LEWISTON, Maine -- Senior captain Taylor McVeigh tallied a career-high 16 rebounds, senior Ariana Dalia recorded her eighth career double-double, and the Bates women's basketball team made the most of Senior Night, defeating rival Bowdoin 74-61 in NESCAC action on Wednesday.

With the win, the Bobcats (13-6, 5-3 NESCAC) complete a season sweep of Bowdoin (16-7, 5-4 NESCAC) and pick up a fifth conference victory, their most in one season since 2010-11, with two games still to play. 

Junior captain Meghan Graff (South Portland, Maine) led all scorers with 19 points and a game-high five assists. Sophomore Morgan Kennedy (Oklahoma City, Okla.) added 13 points, draining three of six from three-point range. Dalia (Brick, N.J.) recorded 13 points and 10 rebounds while McVeigh (Hanson, Mass.) blocked a game-high three shots, chipped in three points, and dominated the glass with six offensive rebounds and 10 defensive rebounds. Junior Brianna Gadaleta (Chappaqua, N.Y.) was an efficient 4-5 from the floor, scoring 11 points and grabbing four rebounds.

Bates out-rebounded Bowdoin 55-33 on the night.

Sela Kay led the Polar Bears with 18 points on 6-12 shooting. Megan Tan added 12 points on 6-20 shooting and Tori Beck drilled three three-pointers to finish with 11 points. 

The Bobcats trailed 25-24 with 7:04 left in the second quarter after Tan made a layup on a fast break. But with 5:41 left in the quarter, Gadaleta hit a jumper on an assist from senior Mia Roy (Bedford, N.H.) to put Bates ahead for good.

Up 29-27 with 3:35 left in the half, the Bobcats went on an 8-0 run, keyed by a three by Kennedy and a layup from first-year Alexandra Long (Milton, Mass.), who chipped in four points, two rebounds and two assists off the bench.

Kennedy hit another three-pointer with 44 seconds remaining to put Bates up 40-29 at halftime.

Bowdoin chipped away in the third quarter, trimming the Bates lead to seven multiple times, including on a Kay layup with 1:29 left. But Dalia answered for Bates and the Bobcats led by 10 through three quarters at 56-46.

Bates led by as many as 19 points in the fourth quarter, as Bowdoin could not gain any ground down the stretch. 

Besides the rebounding category, the game was fairly even statistically. Bates shot 37.5 percent from the floor and Bowdoin finished at 35.9%. The Bobcats hit four three-pointers in 21 attempts while Bowdoin hit three in only eight attempts. Both teams recorded three steals and both took care of the ball, with Bates only turning it over eight times to Bowdoin's seven. The Bobcats had the edge in second chance points by a count of 11-6 and made four more free throws than Bowdoin. 

The Bobcats hit the road this weekend, taking on Williams Friday at 7pm.