BRUNSWICK

The Bowdoin College women know a thing or two about defense and Bates learned the hard way Saturday at Morrell Gymnasium.

The women’s basketball team held Bates scoreless over a 12-minute stretch, and a 21-2 second-half skein lifted the Polar Bears to a 76-40 win.

The win improved the Polar Bears to 4-0 for the first time since 2009, while the Bobcats fell to 3-2. This was the non-conference meeting between the schools, who will play in Lewiston on Feb. 14 in a NESCAC contest.

The stifling defense held the Bobcats to just 22.8 percent from the floor (13-of-57).

Bowdoin also sported four players in double figures led by Shannon Brady’s 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting. She was followed by Megan Phelps (15), Kirsten Prue (14, 4-of-7 from 3-point land) and Sara Binkhorst (10). Prue also had seven rebounds and six assists, Binkhorst 10 rebounds and Brady six.

The Polar Bears connected on 42.4 percent of their shots, including 10-of-23 (43.5 percent) from 3-point range. Bowdoin held a 48-37 edge on the glass.

“I’m very proud of our defensive effort,” said Bowdoin coach Adrienne Shibles, who now must ready her charges for a Tuesday home match with the University of New England (4-0, averaging 74 points per game) with several of the UNE players in attendance.

“I thought we really improved over the course of the week in practice. I’ve been seeing the passion for defense, which is nice.”

Offensively? “Well, I think that when we had some of our younger kids in there it was a little bit shaky,” offered Shibles. “But, our post people are playing very well right now.”

Bowdoin jumped out to a 12-5 lead on a Binkhorst trey with 15:40 left, but the Bobcats battled and closed to within 14-12, prompting a Bowdoin timeout.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Prue and Phelps, the latter with 9:01 left, pushed Bowdoin’s lead to 22-12 and though Bates closed to within

26-22 on a Rafferty hoop, Prue nailed two 3-pointers in the final minutes to help Bowdoin to a 36-26 lead at the break.

“Kirsten is playing just amazing basketball,” lauded Shibles of the former Edward Little standout. “She’s been incredibly consistent, a great leader. She makes great adjustments on the court, which is wonderful. And, you want that kind of leadership on the court from your guards. She makes the big shots and she defended Meredith Kelly (11 points, 10 below her averaging coming into Saturday’s game).

Cold, cold Bates

Bates scored a basket in the opening minute of the second stanza to pull to within eight, but the visitors did not score again until Chelsea Nason drained a 3- pointer with 7:35 left. During that drought, Bates coach Jim Murphy used three timeouts to no avail.

A Prue 3-pointer with 18:45 remaining pushed Bowdoin’s lead back to double digits (39-28) and the Bears were literally off and running.

“I knew coming in that we had a special team,” said Shibles.

“We’re deep, we have a lot of talent. I feel like we’re right where we need to be … we still have to get better and we still have some work to do. But, they work hard, they have great attitudes and they’re a lot of fun to coach.”

Bowdoin 76, Bates 40

BOWDOIN — Shannon Brady 7-
2-16, Megan Phelps, 6-3-15,
Kirsten Prue 5-0-14, Marle Curle
0-0-0, Sara Binkhorst 2-4-10,
Sydney Hancock 1-1-4, LaShauna Phinazee 0-2-2, Nina Hadzibabic 2-0-4, Rachel Norton 1-0-
2, Maddy Fulton 1-02, Ally Silfen
0-0-0, Selena Lorrey 0-0-0, Anna
Prohl 1-0-2, Emily Campbell 2-1-
5, Siena Mitman 0-0-0.
BATES — Julia Rafferty 1-0-2,
Meredith Kelly 5-1-11,
Bernadette Connors 1-1-4,
Chelsea Nason 3-2-11, Allaina
Murphy 2-2-6, Kristin Calvo 0-0-
0, Lupe Vargas 1-0-2, Kelly
Philbrook 0-0-0, Leah Humes 0-
0-0, Kate Moody 0-2-2.
3-point field goals — (Bo) Prue
(4), Phelps (3), Binkhorst (2),
Hancock; (Ba) Nason (3), Connors. Records — Bowdoin 4-0, Bates
3-2.
Up next for Bowdoin — Hosting
4-0 University of New England
Tuesday at 6 p.m.