MIDDLEBURY, Vt. -- Senior Mia Roy scored a career-high 35 points and the Bates women's basketball team's dominant first quarter propelled the Bobcats to an 87-75 win over Middlebury in the NESCAC quarterfinals Saturday afternoon. 

Bates (15-7) advances to the NESCAC semifinals for the first time since the 2009-10 season. The fifth-seeded Bobcats will find out their opponent after the other quarterfinal games on Sunday. The NESCAC semifinals will take place next Saturday at the highest remaining seed in the tournament. 

Roy (Bedford, N.H.) shot 12-22 from the field against the Panthers (12-11) on Saturday, knocking down 5-7 from three. She also dished out a game-high six assists. Her 35 points breaks the conference record for most points scored in a NESCAC tournament game.

Five Bobcats finished in double figures on the afternoon. Junior Brianna Gadaleta (Chappaqua, N.Y.) and senior Ariana Dalia (Brick, N.J.) both recorded double-doubles. Gadaleta finished with 13 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Dalia tallied 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Junior captain Meghan Graff (South Portland, Maine) finished with 12 points, seven rebounds, five assists, three blocked shots, and two steals. Sophomore Morgan Kennedy (Oklahoma City, Okla.) recorded 12 points on 3-5 shooting. 

Bates made 21 of 24 free throws on the night. The Bobcats are shooting more than 70 percent from the line this season. 

Alexa Mustafaj paced the Panthers with 27 points on 11-21 shooting. Augusta Dixon recorded 16 points and eight rebounds. Gianna Palli also finished in double figures with 13 points on 5-11 shooting. Bethany Lucey just missed a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds. 

Second chance points proved to be a massive difference in the game, with Bates recording 17 and holding Middlebury to just two. The Bobcats won the rebounding battle 47-36. 

Bates started the game on fire, making 10 of 20 from the field in the first quarter and five of eight from three-point range. Meanwhile, the Bobcats held the Panthers to just 4-17 shooting in the opening 10 minutes of action.

Down 4-0, Gadaleta got Bates on the board with a layup and Kennedy sank a pair of free throws, tying the game at four with 7:17 left in the first.
 
The teams traded threes before the Bobcats went on a 12-0 run, keyed by a pair of Roy three-pointers.
 
Middlebury ended the run thanks to an Emily Downer layup with 2:54 on the clock. But then the Bobcats went on a 13-0 run to end the quarter. Overall, Bates outscored Middlebury 25-2 over the last six-plus minutes of action, taking a 32-9 lead after one.
 
But the Panthers flipped the script in the second quarter, outscoring Bates 22-10 and cutting the Bobcats' lead to 11 at halftime. Middlebury shot 64.3 percent from the field in the second quarter and held Bates to 23.5% shooting.
 
With the score 42-31 at the break, the Bobcats and Panthers played a tight third quarter that saw Middlebury edge the Bobcats by one to trim the Bates lead to 62-52 entering the fourth.

Middlebury cut the Bates lead to six multiple times in the fourth quarter but the Bobcats had the answer every time. Dalia came up big with five of her 11 points coming in the final 10 minutes of action.

Saturday's win is the first for the Bobcats on the road at Middlebury since the 2011-12 season.