With a final burst of energy before winter break, the women's basketball team soundly defeated the Colby-Sawyer Chargers at Morrell Gymnasium Thursday evening by a score of 60-40.
Coach Adrienne Shibles attributes the win to the team's superior defensive effort and rebounding.
"I think the defense was outstanding tonight," she said. "We also did a consistent job rebounding, especially Leah Rubega '10, who dominated on the boards."
Rubega grabbed 20 boards, a career-high and the highest number of rebounds for a Polar Bear in 30 years.
The Polar Bear's defense came onto the court prepared to control the game from the first minutes of play. The team quickly built its lead up into the double digits in the first five minutes and kept the Chargers scoreless for the first eight minutes of the game.
"Since it was the last game before break, we wanted to come out as hard as we could," said Caitlin Hynes '10. "We responded to the problems in our game against Husson and had a huge, decisive win before break."
Throughout the first half, the team maintained its lead and headed into the locker room at the half up by 16 points.
Katie Bergeron '11 started the second period with a bang, sinking a three within the first 15 seconds of the half. The Chargers continued to trail the entire second half by as much as 23 points. The top scorers for the Polar Bears were Bergeron with fourteen points and Hynes with eleven. The team's victory improved its record to 7-0.
Tuesday evening, the Polar Bears defeated the Husson Eagles by a score of 79-58. The team achieved an early lead in the first period, but the Eagles fought back refusing to let the Polar Bears run away with the game and keeping the score close, 31-27, at the half.
The game didn't stay close for long, as the Polar Bears pulled away early in the second half, scoring the first 15 points. Shooting 56.3 percent from the field in the second period, the team increased their lead quickly to 19 points.
Top scorers for the Polar Bears were Bergeron, Ellery Gould '12, and Rubega, each with 16 points.
The Polar Bears also defeated Colby College decisively in Waterville, Maine on Saturday, never trailing throughout the game. Saturday's victory marked the team's 19th straight win over the Mules who have not defeated the Polar Bears since 2001.
Bowdoin never gave the Mules the chance to narrow the gap to less than seven points in the second half. The game remained close with 6:27 seconds to play and a score of 48-41. A three-pointer from Rubega quickly shifted the momentum in her team's favor and the Polar Bears led by at least nine for the rest of the game with a final score of 65-56.
Top scorer of the game was senior Rubega with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Following this victory, Rubega was given the NESCAC women's basketball Player of the Week award.