SCRANTON, Pa. -- Junior
Sophie Spolter drove to the hoop with 10 seconds left in regulation and made a spectacular layup as she fell to the ground, propelling the Bates women's basketball team to a 55-53 win over Southern Virginia Friday night in the first round of the NCAA Division III tournament.
The Bobcats (17-9) advance to play No. 3 nationally ranked Scranton in Saturday's second-round contest, set for a 6:45 p.m. tip at the John Long Center.
Friday's thriller featured six ties and four lead changes, as the Bobcats rallied from three points down with 1:17 remaining to secure the victory.
The Knights (26-3) went up 53-50 on a long two from Addison Newman, but sophomore
Sarah Hughes (Rumson, N.J.) drilled a huge three-pointer with 1:02 left, tying the game at 53. Then Spolter (Blacklick, Ohio) drew an offensive foul on the other end, giving the ball back to Bates with 39 seconds left. Hughes drew a foul on the floor with 33 seconds to go, and then Spolter worked the clock down before making a move to her left off a pair of screens from senior captain
Alexandra Long (Newtown, Pa.) and junior
Elsa Daulerio (Harpswell, Maine). She scooped a running layup off the window as she crashed to the ground on the baseline, converting the go-ahead score.
The Bates bench erupted as the Knights called timeout. Still with 10 seconds to work with, Southern Virginia's Abigail Snyder was able to get a desperation three off at the buzzer. But it missed long and the Bobcats celebrated their third straight win in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Bates also won recent first-round games in 2024 and 2022.
Hughes led all scorers with 20 points on 7-11 shooting. She hit 4-6 from three-point range and grabbed six rebounds while recording three steals. First-year
Lily Brown (Dallas, Texas) was a force off the bench, scoring a career-high 14 points on 6-11 shooting. Brown dished out four assists in the best performance of her young collegiate career.
The Bobcats got off to a fast start, jumping out to a 16-7 lead through the first 10 minutes of action. A Daulerio jumper at the buzzer put the Bobcats up by nine through one. Hughes hit a three-pointer early in the second quarter and the Bobcats had their biggest lead of the game at 19-7. But the Knights came charging back, scoring six unanswered points to trim the Bates lead to 19-13 on a Snyder layup with 4:46 remaining until halftime.
Bates built the lead back to 10 as Brown hit a three-pointer with 46 seconds to go, before Snyder hit a pair of free throws to make the score 28-20 in favor of Bates at the intermission.
Southern Virginia's offense came alive in the third quarter, as they put up 20 points to 14 for the Bobcats. An Alyssa Weiland layup with 1:58 left in the third tied the game at 40, the first tie since the score was 2-2. Daulerio answered with a jumper, giving Bates a slim 42-40 lead through three.
A Snyder layup with 7:23 left in regulation gave Southern Virginia their first lead of the game at 46-45. The teams traded buckets down the stretch, with Spolter's heroics sending the Bobcats to the next round.
Snyder led the way for the Knights with 18 points on 6-16 shooting. Weiland finished with 15 points, also on 6-16 shooting. Newman tallied eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds for the Knights.
Bates shot just under 40 percent from the floor and Southern Virginia finished at 36.2 percent shooting. The Bobcats hit 7-19 from long range while the Knights finished just 3-18 from distance.
Gallery: (3-7-2025) WBB vs. Southern Virginia (Vin Rinella)
