The women’s basketball team extended its win streak to four games with a Wednesday night blowout win against UMaine-Farmington. After a 1-2 start, the team now sits at 5-2 on the season.

The Bowdoin women never trailed against UMF on Wednesday, riding senior Shannon Brady’s 17 points and seven rebounds to a 79-38 win. Lauren Petit ’18 chipped in with 14 points and six steals. 

This comes as part of a larger post-Thanksgiving rebound for a team that sat below .500 before its November 28 win against Salve Regina. 

“Our game against Salve Regina…[was] the transition game for us,” said Head Coach Adrienne Shibles. 

Having lost three key players from last year, including leading scorer Sara Binkhorst ’15, Brady described the early-season difficulties as “early growing pains.”

However, Shibles was happy to say that newer players are starting to fill the graduated players’ shoes.

“Lydia Caputi ’18 is one who’s really stepped up to provide a presence where Megan [Phelps ’15] and Siena [Mitman ’15] were really tough for us in the post. And I think several of the guards have really stepped up to fill that scoring void that Sara Binkhorst left,” she noted.

And early losses to teams like the University of New England showed the team areas in which it could improve.

“[We] just didn't shoot the ball well, didn't bring the kinds of intensity that we had to bring,” said Shibles.I” think the players were putting too much pressure on themselves so we worked on that….and I think they responded really well.”

Defense, in particular, has been a focus this season.

“[Coach] has definitely emphasized the defensive factor—that if we want to be a good team we have to buy into our defense,” said Brady.

“[It] creates a really aggressive mindset for our players—when we’ve really getting after it on the defensive end and I think it leads to offense for us,” said Shibles. “If we’re getting steals and getting turnovers from the other squad it just picks up our tempo too. We’re pushing the ball more, we’re being more aggressive in getting to the rim. So that’s where it starts for us.”

And since the Salve Regina win, the women have even trounced that same team who they had lost to in last year’s NESCAC title game: the Tufts Jumbos.

“I just can’t tell you how impressed I was with the women in that game,” said Shibles. “To me, [it] shows how far we’ve come.”

Despite being down 8-0 in the first minute of the game, Brady noted that “no one on [the] team felt rattled or fearful.” And by the end of game, the Bears had come back to trounce the then-No. 3 Jumbos by a score of 61-43.

Coach Shibles was particularly impressed by Brady, who was dominant with 27 points and 15 rebounds.

"Shannon Brady’s performance was just amazing—she did it all,” said Shibles. “Everyone knows that she's a talented player—she's our Preseason All-American—but people just underestimate her. She’s incredibly fast and incredibly strong…. There were many standout moments but her performance overall in that game was something special."

Looking forward, Shibles stressed the need for the team to stay engaged and present in the moment.

“I really think we have one of the toughest schedules in the nation so we really have to stay focused,” she said. 

The team plays host to Colby tomorrow at 7 p.m.