LEWISTON, Maine -- The visiting No. 5 nationally ranked Bowdoin women's basketball team took the lead for good in the second quarter and held off multiple Bates rallies as the Bobcats fell to the Polar Bears by a final score of 57-52 Friday night at Alumni Gym. 

The Bobcats (9-6, 0-3 NESCAC) led by as many as nine points in the first quarter as they jumped out to a 13-4 lead on a jumper by junior Elsa Daulerio (Harpswell, Maine) with 3:07 left in the opening stanza. Bowdoin's Sydney Jones answered with five quick points to trim the Bates lead to four before junior Sophie Spolter (Blacklick, Ohio) converted an old-fashioned three-point play to extend the lead back to seven with 49 seconds remaining. But Jones struck again with just five seconds left, knocking down a jumper to cut the Bates lead to 16-11 through one quarter of action.

The start of the second quarter proved to be Bates' undoing, as Bowdoin scored 11 unanswered points to go up 22-16 on a Jamie Yue three-pointer with 5:07 left until halftime. The Bobcats did chip away at the deficit, thanks to Daulerio who scored all six of Bates' points in the quarter. 

Bates trailed 24-22 at the half and could never get over the hump down the stretch. 

A Daulerio jumper with 4:47 left in regulation trimmed the Bowdoin lead to 43-42, only to see the Polar Bears score the next five points to go back up by six with 2:56 left on a Jones layup.

Daulerio and sophomore Sarah Hughes (Rumson, N.J.) did all they could down the stretch, combining to score 13 of the 19 Bates points in the fourth quarter. A Daulerio jumper with 53 seconds left made the score 51-48 in favor of Bowdoin. But the Polar Bears got a huge answer on the other end when Carly Davey banked in a basket just as the shot clock was about to expire, putting Bowdoin up five with 23 seconds left.

Hughes answered with a three-pointer to cut the lead to two with 15 seconds to go. However, Davey made both her free throws to basically seal the win for the visitors. Jones also made a pair down the stretch for the final margin of victory.

Daulerio finished with her third double-double of the season, tallying a team-high 18 points on 9-20 shooting to go along with a game-high 12 rebounds. Hughes added 14 points and six rebounds while Spolter finished with 11 points. Senior captain Alexandra Long (Newtown, Pa.) struggled to score but dished out a game-high eight assists.

Jones recorded a game-high 20 points for Bowdoin on 8-21 shooting. She also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds. Davey finished with 11 points while Callie Godfrey chipped in 10.

The Polar Bears (15-0, 3-0 NESCAC) got 11 bench points while Bates got no points from their bench. Bowdoin also scored 21 points off 17 Bates turnovers compared to just eight points off 15 Bowdoin turnovers for the Bobcats. 

Bates is back in action Sunday when the Bobcats visit rival Colby for a 1 p.m. tip.