BRUNSWICK, Maine -- Senior captain Alexandra Long scored a career-high 24 points but the Bates women's basketball team couldn't quite complete their comeback attempt in a 76-71 loss to No. 7 nationally ranked Bowdoin in a non-conference game Thursday night at Morrell Gym. 

It's the first loss in regulation for the Bobcats (6-2) when scoring more than 70 points in a game since the 2018-19 season. 

The Polar Bears (5-0) led by as many as 10 points in the fourth quarter before Bates mounted a comeback. With the Bobcats trailing 63-53, first-year Abby Magendantz (West Hartford, Conn.) converted an old fashioned three-point play to cut the deficit to seven with 7:21 remaining in regulation. Junior Elsa Daulerio (Harpswell, Maine) knocked down a jumper to trim it to five with 6:58 left. Another Daulerio jumper with four minutes remaining made the score 65-61. Then she sank a pair of free throws to make it a two-point game with 5:09 on the clock. 

Bates got the Bowdoin lead down to one at 70-69 on a pair of Long free throws with 51 seconds left in the fourth quarter. But Abbie Quinn answered with a layup to put Bowdoin back up by three. Long responded with a layup, making the score 72-71 in favor of Bowdoin with 22 seconds left. The Bobcats fouled Bowdoin's Sydney Jones, and she sank two free throws to push the host's lead back to three with 17 seconds left.

Bates had a chance to tie the game late, but couldn't get a good look at the basket, and the Polar Bears made two more free throws with less than a second remaining for their final margin of victory.

Long (Newtown, Pa.) and Daulerio were outstanding, scoring 19 of the Bobcats' 22 points in the fourth quarter. Long tallied 10 of her team-high 24 points in the fourth, going 4-5 from the field. She was able to get to the rim with ease all night, particularly down the stretch, and finished the game 9-13 from the field with five rebounds, two assists, and a steal. Meanwhile, Daulerio bounced back from a slow start to score nine of her 18 points in the fourth quarter. Sophomore Sarah Hughes (Rumson, N.J.) joined Long and Daulerio in double figures on the evening, finishing with 13 points on 6-12 shooting.

But Bates couldn't stop Quinn and Jones for Bowdoin, as Quinn scored a game-high 25 points on 8-11 shooting and Jones finished with 22 points on 7-15 shooting. Jones also finished with a game-high 11 rebounds.

Rebounding was a problem all game for the Bobcats, as Bowdoin notched 47 rebounds to just 27 for Bates. 

The Bobcats led by as many as seven points in the first half, going up 32-25 on a jumper from Long with two minutes to go until halftime. But Bowdoin answered with a quick 4-0 run to cut the lead to three. Bates went up by four before Jones hit a 40-foot heave at the buzzer to cut the Bates lead to 33-32 at the intermission.

The third quarter proved to be the difference in the game, as Bowdoin outscored Bates 25-16, taking the lead for good on a Quinn layup with 8:29 remaining in the third. Bates fell behind by five, then got the lead down to one at 49-48 with 2:19 left on a pair of Long free throws. But Bowdoin answered with an 8-0 run to go up by nine with 23 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

Trailing by eight entering the fourth, Bates eventually was able to chip away at the deficit, outscoring the Polar Bears by three over the final 10 minutes. However, they could not come all the way back against the defending NESCAC champions.

Bates shot the ball okay overall, finishing at 45.9 percent from the field. But it was their second-worst three-point shooting game of the year, as they only made 4-15 from long range. Their other loss this year was their worst three-point shooting game of the season, when the Bobcats made just 2-14 from deep against Albertus Magnus.

The Bobcats are back in action in two weeks when they visit WPI on Thursday, Dec. 19 for a 3 p.m. tip.