Brunswick, ME.— After a tumultuous fourth quarter that saw Bowdoin holding their first lead in over 30 minutes, Williams regrouped defensively to keep the Polar Bears to just 14% shooting in the last three and a half minutes of play. Clutch shots for the Ephs put the game out of reach, and the final score was 48-40 Williams.
Despite a tough first half of shooting for Bowdoin, the Polar Bears came out of the break with passion. They went on a 13-3 run to start the third quarter, spurred on by three shots from behind the arc. Going into the final quarter, it seemed as if the game's momentum had shifted.
The Polar Bears kept pushing, beginning the fourth with another 8-2 run. However, something clicked for Williams as Mia Holtze buried a three at 3:27. The Ephs would go on to score a blazing fourteen points in the final three and a half minutes, and their defensive energy would keep the Polar Bears at bay. 9-10 shooting from the stripe was key to the Eph effort, and Williams was able to close out the game with a comfortable eight point victory.
It took the Ephs a while to get things going at the beginning. Though Bowdoin didn't necessarily start the game hot, they'd made a three and a jumper to go up 5-0 before Arianna Gerig got Williams' first two points with a jumper of her own.
Suddenly the Ephs found their spark. After a block by Maddy Mandyck, Devin Biesbrock sunk a three to even the game up. Bowdoin retaliated with a three of their own, but those would be their last points of the quarter. The Ephs put up seven more, and the score at the beginning of the second quarter was 12-8.
Williams' defense was truly remarkable throughout the first half. The Polar Bears were kept to just 16% on their field goal attempts in the first twenty minutes of play. Meanwhile, the Ephs kept their offense going in the second quarter, scoring a solid twelve points in the quarter. The effort began with the first possession of the quarter, as Ellie Tounkara drove to the left and laid the ball off the glass, and ended with a free throw for Maddy Mandyck— the last point before the break.
Though Cortland McBarron sank a long jumper to start the third quarter, Bowdoin scored back to back threes on their first two possessions, setting the precedent they would follow to round out their fifteen point quarter. The third quarter would be the only period in which the Polar Bears out shot the Ephs, and the seven points they cut off the lead in the quarter would put them within striking distance to take away Williams' lead.
In the fourth Bowdoin did just that— scoring from the line and at the rim to give the Polar Bears the lead with 4:15 to play. But in the end, Williams seemed to want the game more. The Ephs played as well as they had all game to finish out the final quarter, and though Bowdoin tried to keep up their momentum, Williams overtook them again in what would prove to be the final lead change of the game.
After the game, Eph head coach Pat Manning talked about the team's play down the stretch, noting contributions from across the squad. "Momentum shifted — they went on a run and took the lead. But then Mia came down and hit that three right away. I think it was such a gutsy win because we really had to work for it. I give a lot of credit to Maddy and Devin. Cortland (McBarron) played amazing defense, Maddy and Devin playing forty minutes today, Maddy almost had another double-double," (14 and 9, with 3 assists, 3 blocks, and 2 steals as well) "and then Mia off the bench had seven rebounds and nine points at key times. Ellie came in and got three O boards, she kept plays alive for us."
The Ephs out rebounded the Polar Bears 44-37 on the way to the win. "The rebounding, that was really key," added Manning. "We had focused on our rebounding, and both games this weekend we won the rebounding stat. That was a big part of the game."
Defense was another strong point for the Ephs. Bowdoin shot just 22% through the afternoon. "The defense that we came out with to start the game and [played] throughout the whole first half was phenomenal," said Manning. "In the third quarter we eased up too much. We didn't pressure as hard as we did in the first half, but we got it back as the quarter went on. We knew we wanted to get out to a great start— we've struggled here early in the past, and then we were always digging ourselves out of a hole, so we were really determined to start with our defense and really control the defensive tempo."
This afternoon's win was Williams' first against a nationally ranked team this season, but when asked about this fact, Manning pointed out that the game's importance ran deeper than rankings: "We didn't really talk about that," Manning stated. "I think 2013 was our last win at Bowdoin, and that was our Final Four team. So none of our players had ever had a win over Bowdoin. It was just a very determined group out there, and just great energy from the bench. It was a team win."
The Ephs will play their next game against Amherst in a Little Three match this Wednesday. The game will take place at 7PM in Amherst, Mass.
