LEWISTON, Maine -- No. 7 nationally ranked Bowdoin outscored the Bates women's basketball team in each quarter, cruising to a 75-30 victory Saturday in the in-state rivals' yearly non-conference matchup.
The Polar Bears (9-0) limited the Bobcats (2-6) to season lows in field goal percentage (8-for-54, .148) and three-point shooting percentage (2-23, .087), and outrebounded the hosts by a 61-33 margin, en route to their fifth straight victory by a margin of 34 points or more.
Abby Kelly led 13 Bowdoin players in the scoring column with 13 points, while Kate Kerrigan paced the visitors at both ends of the floor with six points, 12 rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block. Fallon Field and Hannah Graham both scored 10 points off the bench and grabbed six and eight rebounds apiece, respectively.
Sophomore Melanie Binkhorst's (West Hartford, Conn.) eight points and eight rebounds led Bates. Senior Nina Davenport (Freeport, Maine) scored seven points before fouling out early in the fourth quarter, and sophomore Carly Christofi (Fairlawn, N.J.) also scored seven points. Senior Emily Freedland (Marblehead, Mass.) grabbed eight rebounds and like Binkhorst came up with a pair of steals.
Bowdoin made six of its first eight shots in the game, including a three and a layup by Kelly, to open up a 13-2 lead less than four minutes in. Davenport made a three with 21 seconds to go in the first period, and Graham answered on a Kerrigan assist with eight seconds left for a 22-8 Bowdoin lead after one quarter. Bowdoin scored eight points off Bates turnovers in the period and outscored Bates 12-2 in the paint.
Bowdoin's lead continued to expand throughout a lopsided second quarter, outscoring Bates 18-3 in the period to assume a 40-11 advantage at intermission. Bowdoin outscored Bates 10-0 in the paint and 10-0 in points off turnovers in the period, and held the Bobcats without a field goal, as all three Bates points came at the free-throw line.
Bates scored half of its points in the game in the third quarter, with seven from Binkhorst. Bowdoin countered with 24 points spread out among eight players, including four apiece by Lauren Petit, Moira Train and Kelly. The Polar Bears made 5-of-9 shots from beyond the arc as they expanded their lead to 64-26 through three periods.
Bates shot 1-of-15 from the floor in the fourth period, while Field scored five points to lead an all-bench scoring contingent for Bowdoin.
The teams will meet again to open conference play on Jan. 5 in Brunswick.
Bates next faces Roanoke College on Dec. 19 in a neutral-site game at Babson College, starting at 2pm.Â
