MIT to 34.5-percent from the field. The Polar Bears owned a 41-32 edge in rebounding and cashed in 17 points off 17 MIT turnovers.

Bowdoin has the week off and will return to action this upcoming Saturday at Colby, with tip-off slated for 2 p.m.

Men’s hockey

BRUNSWICK — Bowdoin pinned a 5-2 setback on visiting Wentworth in the opening day of the Bowdoin/Colby Face-off Classic inside Sidney J. Watson Arena on Saturday.

Bowdoin opened the scoring at 4:26 as Cody Todesco tallied his first of the season. Jason Cahoon controlled the puck on the right point and passed to Todesco on the near side. The senior handled the puck in stride and skated across the goal face before tucking a shot inside the left post.

Graham Rutledge doubled the goal total for the Polar Bears with under five minutes to play in the period. On the right post, the first-year pulled the puck around Thomas Draper’s pads and slid it inside the pipe.

On the penalty kill, Ronnie Lestan fought for possession of the puck in the left corner of Wentworth’s zone. Lestan won the puck and centered a pass to Christian Capello, who skated in and bested Draper with a quick finish in the final minute of action.

Wentworth got on the board nine minutes into the second frame. Dante Flori skated along the left boards and skated into Bowdoin territory before knuckling a floater over the blocker of Erik Wurman.

Bowdoin responded as Collin Van der Veen took a shot from the top of the slot. Pat Geary waited low, screening the goalie and tipping the puck into the net at 11:22.

Georgy Gorodetsky found Nate Chase with a breakout pass going into the Bowdoin zone. Chase controlled the puck past a defender and earned an open look at Wurman. Chase pulled the puck left across the goal face and put in Wentworth’s second of the period.

Lestan capped the game with an empty-net goal in the final 20 seconds, dumping the puck on net as he connected with a Wentworth player along the boards in front of Bowdoin’s bench.

Wentworth went 0-for-3 on the power play and surrendered one short-handed goal. Draper made 21 stops for the Leopards (3-4-3).

Wurman made 30 saves for the Polar Bears. Lestan paced the offense with three points off a goal and two assists. Van der Veen recorded three assists.

On Sunday at Waterville, Bowdoin fell to 2-3 after a 6-4 loss to SUNY Potsdam.

Potsdam scored three goals in the first period.

Albert Washco scored a hat trick for the Polar Bears, who visit Colby on Saturday at 7 p.m.

Men’s basketball

BABSON PARK, Mass. — Bowdoin failed to overcome an early deficit in an 84-63 setback to Babson on Sunday afternoon.

The Polar Bears fell to 2-2. The Beavers improved to 3-2.

Tied at two apiece in the early going, the Beavers went on a 16-2 run over the next five minutes to take a commanding 18-4 lead early in the first half. The Beavers hit eight 3-pointers in the first half and held a commanding 25-13 advantage in rebounding over the first 20 minutes to take a 54-27 edge at the break.

Bowdoin used a 10-2 run to cut the lead to 17 points, 76-59, with 5:30 to go, but an Andrew Jaworski trey pushed the lead back to 20 points and the Polar Bears got no closer for the remainder of the game.

Babson connected on 13 3-pointers, hitting on 44-percent from long range. Bowdoin was 2-for-14 from beyond the arc.

Jack Simonds led Bowdoin with 19 points and seven rebounds, while David Reynolds had 16 points and seven boards. Zavier Rucker added 12 points for the Polar Bears.

Frank Oftring led all scorers with 22 points and added 10 rebounds for the Beavers.

Bowdoin heads to Farmington to play Maine-Farmington on Tuesday evening at 7:30 p.m. before returning to Brunswick for their home opener on Thursday night against Colby (7 p.m.).

Women’s hockey

BOSTON — Host UMass-Boston shut out Bowdoin, 2-0, on Sunday afternoon in the consolation round of the Codfish Bowl.

The Polar Bears are still in search of their first win and sit at 0-4. The Beacons are 4-5-1 on the year.

Despite outshooting the Beacons, 15-5, in the opening period, Bowdoin was unable to find the net. The teams entered the first intermission scoreless.

UMass-Boston broke the game open seven minutes into the second period. The Beacons converted 1:30 into the power play off a goal by Edy Moritz.

An empty-net goal in the final eight seconds of the game extended the Beacons edge to 2-0.

Bowdoin held a 29-22 edge in shots and went 0-for-4 on the power play. UMass-Boston went 1-for-5 with the extra skater.

Harpswell’s Kerri St. Denis made 20 saves for Bowdoin, while Caty Flagg made 29 stops for the shutout.

Bowdoin hosts Endicott on Friday at 7 p.m.

 

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