BRUNSWICK, Maine - The Bowdoin College women's basketball team opened the game on a 21-2 run and cruised to a 71-46 win over Williams College in the quarterfinals of the New England Small College Athletic Conference Tournament Saturday at Morrell Gymnasium.

The third-seeded Polar Bears (21-4) advance to play second-seeded Amherst in the conference semifinals next Saturday at Tufts University. Bowdoin improves to 22-0 all-time at home in NESCAC Tournament games. Williams falls to 20-5 on the season and remains winless in conference tournament play all-time against the Polar Bears (0-6).

Sara Binkhorst was outstanding for Bowdoin, scoring a game-high 22 points, on 8-14 shooting from the field, to go with seven assists and two steals. Megan Phelps had 12 points and eight rebounds while Shannon Brady notched 10 with six boards and two blocks. Siena Mitman pitched in 10 points and six caroms off the bench for the Polar Bears.

Williams was paced by 11 points and six rebounds from Oge Uwanaka. Devon Caveney had eight points off the bench for the Ephs.

Bowdoin left little doubt about the result by storming out of the gate to a 21-2 lead after just eight minutes of play. Binkhorst scored 10 points in the surge as the Polar Bears took command early. Bowdoin continued to pour it on later in the period, using an 11-1 run and took a 43-15 lead into halftime. The Polar Bears forced 12 first half turnovers and held the Ephs to just 20% shooting from the field.

The second half was more of the same, as Bowdoin extended its lead to as many as 37 points en route to victory. Bowdoin held a 49-32 edge in rebounding and dished out 20 assists on 26 field goals.

More information about the NESCAC Semifinals will be available Monday at www.nescac.com