In the women's basketball team's home NESCAC quarterfinal game against Wesleyan last Saturday, the Polar Bears held the Cardinals to just 37 points—the fewest an opponent has scored since Bowdoin's first game of the season.
Bowdoin's defense clamped down from the start, holding Wesleyan to 20 points or fewer in each half for a 53-37 victory. After going on an early 13-2 run six minutes into the first half, the Cardinals only scored seven more points in the rest of the half to fall behind 33-20.
The second half was the same story, as Wesleyan simply could not get anything going against the Polar Bear defense. The Cardinals had 65 field goal attempts—10 more than Bowdoin—but only shot 24.6 percent from the field in a miserable offensive effort.
Captain Jill Henrikson '12 had yet another strong performance with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and was the only Polar Bear to score in double digits. Forward Megan Phelps '15 came off the bench for seven rebounds in just 11 minutes.
While Bowdoin's defensive performance was outstanding, its offense floundered. The Polar Bears' offense scored its fewest points in a month, stagnating somewhat in the second half, hitting only 20 percent of its field goals.
"I liked our offense in the first half, but felt we were too passive in the second half," said Head Coach Adrienne Shibles. "We should have continued to push the ball and be aggressive about getting the rim."
The No. 3 Polar Bears are slated to play No. 2 Tufts in the semifinals tomorrow at 3 p.m. at Amherst.
Bowdoin has reached this round every season for the past dozen years. If the team wins, it would play in the NESCAC Championship on Sunday at noon against the winner of the other semifinal matchup between No. 1 Amherst and No. 4 Colby.
Shibles said she expects a tough fight for her team against what she calls a deep and athletic Tufts lineup, but believes her team is up to the challenge.