Courtsey of Brian Beard

The women’s basketball team (20–0; 6–0 NESCAC) won both its away games decisively this weekend, beating Hamilton College (13–7; 2–4 NESCAC) 66–50 and Amherst College (14–6; 2–4 NESCAC) 65–54. The weekend’s action preserved the Polar Bears’ undefeated record and marked the team’s first victory at Amherst since 2009. It is also the third time in program history that the team has started the season 20–0.

Captain Sydney Jones ’25 led the team in scoring in both matchups, with a season high of 25 points against Amherst. Abbie Quinn ’27, Grace Kinum ’28, captain Carly Davey ’26 and Melissa Leone ’27 also all posted double-digit point totals in the Amherst game.

“It’s not just one person that needs to be on, you have so many people that can shoot the ball, and we have so many posts that can get inside and get steals and rebounds,” Jones said.

In both matchups, the team started slow, trailing Amherst by as many as eight points in the first quarter before rallying behind Jones’ 15 second-quarter points to take the lead going into the half. Jones attributed this surge to the coaching staff’s encouragement.

“[Head] Coach [Megan Phelps ’15] and Coach Abby [Kelly ’19] and all my teammates put so much trust into me and support that I know even if I’m taking shots and they don’t go in, that I should keep shooting, keep doing what I can to help and that they’ll support me in that,” Jones said.

Phelps said that, while opponents often come out fast against them in the first half, the team’s conditioning and confidence gives the Polar Bears the edge in the second half, a sentiment echoed by her players.

“We play for the second half, and usually the third quarter for us is our best quarter,” Leone said. “We don’t let anything, any of the external factors of how the other team is playing affect how we play.”

In both games, once the Polar Bears took the lead they didn’t take their foot off the gas, something Phelps says they’ve worked on this season.

“I think it kind of comes back to focusing a lot on us, our style of basketball and the level or the standards that we have for ourselves with regards to what’s a good performance and what isn’t,” Phelps said. “When you have goals and aspirations to be in the playoffs and be competing for championships, you have to have that mentality of like, ‘Okay, we may have won by a lot, but did we play to a level that’s going to help us win in those games in March?’”

The team’s long-term goals manifest themselves in how the players prepare for each game.

“We try to talk about nameless, faceless opponents.… We try to keep our preparation the same for every game, so that we don’t have to worry too much about the variables in different places,” Phelps said.

Having never won a game in Amherst’s LeFrak Gymnasium during her time playing at Bowdoin from 2011 to 2015, the victory was extra sweet for Phelps.

“It’s a tough gym to play in and obviously, Amherst women’s basketball has this amazing tradition of success, a lot like Bowdoin, and so I was super, super proud of them and selfishly happy,” Phelps said.

While the team has been building their own tradition of success this season, Jones feels they’ve done a good job ignoring the pressure of a 20–0 start and have instead used it to build confidence.

“Obviously, it’d be great to end the season, the NESCAC season, 24–0, but we’re not preparing to lose, and we’re not playing to lose. We’re still always playing to win. But kind of keeping that in the distance a little bit allows us to not constrain ourselves to prevention,” Jones said.

Phelps emphasized Jones’s thought process on losing going into these last few games.

“Failure is a really important part of growth, and so a lot of times, I think that helps when you go on a streak like this,” Phelps said. “Because I don’t think there’s a lot of fear around like, ‘What if we lose?’ Because if we lose that means we’re gonna get something out of it.”

Looking ahead, the Polar Bears have four games left before the NESCAC playoffs begin. The team won the NESCAC championship last year and went to the quarterfinals in the NCAA Division III tournament.

“We’re playing to win a national championship,” Leone said.

Jones further emphasized the team’s comradery and shared desire to finish the season strong in order to get home playoff games in Morrell Gymnasium.

“They’re all my best friends, and getting to do it in Morrell is a great part about it,” Jones said, “Obviously, a NESCAC championship is always great, but we’re really vying for a national championship.”

The Polar Bears continue their quest for a championship this weekend, with home games against Middlebury College (14–6; 4–2 NESCAC) today at 7 p.m. and Williams College (12–8; 2–4 NESCAC) tomorrow at 3 p.m.