Bowdoin's Callie Godrey dribbles to the basket against Brooklyn College. Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald

BRUNSWICK —  For the first three possessions against Brooklyn College, the undefeated Bowdoin women’s basketball was flustered.

Not for long, though.

After initially struggling against Brooklyn’s half-court trap defense, Bowdoin, the No. 1 team in the nation based on NPI, scored 21 straight points to close the first quarter and maintained a double-digit lead for the rest of the night, winning its first-round game in the NCAA Division III tournament, 66-42.

Bowdoin (28-0) advances to play Cortland (25-3) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Cortland beat Endicott (22-6) in Friday’s early game, 48-46.

Brooklyn finished the season 17-12.

Sophomore forward Abbie Quinn led the Polar Bears with 14 points, senior forward Callie Godfrey added 13, and senior guard Sydney Jones finished with 11 points, nine rebounds and five assists.

“I contributed to a good bit of that, where the first couple (possessions), I couldn’t just get two hands on the ball,” said Jones, who was named the NESCAC Player of the Year for the second straight season on Thursday. “Bounced it off, I think my leg, someone else’s leg two times in a row, and then they got an easy, quick steal on that last one. But I think for us, I don’t know, those things go away really quick for us. We’re a good turnaround team, and those first 90 seconds really don’t impact us as we go into the rest of the game.”

Bowdoin’s pesky defense forced 12 first-half turnovers and held the Bulldogs to 7-of-32 shooting (21.9%).

The Polar Bears cooled off after the first quarter (10 for 13 shooting, including 4 for 5 from 3-point range), but still extended their lead to 28 by halftime, using their size advantage down low.

“When you get a zone, beating it from the inside is the best way to go,” Jones said. “And they were doing a really good job of stopping the first driver. There was always a guard on me or on another girl in transition, and our posts were pretty open down low.”

Quinn added: “We definitely came into this game with the focus of getting into the paint and getting paint points. I think our guards did a great job at moving off the ball, getting into the paint, distributing to us, which really led to our success early on in that 21-0 run, and that allowed us to also kick it back out when they were starting to doubling on us.”

Maddie Wilkin leaps as Bowdoin scores in the third quarter against Brooklyn College. Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald

Bowdoin outscored Brooklyn in the paint, 38-18. The Polar Bears made 47.1% of their shots from the field and 13 of 15 free throws. Brooklyn ended the night shooting 25.9% from the field and 47.6% (10 of 21) from the stripe.

Brooklyn, which had won six straight entering the tournament, switched to an aggressive full-court trap defense in the second half. The Bulldogs forced Bowdoin into a season-high 23 turnovers and outscored the hosts 26-22 in the second half.

“One thing that we talked about is having grit, no matter the circumstance,” Brooklyn graduate guard Alina Estrella said. “That’s something that all successful people have in common. We know that we’re coming into their house, their home, so throughout everything, the highs and the lows, we need to prevail. We need to have grit, and we need to show that we’re not backing down. Like, they could punch us, but we’re still going to get back up.”

Sophomore Dior Dorsey led the Bulldogs with 16 points, while Estrella added 12. Both guards had five steals. Junior guard Anna Kitch notched nine points, five rebounds and three steals.

Despite the second-half struggles, in which reserves were largely on the court, Bowdoin coach Megan Phelps was not worried about carryover effect.

“It’s really important to cultivate a mindset that failure is an essential part of growth, and so I’m not super concerned,” Phelps said. “I think my team has really earned my respect in their ability to bounce back. … I mean, it wasn’t very fun basketball, maybe to watch in the second half, but I think, tomorrow’s a new day, and we’ll be ready to go.”