With just 45 seconds left on the clock, Katie Bergeron '11 sank the game-winning jump shot that gave the Polar Bears a narrow 53-52 edge over the Trinity Bantams Saturday afternoon in Morrell Gymnasium.
Bowdoin is now ranked No. 18 and improved their record to 14-5 with Saturday's win. The team will travel to face Middlebury College (10-9) Friday evening and Williams College (16-4) on Saturday.
The Polar Bears got off to a shaky start against the Bantams, with a mere 26.7 percent success rate from the field in the first half. Trinity took advantage of its host's inability to connect in the first half and managed to head to the locker room up by a score of 33-22.
Things did not appear to be shaping up for the Polar Bears upon their return from intermission, as the Bantams soon increased their lead to 16 points.
An increase in defensive intensity set fire to the team and multiple resulting Trinity turnovers soon cut the Bowdoin deficit in half.
"Alexa Barry '12 also was the spark that got us going during Trinity," Leah Rubega '10 said. "We were down 16 points but she went in and played with such heart and determination that it ignited the team."
With the minutes of play winding down, Trinity maintained a slight advantage of between three and six points. Bowdoin closed the gap to within one point with just 1:11 to play.
Bergeron's jumper pushed the Polar Bears ahead by one point and the Bantams were unable to respond before the buzzer sounded.
"Katie Bergeron had a great weekend," said Rubega. "She really stepped up and showed leadership and composure that helped us win the game."
Top scorers for Bowdoin were Bergeron with 18 points, Caitlin Hynes '10 with 13 points, and Rubega with 10 points.
The Polar Bears did not fare as well on Friday evening in their game against the No. 2-ranked Amherst Lord Jeffs. Sharp shooting by Amherst in the first half helped the Lord Jeffs to pull ahead to an early lead. When the buzzer sounded at the end of the half, Amherst was up by 10 points.
Upon returning from the break, things were looking up for the Polar Bears, as the Lord Jeffs widened the gap to 21 points. Bowdoin would not roll over so easily though, and scoring from Bergeron ignited a 16-4 point run for the Polar Bears.
With 8:30 left in regulation, the Polar Bears had whittled the Amherst lead to only nine points. However, that was the closest that the Polar Bears would come to the Lord Jeffs, and the team ultimately fell to Amherst by a score of 72-63.
Among the top scorers for the Polar Bears were Bergeron with 20 points, Rubega with 10 points, and Kaitlin Donahoe '13 from the bench with 10 points.
Rubega also pocketed 10 boards, making her the 10th player in the program history to exceed 600 career rebounds.
The team is optimistic about their matchups this weekend against Middlebury and Williams.
"These past two games we saw moments and spurts of how we know we can play and how we want to be playing...This week of practices we are working on bringing the level of intensity that we had in the last 15 minutes of each game to practice and being consistent with such intensity," said Rubega.
"We want to come away this weekend not only with two wins," she added, "but a feeling that we consistently brought the level of intensity and drive that we know we can play with."