MEDFORD, Mass. - The Amherst College women's basketball team will play in the NESCAC Championship final for the seventh straight season after pulling out a 45-42 victory over Bowdoin in the semi-final round of the conference tournament on Saturday at Tufts.

The Lord Jeffs (24-2) will face the host Jumbos in the final on Sunday at noon inside Tufts' Cousens Gym. Amherst will be playing for its sixth NESCAC title overall and fifth in a row. Bowdoin drops to 21-5 and will await a possible NCAA Championship at-large berth when selections are made on Monday.

The third-seeded Polar Bears, trailing for the majority of the second half, came back to tie the score at 42-42 on a lay-up by junior Sara Binkhorst with 46 seconds remaining in regulation. However, Amherst's Savannah Holness rebounded a miss at the other end and put it back with 33 ticks to go giving the Lord Jeffs a 44-42 advantage.

Bowdoin then missed a shot and Ali Doswell grabbed the rebound for Amherst. She was fouled and made one of two at the line with 15 seconds remaining to increase the lead to 45-42.

The Polar Bears had a chance to tie it coming out of a time-out, but Selena Lorrey's three-pointer was blocked by Amherst's Marley Giddis who also corraled the rebound to end the game.

The contest was tightly contested throughout, with the margin only once going beyond six points. Bowdoin came out of the chute 6-0 and never trailed in the opening 20 minutes. They had the biggest lead of the game at 18-10 when Anna Prohl capped a 7-0 spurt with a three-pointer at 3:29.

Bowdoin led 20-16 at the end of a first half during which neither team played particularly well. The Polar Bears turned the ball over 12 times while Amherst shot 21.4 percent (6/28) with 11 turnovers. Shannon Brady had six points at intermission for Bowdoin and Doswell led Amherst with 11.

Amherst wouldn't take its first lead until the 14-minute mark of the second half when Giddins made a lay-up for a 26-24 edge. Prohl answered for Bowdoin, but the Lord Jeffs scored the next five points and were up 31-26 on a Giddins free throw at 11:27.

Most of the final 10 minutes would be played with Amherst leading a one-possession game. Bowdoin's Lorrey hit a three at 8:54 cutting the Lord Jeffs' margin to 34-33. Doswell had a three for Amherst, but Prohl's lay-up at 4:50 made it a one-point Amherst margin again (38-37).

With Amherst up 42-39 on a Giddins lay-up with 2:15 left, the Polar Bears rallied to tie it on Binkhorst's free throw at 1:55 and then her lay-up with 46 seconds to go before the Lord Jeffs were able to earn the win.

Doswell complemented her game-high 15 points with eight rebounds. Giddins had 11 points and eight rebounds for Amherst. Hannah Peterson finished wtih eight points and six rebounds. Holness blocked four shots and had eight rebounds. The Lord Jeffs won despite shooting 29.6 percent (16/54). They made six threes, four by Doswell.

Bowdoin out-rebounded Amherst 51-36 led by nine from Brady to go with a team-high 10 points and two blocks. Megan Phelps also led with nine boards. Binkhorst finished with nine points, while Prohl recorded eight points and eight rebounds.