Women's Basketball (3-1) Trounces UNE, Comes Back Against Bowdoin
The Bobcats missed setting the school record for points in a game with a
106-72 win over the University of New England Dec. 3, then came back two
nights later to rally from 19 points down with 8:12 to go to defeat
Bowdoin, 57-56, on Dec. 5. Their Dec. 7 game with New England College was
postponed due to snow in New Hampshire.
Against the University of New England on their Westbrook campus, the
Bobcats scored the first eight points of the game and extended the lead to
as many as 16 points with 10 minutes to go, before the Wildcats ended the
half on a 13-5 run over the last 3:29 to make the score 50-44. The Bobcats
blew things open again in the second, opening with a 10-0 run in the first
three minutes which grew to 30-5 halfway through the second, allowing
coach Murphy to rest the starters for the last seven minutes of the game.
Every Bates player scored, with senior center Sarah Bonkovsky (Harvard,
Mass., 23 points, seven rebounds, 8-for-9 from the field) and first-year
forward Emily King (Lebanon, N.H., 22 points, six rebounds) leading the
way. King and sophomore guard Liz Grace (Brooklyn, N.Y.) each had career
highs in scoring.
Two days later, the Bobcats headed to Bowdoin, where they had not won
since the 1992-93 season. For the first part of the game, the two teams
alternated baskets until Bowdoin went on a 17-6 run to take a 25-16 lead
with 6:10 to go. The Bobcats answered by scoring the next eight points,
four each by sophomore forward/guard Amy Taylor (Orono, Maine), who also
had two steals in the run, and first-year forward Jolene Thurston (Post
Mills, Vt.). Bowdoin scored the last three points of the half to take a
28-24 lead. The Polar Bears scored 15 of the first 17 points to open the
second half, taking a 43-26 lead, which they expanded to 19 points with
8:12 remaining. At that point, the Bobcats started to come around. They
scored nine points in the next 57 seconds, including a four on a pair of
steals and lay-ups by sophomore Colleen McCrave (Walpole, Mass.). Bowdoin
called time-out at 6:20 and scored the next basket at 6:05, but that was
the last they would score, as Thurston and Taylor scored the last 11
points of the game. Taylor drained a 3-pointer and hit two free throws to
cut the lead to 56-53 at 2:16. Thurston gathered a Bonkovsky miss to draw
the Bobcats within one with 1:51 to go. After the Bobcats forced Bowdoin
to take the ball out of bounds on their own endline, Taylor stole an
inbounds pass at mid-court, but the Bobcats missed three straight shots.
Bowdoin got the rebound, but turned the ball over. Bates played for the
last shot and missed twice before Thurston got her eighth offensive
rebounds and layed it in for the 57-56 lead with seven seconds left. After
the inbounds play, Bowdoin traveled and the Bobcats killed the clock.
Bonkovsky and Taylor each had 15 points in the game, while Thurston had 14
and 10 boards. Bonkovsky also had 15 rebounds, three assists and five
steals. McCrave had just four points, but contributed seven assists and
five steals as the Bobcats won despite shooting just over 25 percent from
the field.
For her efforts, averaging 19 points, 11 rebounds and 3.5 steals per game,
Bonkovsky was named NESCAC and MWBCA Co-Player of the Week and was named
to the ECAC Honor Roll.
Up Next:
1/3-5 Maine Event at Southern Maine
Men's Basketball (0-3) Off to a Disappointing Start
The Bates College men's basketball team had a couple of close calls in
their first three games, but could not pull any of them out. At Westbrook,
they fell to the University of New England, 95-92, Dec. 3. After a
blow-out at Bowdoin Dec. 5, 91-74, the Bobcats battled the snow and Thomas
Dec. 7 before losing, 64-60.
Against UNE, the Bobcats started their season a bit rusty, falling behind
20-4 to start the game, making apparent the six game head start the
Wildcats had. Bates answered with an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 20-12 with
12:06 remaining in the half. The Bobcats would get as close as five before
heading to the locker room down 45-37. Twice in the first part of the
second half, the Bobcats made a run to get the score to three points
before UNE responded. Down 85-75 with 6:11 remaining, Bates called a
20-second time-out which they responded to with an 8-2 run to cut the lead
to 87-83. Thanks to horrendous foul shooting by the Wildcats down the
stretch (8-for 16), the Bobcats stayed in the game. Senior guard Matt
Garvey (Amherst, Mass.) cut the lead to 88-86 with his second 3-pointer of
the game, but UNE took six free throws, hitting three, before the Bobats
scored again. But Garvey hit a pair of free throws and senior forward R.J.
Jenkins (Winthrop, Maine) scored to cut the lead to 91-90 with 1:32 left.
Unfortunately, the Bobcats could not convert any of their next three
possessions, though another UNE 3-for-6 streak from the line gave them
hope, Garvey missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer, leaving the rally just
short at 95-92. Garvey led the Bobcats with 25 points, senior
forward/guard Mike Marsh (Manchester, Conn.) had 17 points and 12
rebounds.
