LEWISTON, Maine -- The No. 12 nationally ranked Bates women's basketball team got off to a fast start and got huge performances from junior Sarah Hughes and senior Sophie Spolter in a 71-57 win over The United States Merchant Marine Academy in the first round of the NCAA Division III Championship tournament Friday night at Alumni Gym. 

With the victory, the Bobcats (25-3) tie the program record for most wins in one season. They advance to play No. 6 Smith College Saturday at 7:15 p.m. and any tickets still remaining will be released to the public at 11 a.m. Availability will be limited. Smith (28-1) defeated Union College 73-55 on Friday. 

Hughes (Rumson, N.J.) poured in a game-high 23 points on 8-11 shooting, while Spolter (Blacklick, Ohio) matched her season-high with 20 points on 6-9 shooting for Bates. Spolter also tallied a game-high three steals. Junior Petra Kuncz (Budapest, Hungary) added a career-high eight rebounds off the bench, blocking three shots, dishing out two assists, and scoring five points. Junior Mya Hicks (Ann Arbor, Mich.) tallied a career-high six assists and senior captain Elsa Daulerio (Harspwell, Maine) chipped in six points, three rebounds, and two blocked shots. The Bobcats blocked a season-high 11 shots in the contest.

Hannah Ramsden paced the Mariners (23-5) with 18 points on 7-16 shooting, Breanna Soomers added 13, Emily Grasseler played all 40 minutes and chipped in 12 points, while Carolae Barton recorded a double-double with 12 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

The Bobcats trailed 5-2 after an early Sommers three-pointer, but Spolter answered with an old-fashioned three-point play, tying the game at five. A Hughes layup with 8:17 left in the opening quarter put the Bobcats ahead for good as Bates went on a 13-0 run to go up 15-5 on a jumper by Spolter with 6:03 left. The Bobcats extended the lead to 24-9 before the opening 10 minutes came to an end. Spolter tallied eight of her 20 points in the first quarter, knocking down all three of her shot attempts while Bates shot 10-19 as a team.

The Mariners actually outscored the Bobcats by one point the rest of the way, but the 15-point hole was much too big to overcome. Bates led by as many as 26 points in the contest, going up 53-27 on a Daulerio layup with 3:44 left in the third quarter. USMMA answered with a 10-0 run that extended into the fourth quarter. Spolter put a stop to it with a jumper with 8:24 left in regulation, but the Mariners refused to back down. They trimmed the Bates advantage to eight points at 61-53 on a Sommers three-pointer with 1:57 left. But the Bobcats sank their free throws down the stretch to win by 14.

Bates hit 13-16 from the stripe, with Spolter personally going 8-10 and Hughes finishing 4-4. Meanwhile, the Mariners didn't get to the line much, hitting two out of their four attempts.