AMHERST, Mass. - The Amherst College women's basketball team received dominant performances from Jaci Daigneault and Caroline Stedman to deal Bowdoin it's first-ever NESCAC Championship game loss on Sunday, 72-37 at LeFrak Gymnasium. The Jeffs (26-1) earn their third conference crown in the last four years while Bowdoin (22-5) falls to 8-1 all-time in NESCAC title games.
The Jeffs will receive the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament while Bowdoin is likely to receive an at-large selection when pairings are announced on Monday afternoon. The NCAA Tournament Selection Show will air Monday at 3 p.m. on NCAA.com.
Stedman finished with a game-high 23 points and three steals, with Daigneault adding 19 points, seven rebounds and three steals of her own. Katie Bergeron led Bowdoin with 12 points, 10 of which came in the first half. Nicole Coombes added eight points and pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. The Polar Bears turned the ball over 20 times and shot just 1-of-9 from three-point range, as they were held below 40 points for the first time all year.
Amherst used a pair of three-pointers from Shannon Finucane to build an early lead, pushing its advantage to 10 points (16-6) after a 7-0 run. Bowdoin managed only three points during an eight-minute stretch despite working hard on the glass and getting several second and third chances, as the Polar Bears shot only 23.8 percent (5-of-21) from the floor in the first half and trailed 34-16 at intermission.
The first nine minutes of the second half featured a 13-4 run by Amherst, with Daigneault doing a little bit of everything for the Jeffs to account for 10 of those points. Amherst shut down the visitors and pushed its lead to 29 points on several occasions, finally bringing it to 30 (59-29) when Stedman buried another triple from the corner. The Polar Bears never got to within fewer than 26, as the Jeffs pulled away for the 72-37 win.
Amherst and Bowdoin have combined to win all 11 NESCAC titles since the conference's championship format began in 2001, with the Lord Jeffs claiming the 2008, 2010 and 2011 crowns. Amherst increased its overall win streak to 13 games and is now unbeaten in its past 45 home contests.
