STANDISH, Maine – Bowdoin College (4-1) surged past Saint Joseph's College (4-3), 72-61, in a non-conference women's basketball contest on Mike McDevitt Court at the Harold Alfond Center on Wednesday evening.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Polar Bears opened the game on a 9-0 run, but the Monks rallied and trailed by three (16-13) after senior Nina Howe (York, Maine) capped the first quarter with a three-pointer. St. Joe's dominated the second stanza to the tune of a 25-8 advantage – with the help of a 10-for-13 free-throw shooting effort – and headed into intermission with a 38-24 lead.
Bowdoin dominated the third quarter by making 6-of-7 shots from three-point distance as the teams went into the fourth frame tied at 50 apiece. Sophomore guard Maria Belardi (Scranton, Pa.) made all four of her shots from beyond the arc while logging six minutes off the bench in the penultimate period.
The Polar Bears took the lead for good when they kicked off the fourth quarter with an 11-4 run, as freshman forward Abbie Quinn (Bangor, Maine) completed a traditional three-point play to lift her team to a 61-54 with 5:55 left. Howe followed suit with a three-point play of her own nine seconds later to make it a four-point game, but the Monks did not make another field goal until Angelica Hurley (Groveland, Mass.) hit a three with 1:44 on the clock.
While the hosts struggled to find their stroke, Bowdoin produced a 9-1 run to claim a game-high 12-point lead before Hurley hit the trey and kept St. Joe's off the board for the remainder of the evening.
STATS OF THE GAME:
Bowdoin netted 17 points off 17 SJC turnovers and held the lead in points in the paint (30-16) and bench points (25-16) in the triumph…The Polar Bears shot 58.1% (18-31) from the floor in the decisive second half – the Monks countered with a 29.2% (7-24) rate in the third and fourth quarters combined.
LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:
- Hurley netted 13 points with seven rebounds and three steals
- Howe added 11 points, four boards, and four assists
- Sophomore Grace Ramsdell (Wells, Maine) contributed 10 points and five rebounds
- Sophomore Elisabeth Stapelfeld (Brookline, N.H.) chipped in with nine points and a pair of caroms
- Freshman Abby Dube (Groveland, Mass.) came off the bench to score eight points
LEADERS – BOWDOIN:
- Belardi led the Polar Bears with 14 points and was 4-for-6 from downtown while playing only 18 minutes
- Senior Callie Godfrey (Cheshire, Conn.) added 12 points with two boards and a pair of assists
- Grad student Megan Tan (Belmont, Mass.) tallied 11 points, eight rebounds, and six assists
- Sophomore Carly Davey (Westford, Mass.) netted 11 points with four boards, two assists, and a pair of steals
- Junior Sydney Jones (Chestnut Hill, Mass.) approached double-double status with nine points and 10 rebounds
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
With the loss Saint Joseph's falls to 8-8 all-time versus Bowdoin College. The Monks defeated the Polar Bears by a 60-55 score in their last meeting, which took place in Brunswick on January 1st, 2022.
NEXT!
Saint Joseph's opens Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play on Saturday with a 1:00 PM game versus University of Saint Joseph.
