BRUNSWICK, Maine -- The Bowdoin College women's basketball team got 19 points and 10 rebounds from Leah Rubega en route to an 84-53 victory over rival Bates on Friday evening at Morrell Gymnasium. The Polar Bears improve to 14-3 (2-0 NESCAC) while the Bobcats lose for the first time in four games, dropping to 13-5 (2-1).

Senior Val Beckwith (Woburn, Mass.) paced the Bobcats with 17 points, but no other Bobcat reached double figures. Sophomore Christine McCall (Lowell, Mass.) grabbed a team-high 6 rebounds, while first-year Annie Burns (Topsfield, Mass.) dished out 5 assists.

Bates will play at Colby tomorrow at 3 p.m.

Rubega, playing in her first game since December 11 due to injury, helped the Polar Bears dominate the glass as Bowdoin held a 51-25 advantage on the boards. After a tightly-played first 10 minutes of the game, Bowdoin outscored Bates 23-11 over the final 9:04 to take a 40-27 edge at intermission. Consecutive three-pointers by Katie Bergeron, Alexa Kaubris and Sabrina Cote sparked the run as the Polar Bears shot 50% for the half and assisted on 13 of their 17 buckets.

Bates was able to trim the lead to 10 points, 45-35, early in the second frame, but Bowdoin responded with a decisive 17-0 run that extended their lead to 62-35 with 11:45 remaining. Bergeron hit a three-pointer to key the run while Rubega pitched in eight points in the surge.

Rubega's game-high 19 points came on 9-of-15 shooting from the field while seven of her 10 boards were offensive. Katie Bergeron connected on four trifectas and finished with 16 points while Maria Noucas dished out nine assists for the evening against no turnovers.

STATS: Bowdoin 84, Bates 53