At Bowdoin two days later, the Bobcats scored the first six points of the
game, but a 22-3 Polar Bear run put Bowdoin up 28-13 with just nine
minutes gone, and they cruised from there, picking up a lead as large as
25 points with three minutes left in the half. A Garvey 3-point barrage
helped cut the lead to 10 in the second half, but the Bobcats got no
closer. Garvey had eight 3-pointers and 36 points, but Marsh, who
contributed 13 points and 12 rebounds, was the only other player in double
figures.
Against Thomas Dec. 7, the result was just as difficult. Garvey was unable
to find his stroke, shooting just 2-for-17 from the field. Marsh was the
only Bates player in double figures with 10 points, and he missed a
significant part of time in foul trouble. Though the Bobcats rallied from
a 31-26 halftime defecit to take a 51-49 lead with 7:32 remaining in the
game, Thomas answered with a 9-3 run to take a 58-54 lead they would not
relinquish. First-year guard Ryan Emerson (Milford, N.H.) performed well
off the bench, with nine points and seven rebounds, but it was not enough.
up next: 12/28 vs. Jersey City State at Western Conn.
12/29 vs. Western Conn. St. -or- Keene State
Women's Squash (3-3) Stays Even at Wesleyan
In women's squash action at the Wesleyan Round Robin, the Bobcats defeated
Wellesley, 6-3, and Smith, 9-0. The Bobcats lost to Wesleyan, 3-6, and
Trinity. 1-8. Seniors Katie McQuilkin (Cambridge, Mass.) and Lauren
Cardonsky (New York, N.Y.) each went 3-1. McQuilkin won a pair of five-set
matches at No. 5, while Cardonsky had one of the Bobcats' easiest wins of
the weekend, dropping just three points to her opponent from Smith.
Up Next:
1/7 vs. Colby
Men's Squash (6-1) Falls at Home to Navy, Downs MIT on the Road
After starting the week with an 8-1 loss to highly-ranked Navy in their
first home match of the season Dec. 5, the men's squash team rebounded
nicely with a 7-2 win on the road at MIT. Top-seeded senior Pat Cosquer
(Westfield, N.J.) breezed to a 15-7, 15-4, 15-4 win, while junior Sandy
Weymouth (Hingham, Mass.) and sophomore Eric Sanders (Belmont, Mass.)
also posted straight set wins.
Up Next:
1/11 at Bowdoin w/Wesleyan and Cornell
Swimming (M & W, 1-1) Loses to Wesleyan
Facing a more experienced Wesleyan squad, the swimming and diving teams
both lost Dec. 7. The men fell, 194-106, while the women lost, 181-119.
For the men, sophomore diver David Burke (Andover, Mass.) continued to
distance himslef from his competitors, taking the 1-meter diving with a
score of 259.45 and the three-meters with 229.15. Also victorious for the
Bobcats was senior Tatsuya Sato (Tokyo, Japan), who won the 50-yard
freestyle in 23.20 seconds, just one-tenth of a second ahead of first-year
teammate Paul Urbanczyk (Washington, D.C.). Sophomore Damon Bowe (Houma,
La.) had three second place finishes, in the 200-yard backtroke,
breasstroke and individual medley.
For the women, junior Denby Johnson (Chanhassen, Minn.) continued to
imrove on her stading as the team's top scorer, finishing first in the
200-yard butterfly (2:21.24) and the 200 individual medley (2:19.37). The
Bobcats swept the shorter freestyle races, with first-year swimmer Lisa
Loughran (Middletown, N.Y.) taking the 50 in 26:86 and senior Kate Leonard
(Salt Lake City, Utah) winning the 100 in 58:26. Meanwhile, junior Kate
Leonard gave the Bobcats three of the day's four diving events, taking the
3-meters with a score of 200.10.
Up Next:
1/10 at Norwich
1/11 at Middlebury
Men's Indoor Track Narrowly Falls to Div. II UMass-Lowell
The Bobcats led Division II UMass-Lowell, 69-66, going into the two
relays, but the River Hawks proved too tough, winning both to take the
meet, 76-69. Bates had one multiple winner, junior Enrico Herring
(Middletown, Conn.), who took the long jump with a leap of 21 feet, three
and a half inches, and the 55-meter dash in a time of 6.81, tying him with
first-year runner Kevin Strohman (New York, N.Y.). Bates picked up where
they left off last year with their excellence in the field events. In
addition to Herring in the long jump, the Bobcats got first-place finishes
from junior Paul Kolter (Manchester, N.H) in the 35-pound weight throw (52
feet, 3.5 inches), junior Walter Jackson (Hartford, Conn.) in the shot put
(46 feet, 6.75 inches) and sophomore Peter Beeson (Novelty, Ohio) in the
pole vault (12 feet, six inches). Herring and Beeson came in second and
third in the 200-meter dash with times of 23.42 and 23.95 seconds,
respectively. Sophomore Dave Weir (Albuquerque, N.M.) won the 55-meter
hurdles in 8.69 seconds.
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