BRIDGEWATER, Mass. - Junior guard Alexa Kaubris (Rumford, ME) paced Bowdoin with a team-high 19 points and 6 rebounds to help lead the Polar Bears to a 64-49 win over host Bridgewater State College in the first round of the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournament on Friday evening.
Bowdoin advances to play a rematch of the NESCAC semi-final matchup versus conference champion Amherst College. The game will tip-off tomorrow at 5 o'clock at the Tinsley Center to determine who will advance to the sweet sixteen.
Bridgewater State ends the 2007-2008 campaign making their first tournament appearance since 1986 and they finish the year with a record of 22-5. Bowdoin (19-8) makes their eighth strait appearance and ninth in the last ten years.
For BSC, senior forward Colleen Feeney (Providence, RI) notched her 25th double-double of the season with 15 points and a game-high 18 rebounds. Her sister, Caitlin Feeney, added a team high 19 points while dishing out 5 assists. Senior forward Kelsey Collasius (Rochester, MA) chipped in with 8 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals in 20 minutes of action off the bench. Caitlin Feeney scored 14 of her 19 points in the second half while Colleen added 7 points and 10 rebounds in the second stanza.
With her 4 free throws and 7 field goals, Colleen Feeney set two more BSC single-season milestones this evening. Feeney finishes the season with 157 made free-throws passing Laurie Berryman's (1995-96) record of 155. She also eclipsed Samantha Curry's 2005-06 record of 194 made field goals as she ended the year with 197. Earlier this season Feeney set the Bears single-season marks for points and rebounds. She completed the campaign with 548 points (20.3 PPG) and 354 rebounds.
The game also marked the 106th game for Caitlin Feeney as she became the Bears all-time leader in games played surpassing JoAnne Runge's (1983-87) previous mark of 105
For the Polar Bears, junior forward Jill Anelauskas (Medfield, MA) pulled down a team-best 8 rebounds while sophomore classmates Caitlin Hynes (Owl's Head, ME) and Sabrina Cote (Dexter, ME) added 10 points and 6 rebounds apiece. Kaubris also finished the game with 4 assists and 4 steals.
Bridgewater State jumped out to an early 13-4 lead and went up 20-9 with 8½ minutes left to go in the half. However, the Bears went on a six minute scoring drought as Bowdoin pulled ahead 22-20 on a 13-0 run during that span. BSC ended the half strong and trailed 27-26 at the break.
Bowdoin led 42-40 with 11 ½ minutes remaining in the second half when the Polar Bears went on a 6-0 run to open up a 48-40 lead. Bridgewater State cut the lead to 48-43 on three free-throws by Colleen Feeney, but that would be as close as they would get. Over the next 4 minutes Bowdoin put the game away by outscoring BSC 10-3.
The difference of the game was the second half as Bowdoin shot 50% from the floor while the Bears struggled connecting on just 7-of-27 field goal attempts including all four three-point tries. The Polar Bears turned the ball over just 12 times in the game while forcing 18 BSC miscues.