BANGOR, Maine -- Junior captain Meghan Graff scored a game-high 22 points and junior Brianna Gadaleta tallied 13 of her 15 points in the fourth quarter to lead the No. 22 nationally ranked Bates women's basketball team past Husson by a final score of 65-48 Monday night. 

The Bobcats (7-1), ranked in the d3hoops.com top 25 poll for the first time since 2005, were missing three players due to injury and struggled from the field to start the game, trailing the Eagles (4-4) 23-21 at halftime.

Despite the halftime deficit, the Bobcats never panicked. Graff (South Portland, Maine) and Gadaleta (Chappaqua, N.Y.) took over in the second half, propelling Bates to its fifth straight win. 

Down by four with 8:39 left in the third quarter, the Bobcats pulled to within one on a Graff three-pointer. Then Bates took the lead for good when sophomore Davina Kabantu (Portland, Maine) hit a three of her own with 7:13 remaining. Gadaleta made a jumper and Graff knocked down another three, making the score 32-25 in favor of Bates with 6:33 to go in the third.

The Eagles recovered, going on a 6-0 run to trim the Bates lead to one on a pair of Bailey Donovan free throws with 3:27 left. But sophomore Alyson Kennedy (Oklahoma City, Okla.) had the answer for Bates, in a big way, drilling a pair of three-pointers to keep Husson at arm's length. A Graff jumper with 12 seconds left put the Bobcats up 40-34 through three quarters.

Leading by five with 9:14 remaining in regulation, the Bobcats went on a 9-0 run to put the game away. It started with a Gadaleta jumper and she followed that up with a top of the key three. Senior captain Taylor McVeigh (Hanson, Mass.) followed with a layup on a great feed from Graff and Gadaleta got a layup off a Kabantu steal and assist.

The Bobcats led by as much as 22 down the stretch before settling in for the 17-point win. 

Graff shot 10-19 from the floor and dished out a game-high six assists. She and Gadaleta both recorded three steals. Gadaleta was held scoreless in the first half but finished the game 7-14 from the field. McVeigh paced Bates with nine rebounds while Kabantu scored nine points on 4-6 shooting.

Donovan recorded a double-double for Husson, scoring a team-high 12 points and pulling down a game-high 18 rebounds. Sophia McVicar added 10 points on 4-6 shooting.

Bates started the game 9-36 (25 percent) from the floor before doing a complete 180 and shooting 19-33 (57.6%) from the field in the second half. The Bobcats forced 19 Husson turnovers and only turned the ball over nine times themselves.

Bates is back in action on Thursday, December 30 when the Bobcats travel to WPI for the WPI Holiday Tournament.