LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates women's basketball team rallied from 20 points down at halftime to cut the Williams lead to seven before falling to the Ephs by a final score of 56-44 Saturday afternoon at Alumni Gymnasium.
Kristin Fechtelkotter survived foul trouble to score a game-high 17 points on 8-9 shooting for the Ephs (10-6, 2-2 NESCAC) while sophomore Melanie Binkhorst (West Hartford, Conn.) paced the Bobcats (6-11, 1-3 NESCAC) with 13 points on 3-16 shooting. Binkhorst made 6-9 free throws, pulled down five rebounds and tallied three steals in the game. The Bobcats struggled from the field as a team, shooting just 25.9% on the day while the Ephs shot 42.9%, including a 51.5% clip during their big first half.
The Ephs also got a big performance from Amanni Fernandez. She nearly tallied a triple-double with 11 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists while playing all 40 minutes.
Williams outscored Bates 20-11 in the first quarter and 19-8 in the second quarter to take a 20-point lead into the intermission. Bates never led in the contest.
But they still made it interesting with a big third quarter. With the score 41-23 in favor of Williams, Bates went on an 8-0 run to trim the deficit to nine thanks to senior Emily Freedland (Marblehead, Mass.) making a layup with 49 seconds to go in the quarter. Emily Chang answered on the other end to give the Ephs an 11-point lead entering the fourth quarter. Nonetheless, the third quarter saw Bates outscore Williams 13-4.
In the fourth quarter, senior Nina Davenport (Freeport, Maine) got things started with a layup to cut the deficit to nine. Davenport finished with 11 points and eight rebounds on 4-21 shooting. First-year Julia Middlebrook (Ridgefield, Conn.) followed up Davenport's bucket with one of her own, making the score 43-36 in favor of Williams with 9:10 to go in the game. Middlebrook tallied 12 points off the bench on 5-8 shooting. She also dished out a team-high four assists.
The Bobcats forced a turnover and Freedland fired a three that went halfway down and popped out of the basket. Then Fernandez hit a three on the other end and Williams never led by fewer than 10 points after that. Fernandez's three started a 10-0 run for the Ephs, putting them up 53-36 with 3:36 left in regulation.
Fechtelkotter scored eight of her 17 points in the first quarter and Mikaela Topper scored all 11 of her points in the first half to help the Ephs build their lead. Meanwhile the Bobcats just could not get the ball to go in the hoop, with numerous layups and threes rolling around the rim and falling off into the hands of the Ephs. Williams tallied 46 rebounds to Bates' 31 boards on the afternoon. The Bobcats won the turnover battle, causing 25 turnovers while turning it over 18 times themselves.
The Bobcats are back in action Tuesday when they visit Maine-Farmington for a 7:00 p.m. tip.
