For the first time in Bates history, the men’s and women’s basketball teams both finished in the top four of NESCAC, giving the Bobcats homecourt advantage in two first-round playoff games this Saturday.

Ranked No. 3 in NESCAC, the men’s team will host No. 6 Williams at 2 p.m. at Alumni Gymnasium. The women, ranked No. 2 in the conference, will play No. 7 Tufts University at 4 p.m. Admission to both games is free and open to the public.The men’s team finished the regular season 17-7 and 6-3 in NESCAC. Against Trinity on Feb. 12, center Elliott Linsley ’05 (Murrieta, Calif.) secured Bates’ third-place finish, draining an 18-footer from the right wing as time expired. The Bobcats won 69-67.

Rob Stockwell ’07 (Temple, N.H.) led the Bobcats this season, averaging 16 points and eight rebounds per game. Point guard Zak Ray ’07 (Bangor, Maine) averaged 12 points with five assists, while senior Brian Gerrity (Augusta, Maine) averaged 13 points per game. On Dec. 11, Gerrity became the 26th player in school history to score 1,000 career points.

Finishing the regular season 22-1 and 8-1 in NESCAC, the women’s team ranks No. 1 in the D3hoops.com national poll and No. 2 in the USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Coaches’ Poll.

The Bobcats only loss came against then No. 1 Bowdoin on Jan. 14. The Bobcats won their next 10 games, including a 74-62 win over Bowdoin on Feb. 1, but the Jan. 14 matchup was a conference game, giving the Polar Bears top seed in NESCAC.

Bates and Bowdoin finished a combined 4-0 against Colby this season, meaning the Bobcats’ win in February deferred the CBB title — and ultimate bragging rights — to the NESCAC tournament. Bates and Bowdoin could face each other in the NESCAC championship game next weekend for the third time in as many years.

Forward Olivia Zurek (Arlington, Mass.) averaged 16 points and 10 rebounds per game her senior year. She recorded 14 double-doubles in 23 games and was named NESCAC Player of the Week three times. She scored her 1,000th career point on Nov. 23 and finished the regular season as Bates’ all-time leading rebounder (838). With 1,348 career points, Zurek ranks third in scoring.

Meg Coffin ’07 (Westford, Mass.) provided a presence on the blocks this season, averaging 12 points and seven rebounds per game; she finished the year with three double-doubles.

The men’s and women’s teams faired well against their playoff opponents during the regular season. The men beat Williams on the road, 80-70, while the women beat Tufts, 76-66, also away from Alumni Gymnasium.

For the latest sports news, scores and updates, visit the Bates Athletics Web site.

Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams have gotten off to impressive starts at Bates College, with both teams undefeated through the first three weeks of the season.

The men’s team is off to the best start in program history, winning its first eight games, including tournament titles at Brandeis, UMass Boston and Norwich. The Bobcats have dominated the competition, winning by an average of more than 17 points and leading at halftime in all but one game. The team also started the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin series with a win, defeating Bowdoin in Brunswick, 85-66.

The women’s team is ranked 21st nationally by D3hoops.com. The Bobcats are 6-0, gaining national attention with a 61-37 drubbing of the University of Southern Maine, ranked second nationally, in the third game of the season. Olivia Zurek ’05 (Arlington, Mass.) was named the NESCAC Player of the Week on Dec. 6 and became the 13th member of the 1,000-point club earlier this season.

The men face the University of Maine at Farmington at 7 p.m. in Alumni Gymnasium on Wednesday, while the women host the University of Maine at Presque Isle on Friday at 6:30 p.m.

For the latest sports news, scores and updates, visit the Bates Athletics Web site.

Ray ’07 (Bangor, Maine) was a New England Small College Athletic Conference Co-Rookie of the Year after finishing the season ranked fourth in the league in assists and steals, sixth in assist/turnover ratio, and seventh in free throw percentage. His season assist total of 113 is the most by a Bates rookie since Matt LaPointe ’03 recorded 157 in the 1999-2000 season.

Ray also provided perhaps the most memorable moment of the 2003-04 season for Bates, hitting a 30-foot buzzer beater to give Bates a 65-62 win over Tufts on Jan. 24 in Medford, Mass.

The first player off the bench, Ray averaged nearly 27 minutes a game. Prior to coming to Bates, Ray led Bangor High School to a state championship title and earned Mr. Maine Basketball honors.

The Bates College men’s basketball team fell to one No. 1 team on Saturday, and the women suffered the same fate on Sunday as both teams were eliminated from the New England Small College Athletic Conference Championships over the weekend.

