Courtesy of Brian Beard

Last weekend, women’s basketball (24–0; 10–0 NESCAC) completed its regular season with two road wins against Wesleyan University (8–15; 2–7 NESCAC) and Trinity College (17–7; 6–4 NESCAC). Currently third in Division III rankings, this is the third perfect regular season in program history and the sixth time the Polar Bears have gone undefeated in NESCAC play.

The team took down Wesleyan on Friday 70–49, not trailing throughout 40 minutes of play. Up by three points after the first quarter, Maria Belardi ’26 made two big three-pointers that started a 11–4 Polar Bear run in the second quarter to go up 32–18 at halftime and maintained a strong lead for the remainder of the game. Captain Sydney Jones ’25 had a team-high of 20 points as well as seven rebounds, four assists and a steal. Belardi and Grace Kinum ’28 also contributed with 11 points each, and Melissa Leone ’27 added ten more to the board. The Polar Bears outrebounded Wesleyan 49–19, which led to 30 more shot attempts on offense.

The team has outrebounded their opponents in every game this season, averaging a margin of almost 11 boards per game, a focus for the team according to Charlotte Sweet ’25.

“We’ve had a focus on rebounding every single game.… We see it as a gritty play,” Sweet said. “Rebounding is about heart and effort and getting to the ball,… keeping that mentality throughout the defensive possession and then sealing it with a rebound or attacking on offense.”

Down the road in Hartford, Conn., the team won by 20 points on Saturday against  Trinity 57–37. Kinum took over in the first quarter, scoring eight points to help put the Polar Bears up 15–8 after ten minutes of play. Bowdoin led by seven points at halftime before the Bantams cut the lead to three points two times in the second half. But the Polar Bears maintained their composure.

“Every game, we’ve either had a different leading scorer or a different thing that we needed to adjust for,” Sweet said. “So when teams shut down something, we are able to pivot and figure out who has the hot hand.”

Abbie Quinn ’27 clearly had the hot hand in the Trinity game,  as she went on a solo eight-point run in the fourth quarter, part of an overall 11–1 run for the Polar Bears to get the lead back to double digits. Quinn finished the game with 19 points and seven rebounds, while Kinum added 15 points, eight rebounds and two steals. The team shot 39 percent from the field and held Trinity to its lowest-scoring game this season.

Point guard Carly Davey ’26 averages the second most minutes per game on the team behind Jones. Versus Trinity, she was on court for all but four minutes of the game, commanding the offense and creating scoring opportunities for her teammates.

“Being a point guard is all about getting people and the ball in the right spots, so calling plays that we know are going to make us successful,” Davey said.

As a senior on the team, Sweet has loved every moment of the team’s postseason run over the last two seasons.

“It’s incredible—I’d like to play as long as I can with them,” Sweet said. “Sometimes I feel like it is less about winning and more about showing up and getting to play with people that will show up for you every single day. Winning this much has only been the cherry on top of a really great season.”

Despite their achievements thus far, the Polar Bears still have their sights set on a high seed in the NCAA Division III tournament that will take place in March.

“The NCAA tournament is still a couple weeks away,” Davey said. “These next few games are just about going out and playing the basketball we know how to play and getting ourselves ready for [the NCAA tournament] when it comes.”

The NESCAC tournament starts this weekend when Bowdoin, the first seed in the tournament, will host the eighth-seeded Williams Ephs (14–10; 4–6 NESCAC) tomorrow afternoon. The Polar Bears beat Williams 80–56 on February 8 in Morrell Gymnasium.

“Yes, we are 24–0,… but once you get into the playoffs, everyone’s back to 0–0,” Davey said. “We know we are a good team, and we play good basketball together—we know everyone’s gunning for us, but we are going to come back just as strong.”