BRUNSWICK, MAINE - Coming off their important win last night against Colby, the Williams College Ephs (13-9) had a huge challenge in front of them as they visited the undefeated #4 ranked Bowdoin College Polar Bears (22-0). Williams played a strong second quarter and shot rather efficiently but Bowdoin's offensive versatility and finishing ability was overwhelming. Bowdoin would win 80-56 and lock in the top seed in the NESCAC Tournament.
Bowdoin wasted no time getting ahead with the reigning NESCAC player of the year Sydney Jones with two back-to-back drives finishing over the Williams defense. She would finish as the leading scorer with 22 points. For the Ephs, their All-NESCAC player,
Arianna Gerig, returned the favor with the drives but soon the offensive firepower for the Polar Bears was too much to handle. Bowdoin would go on a 10-0 run with their internal passing plays and took control of the game from this point. With under two minutes, Williams closed the gap with a beautiful scoop lay-up from
Skylar Chui in traffic and
Sarah Pettegrove found
Tatum Leuenberger open down low for an easy lay-up. However, the Polar Bears closed the quarter with a 6-0 run and led 24-10 heading into the second quarter.
Despite the demoralizing start to the game, the Ephs changed their approach at the beginning of the second quarter. Williams relied on their shooting to create opportunities.
Mairi Smith stretched the floor with her soft touch and sharpshooting senior
Ellie Tounkara connected on a wing-three. Bowdoin would answer the shooting challenge with the help of some lucky bounces, 31-21. The Polar Bears were fighting hard to maintain their double-digit lead and while their dynamic offense certainly proved to be a problem for Williams, the Ephs found cracks in their defense and executed exactly as planned.
Cortland McBarron was instrumental in the second quarter, with valuable steals and a hard drive that along with three free throws from Tounkara, shrunk the Bowdoin lead to 37-30. Unfortunately for Williams, the Polar Bears finished the second quarter in a similar fashion to the first and ended on a 6-1 run and were up 43-31 before halftime.
Out of halftime, the offenses for both teams slowed down and it became a much more of a grinded-out game. With their double-digit lead, Bowdoin could afford to play like this but Williams could not. Gerig was doing all she could to try and create baskets and she finished with 6 assists but the shooting for Williams was not connecting like it was in the second quarter. Halfway through, the Polar Bears strung together a 7-0 run built on difficult and well-contested inside makes, 52-35. This run soon became 14-2 with Bowdoin guard Mairi Belardi shooting 4/4 from deep. The sparks for Williams came from
Micah Walton who connected on a gorgeous self-created mid-range make and a 5-0 run to close the quarter but it was only a small dent in the 64-45 Bowdoin lead.
The fourth quarter resembled that of the previous quarter with both teams keeping most of their starters in until the three-minute mark. Walton and
Logan Coster had clean jumpers in the fourth along with underclassmen
Hanorah Murphy and
Hannah Surrette scoring well-orchestrated baskets down the stretch. Bowdoin would win 80-56, staying undefeated and guaranteeing themselves the top seed in NESCAC.
On the positives in the defeat and looking ahead to their final regular season weekend, Eph head coach
Pat Manning said, "We fought hard and the second quarter was our best quarter. We competed but their defense was so strong and we did not get anything easy. I liked how hard we competed. Micah and Arianna attacked well. We got good minutes off the bench from some people, including Cortland… We got beat on the boards hard and they had 17 offensive rebounds. Our defense would start well but we could not close out their possession… Overall, they are just a very good team. We are coming off an eight-game away streak, so we are glad to get back to Chandler and regroup and play strong."
The Ephs road stretch has ended and they will need to regroup before this coming Friday, February 14th when they play Hamilton College at home at 7 pm.