The women advanced to the championship game with a 60-51 win over Wesleyan on Saturday. On Sunday, the team rallied from a 30-11 halftime deficit to force overtime with Bowdoin, the nation’s top-ranked team. The Bobcats led 47-43 early in the extra period, but the Polar Bears scored the final eight points of the game to win, 51-47.

Bowdoin, now 26-0, claimed the conference’s automatic NCAA Tournament bid, while Bates finished the season 19-8.

The men’s basketball team fell to Williams, 94-86, in the semifinal round on Saturday. The Bobcats finished the season 18-8, tying the program record for wins in a season. The team also set a record for 3-pointers in a season with 268, shattering the previous record by 60.

For more on Bates Athletics, including complete game stories from the weekend, be sure to visit http://www.bates.edu/sports.xml.

The Bates College men’s and women’s basketball teams both advanced to the semifinal round of the New England Small College Athletic Conference Championships with wins over their quarterfinal opponents on Saturday.

The No. 3 seed in the women’s tournament, Bates came from behind to defeat No. 6 seed Amherst, 62-57, at Alumni Gymnasium. Bates trailed for almost the entire game, but a pair of jump shots by Lauren DuBois ’04 (Beverly, Mass.) with less than two minutes to play gave Bates the lead for good.

The Bobcats, now 18-7, will face No. 2 seed Wesleyan on Saturday at top-seeded Bowdoin at 4 p.m.. Bates lost both of their meetings with the Cardinals this season, but both games were very close. Wesleyan, now 20-3 on the year, won the first meeting, 52-51, in the championship game of the St. Joseph’s Classic in December. The Cardinals then won the NESCAC meeting 62-57 in Middletown, Conn.

The fifth-seeded men’ basketball team defeated No. 4 Bowdoin 87-52 in Brunswick on Saturday, using a 30-6 run over the final 11:28 of the first half to build a 45-20 halftime lead. The Bobcats were 15-for-35 from 3-point range and have already shattered the program record for 3-pointers in a season by 48 with 256 following the win over Bowdoin. More importantly, Bates tied the program record for wins in a season, improving to 18-7.

The Bobcats will face a tough test in the next round, playing against the top seed Williams on the road on Saturday at 4 p.m. Williams, the nation’s top-ranked team at 24-1 on the season, escaped from the only meeting between the two teams with an 86-83 win at Alumni Gymnasium.

Both semifinal games will take place on Saturday, though the game times have not yet been scheduled. Winners in Saturday’s semifinal round will play for the NESCAC Championship and an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.

For more on Bates Athletics, including complete game stories from Saturday’s quarterfinal round, be sure to visit http://www.bates.edu/sports.xml.

Betsy Hochadel was selected as the New England Small College Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week by the conference on Monday afternoon.

Hochadel ’05 (Portland, Maine) led Bates to a 3-0 week, averaging 15 points and 6.3 rebounds per game while hitting over 60% of her shots from the floor and over 90% of her free throw attempts. She recorded her second career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds in an 85-73 overtime win over Williams on Friday, then scored 19 points on 8-for-11 shooting in an 80-44 win over Middlebury to clinch a tie for second in the final NESCAC standings.

The Bobcats (17-7, 7-2 NESCAC) earned the No. 3 seed in the NESCAC Championship and will host No. 6 seed Amherst (11-13, 3-6) in the quarterfinal round on Saturday at 1 p.m. Bates defeated the Lord Jeffs 72-46 in the regular season.

The game, originally scheduled for a 3 p.m. start, was moved to 1 p.m. to allow Bates fans the opportunity to travel to Brunswick in time for the men’s NESCAC quarterfinal with Bowdoin.

The fifth-seeded Bobcats (17-7, 5-4) will face the Polar Bears for the third time this season. Bates defeated Bowdoin 87-56 at Alumni Gymnasium in early December, but the No. 4 seeded Polar Bears (16-8, 6-3) won the game which counted in the NESCAC standings, 62-55, two weeks ago.

NESCAC SCHEDULE
Women’s Quarterfinal at Bates
Saturday, Feb. 21, 1 p.m.
No. 6 Amherst (11-13, 3-6) vs.
No. 3 Bates (17-7, 7-2), 1 p.m.

Men’s Quarterfinal at Bowdoin
Saturday, Feb. 21, 4 p.m.
No. 5 Bates (17-7, 5-4) vs.
No. 4 Bowdoin (16-8, 6-3), 4 p.m.