BOX
SCORE
MIDDLETOWN, Conn. - The Bowdoin College women's basketball team
moved itself one step closer to claiming the top seed in the NESCAC
Tournament with a 63-52 win over Wesleyan University on Friday
evening. Now 7-1 in NESCAC play (19-4 overall) and owning the
tie-breaker over Amherst with a head-to-head win, Bowdoin can
secure the top seed and home-court advantage by defeating Conn.
College (0-8 in NESCAC play) in the final game of the regular
season Saturday. Wesleyan is now 11-10 (3-5 NESCAC).
First-year Jill Henrikson broke a 41-41 tie with 9:18 remaining as
Bowdoin went on a game-clinching 13-2 run over the next 3:09,
pulling ahead 54-43 with 6:09 to go. The 11-point bulge proved to
be the game's largest lead as Wesleyan got as close as six,
56-50, with 3:11 to go on senior Meredith Lowe's three-point
play, but the Cardinals failed to convert on two possessions to
possibly reduce the deficit to one possession. Junior Cailtin Hynes
hit a big basket with two minutes to go to put the Polar Bears up,
58-50. Lowe again made it a six-point gap at the 1:53 mark.
Wesleyan again failed twice to reduce the difference and Bowdoin
went 5-for-6 at the line in the final 48 seconds to seal the
victory.
Henrikson scored 19 points to lead Bowdoin. It was her fifth
straight game in double-figures and 11th time this season. She was
within two points of her career high of 21 against Colby the sixth
game of the year. Hynes added 15 along with a team-high six
rebounds. Wesleyan got 16 points and seven boards from grad student
Lucy Sprung while all-time leading scorer senior Ali Fourney added
13 on the night.
Bowdoin opened the game with a 7-0 lead only to see Wesleyan come
back to take a 23-18 lead on a three-pointer by Sprung with 4:32 to
go before intermission. Bowdoin closed out the period with a 14-4
burst to take a 32-27 lead into the locker room. Sophomore Katie
Bergeron scored seven of her 11 points in a span of 40 seconds to
trigger the run. Bowdoin, now 19-4 on the year, won its fifth in a
row his season and improved its all-time record vs. Wesleyan to
24-4.
