FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Walpole Grad Leads Bobcat Women To Hot Start

LEWISTON, Maine -- Colleen McCrave, of Walpole, Mass., a first-year guard for the Bates College women's basketball team, has helped lead the Bobcats to their best start in five years.

Bates, with a 4-2 record, is currently ranked fifth in the Maine Women's Basketball Coaches Association (MWBCA) poll. They have posted wins over Westbrook College (85-52), University of the South (92-52), Western New England College (WNEC, 93-42) and Babson College (85-75). The most recent two wins came in the Babson Invitational, where Bates became the first team ever to knock off the hosts. Their only two losses have come to Maine-Farmington (65-77) and Bowdoin (67-77), who are ranked second and fourth, respectively, in the MWBCA poll. Coach Jim Murphy's squad is averaging 81.2 points per game as a team, ninth in the nation in Division III, while allowing just 62.5.

McCrave, who was also one of the leading scorers on coach Murphy's women's soccer team, has been a large part of the team's recent success. She is averaging 13.5 point, 6.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. McCrave is also averaging 6.7 steals per game, second in the nation among Division III women. In the Bobcats' win over Westbrook College, McCrave tied a Bates record by notching 10 steals in one game.

McCrave is a 1995 graduate of Walpole High School. She is the daughter of William and Annmarie McCrave of 6 Eagle Drive, Walpole.