Courtesy of Brian Beard

Carly Davey ’26 is celebrating last weekend’s NESCAC championship title win against Bates College in Morrell Gym last Sunday while looking towards upcoming NCAAs. Sunday’s game ended in a 66–56 victory over Bates College, where Davey earned the team a 23–21 lead at the break and tallied a total of 12 points and five rebounds. With this win, Bowdoin secured its tenth NESCAC championship.

Davey’s excitement and anticipation surrounding the championship win has grown since last season.

“The NESCAC championship is something we talked about at the time…. That’s been our goal for the whole season,” she said.

During the final moments of the game, Davey described a collective electricity as the team’s win became inevitable.

“[In] the last 30 seconds, when we knew that it was just a matter of time until the buzzer went off, I was going crazy, and everyone was going crazy,” she said. “We all got to really celebrate with each other. That is something I’ll remember forever.”

Beyond their winning record and postseason success, Davey emphasized the team’s spirit and camaraderie as a focal point of the season. She cites this as a highlight of her athletic collegiate career.

“I think the culture here is something that you do not find anywhere else…. There’s so much time that we choose to spend together that we could be spending with other people,” she said. “When we’re playing, we’re playing for each other…. There’s no place quite like Bowdoin.”

As a child, Davey tried out soccer, swimming and gymnastics, but emphasizes her consistent love for basketball throughout the years. She also cites her father’s passion for the sport as an important influence in her career on the court.

“I have always found basketball to be the most fun.… It’s a team sport, and I love being surrounded by my teammates who are also my best friends,” she said. “My dad got me into it, but it’s the people and my teammates who have made it fun and kept me playing…. I’ve really loved it since the very beginning, there’s obviously been ups and downs … but my love for it hasn’t wavered.”

Davey attributed a large part of the team’s success to the support of Head Coach Megan Phelps ’11 and Assistant Coach Abby Kelly ’19. She specifically highlighted Phelps as a source of inspiration during her Bowdoin career.

“[Phelps] was one of the first coaches to recruit me in high school. I have a lot of trust in her and so does our entire team…. We all find ourselves in her office all the time, whether we’re talking about basketball or not,” she said. “Her and [Kelly] are the best coaching staff in the country, I don’t think we would have done any of this without them.”

Davey and the team plan to focus on the defensive side of the ball and work together to navigate any possible uncertainties in the NCAA tournament. Davey emphasized the importance of finding balance amidst the excitement and anticipation for upcoming games.

“We’re now [playing against] teams that we haven’t seen as much. We play Western New England [University] this Friday, and everyone who’s in the tournament is a good team,” she said. “It’s about nameless, faceless opponents [and] going into every game with the same mindset.”

Davey underscored the importance of community support for the team’s trajectory in NCAAs.

“The student section has been really great and we’re going to be hosting all the way through, so everyone needs to keep coming out because the fans and the support has made it that much more exciting and fun,” she said.