Box Score BRUNSWICK, Maine - The Bowdoin College women's basketball team never trailed en route to a 70-57 victory over Babson in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament on Friday evening at Morrell Gymnasium.
The Polar Bears improve to 24-4 and advance to Saturday's second round game against Ithaca at 7:00 p.m. The Beavers end their campaign with a record of 20-9.
Sara Binkhorst came alive in the second half for Bowdoin, scoring 13 of her game-high 19 points to help the Polar Bears pull away. Marle Curle had 16 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for the Polar Bears, who got a big 13 points and six rebounds off the bench from Aly Silfen.
Giovanna Pickering led Babson with 17 points while Linnett Graber had 14. Jennifer Narlee added eight points and nine rebounds while Taylor Russell pitched in 12 off the bench.
Bowdoin scored the first five points of the game and maintained a first-half lead despite shooting struggles by both teams. Babson was able to draw within three points following a layup by Narlee, 16-13 midway through the period, but Curle immediately answered for Bowdoin with a three-pointer to push the lead back to six. Binkhorst followed with a three-pointer of her own as the Polar Bears took a seven point edge, 29-22, into the half.
Babson was able to stay within striking distance early in the second period thanks to three buckets from Taylor. But Binkhorst got hot for the Polar Bears, scoring six straight points to spark a 10-2 Bowdoin run that ended with a Silfen trifecta that pushed the lead to 48-34, with 11:55 to go.
The Beavers did not go away and used a quick 9-0 surge, keyed by seven points from Pickering, to close the gap to just five points, 52-47, with 7:50 on the clock. But Bowdoin replied with a 9-0 spurt of its own, highlighted by three-pointers from Curle and Lauren Petit, that increased the lead to 61-47 with five minutes to play. The Beavers made a late push, but could get no closer than six points for the remainder of the game and Bowdoin connected on seven late free throws to clinch the win.
Bowdoin held a 43-32 edge in rebounding and shot 39% for the game. Babson connected on just 36% of its shots, and struggled from long-distance, hitting just 2 of 14 from beyond the arc.
