FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BATES HOOPS CRACK REGIONAL POLLS

LEWISTON, Maine - Both the Bates College men's and women's basketball teams each made its first appearance of the season in a regional poll today. The women were seventh in the New England Women's Basketball Association (NEWBA) poll, while the men received an Honorable Mention in NCAA Northeast regional poll.

The Bates women, who are also ranked third by the Maine Women's Basketball Coaches Association (MWBCA), boast a 9-4 record for seventh-year head coach Jim Murphy. Behind senior captain Kate McLaughlin of Laconia, N.H., the third-leading scorer in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) at 16.4 points per game, the Bobcats bring a five-game winning streak into tonight's contest with in-state rival Bowdoin College, who was ranked second by the MWBCA and eighth in New England by NEWBA.

The Bates men, at 11-4, have already clinched the winningest season in head coach Joe Reilly's four years at the helm. The Bobcats recently ended a nine-game winning streak, the longest in the 65-year history of the program. Bates has five players averaging in double figures, led by the junior group of forward Ed Walker of Roxbury, Mass. (14.3 points per game), guard Billy Hart of Haverhill, Mass. (13.6 points per game), and forward Alex Wilson of Duxbury, Mass. (11.7 points per game). They are on pace to become just the second trio of classmates in Bates history to all become 1,000-point scorers. The Bobcats' next two opponents are NESCAC foes who also appear in the NCAA poll, No. 6 Amherst on Jan. 26 at 7 p.m., and Trinity (Conn.), also an Honorable Mention, on Jan. 27 at 3 p.m.

For more information on Bates women's basketball, visit our home page at http://www.bates.edu/sports/whoops.html.

For more information on Bates men's basketball, visit our home page at http://www.bates.edu/sports/mhoops.html.