This week, the Bowdoin women’s basketball team earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament and will host both the first and second rounds at Morrell Gymnasium this coming weekend. Although the team lost to Amherst in the NESCAC semifinals on Saturday, they get a fresh start this weekend.
This will be Bowdoin’s 16th NCAA Tournament appearance, which is the most of any NESCAC school. The Polar Bears have only missed one tournament in the last 16 seasons and have made it to the Sweet Sixteen 12 times. On Friday evening, the Polar Bears (20-6) will face Westfield State (20-7) in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Last year, the Polar Bears lost in NESCAC finals and then made it to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA tournament. These results and high expectations were fresh in the players’ minds from the beginning of the season.
“It was no secret that the goal was the NESCAC Championship and then to go as far as you can in the NCAAs,” said captain Rachel Norton ’17. “At the same time, I think we do a really good job of balancing that with trying to focus on the next game we are playing. Whichever the next game is is the most important. We are just looking to win one game at a time.”
Last weekend, the Polar Bears went up against Amherst in the NESCAC semifinals but came up short, losing 63-51. Marle Curle ’17 led the team with 17 points and four assists, followed by Shannon Brady ’16 who finished with 15 points and six rebounds. Kate Kerrigan ’18 was close behind with seven points and a team-best 11 rebounds. Amherst defeated Tufts by one point to win the NESCAC title the next day. If Bowdoin advances to the Elite Eight round in NCAAs, it is possible the team will meet Amherst again.
Following this loss, Norton believes the team needs to tighten up rebounding at both ends of the court and box out better. In addition, she said that the players will work on tightening up defense to minimize mental errors that opponents can capitalize on.
“Despite not achieving that goal, we took the time to be upset and refocused and watched our film. Now [we are just focused] on NCAAs and moving forward from there,” said Norton of the team’s loss last weekend.
While the goal in the NCAA Tournament is of course to get as far as possible, the Polar Bears are extremely focused on the first round against Westfield. Westfield plays a unique and different game, using what is called the “Grinnell System.” The Owls will look to instill a chaotic tempo, force a lot of turnovers and switch five players in out every one or two minutes.
“It’s definitely something we haven’t seen,” said Assistant Coach Toby Martin. “So we’re very focused on the up-tempo game this week. With that said, our big focus is just taking care of the ball and knowing that going into the game, we are going to make mistakes...But if we can just take care of [the ball] and be composed and play our game throughout the craziness, then we’ll be okay.”
“They’re going to look to be putting us in a frenzy,” added Norton. “One of the biggest keys for us is to stay composed and not get into this crazy running back and forth and make sure we play the tempo we want to play and not the tempo they’re trying to force.”
According to Norton, the Polar Bears will hope to make the right decisions about when to push the tempo because they like to run, but with a team like Westfield, the goal will be to slow the tempo down.
The Polar Bears are excited to host the tournament with home court advantage. Not only is it preferable to not have to travel, but Brady, the team’s lone senior, has one more opportunity to play at home.
“Our team has worked so hard this year, and I think they all deserve to play at home again, to play in front of their family and friends,” said Martin.
Bowdoin will host three different teams in total this weekend. Today, NYU will play Lehman College at 5 p.m., and Bowdoin will follow at 7 p.m. against Westfield. On Saturday, the winners of the first-round games will play at 7 p.m.
“I think we really have progressed,” said Martin. “We’re exactly where we want to be, and I think we’ve definitely met expectations, and I think we’re hoping to exceed them this weekend and hopefully in the upcoming weeks.”