In like a lion, out like a…

Champion?

It’s possible.

The Bates College women’s basketball team continues to play through March for the first time since the 1999-2000 season, advancing to the Division III Sweet 16 with an 83-64 win over Emmanuel in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

The Bobcats will take on the University of Southern Maine Friday at 8 p.m. in Gorham. The winner will face the winner of Springfield-Wesleyan in the Elite 8 on Saturday, also in Gorham. Click here for directions to the USM campus.

Tickets to Friday’s game ($7/adults and $5/students and senior citizens) go on sale Wednesday, March 9, in the USM Ice Arena lobby starting at noon. There is a maximum of four tickets per person. Tickets can also be purchased at the door on Friday.

Advance tickets will be sold at Bates in the front office of Alumni Gym on Wednesday from 2-4 p.m., and Thursday noon to 5 p.m. Fan busses will depart from Chase Hall at 6 p.m. Friday. To reserve a seat, sign up when you purchase tickets.

The winner of the NCAA sectional advances to the Final Four, held the weekend of March 18 in Virginia Beach.

Making its fifth appearance in the NCAA tournament, Bates has advanced to the Sweet 16 once, but lost to Johns Hopkins, 69-56, during the 1997-98 season.

The ’97-98 squad set the school record for wins in a season (22).

It was a record that stood until this year.

Ranked No. 3 in the D3hoops.com national poll and No. 4 in the USA Today/ESPN Top 25 coaches’ poll, Bates is 25-2, having lost only to top-ranked Bowdoin. The Bobcats began the season unranked and climbed to as high as No. 1, a ranking they held from Feb. 8 to Feb. 29.

Last week, four Bobcats were honored by the New England Small College Athletic Conference.

A first team selection, Olivia Zurek ’05 (Arlington, Mass.) was named NESCAC player of the year, while Meg Coffin ’07 (Westford, Mass.) was named to the second team. Sarah Barton (Portsmouth, N.H.) earned co-rookie of the year honors, and Jim Murphy was named conference coach of the year.

It has been a season marked by records and milestones.

• Against Bowdoin on Feb. 1, Murphy recorded his 200th career win in 11 seasons.

• Against USM, Zurek scored her 1,000th career point. She is the No. 1 rebounder in Bates’ history (869) and ranks second in scoring (1,424). She was named NESCAC player of the week three times and Maine player of the week twice. She is a finalist for the Josten’s player of the year award.

• Bates tied the school record for consecutive wins, winning 12 games from Nov. 19 to Jan. 11.

• Bates finished No. 2 in NESCAC for the third straight year and won three tournaments (at Salem State, St. Joe’s of Maine, and Williams).

• The Bobcats set the school record for points allowed in a game, holding the University of Maine at Presque Isle to 18 on Dec. 10. Bates also set the school record for largest margin of victory (91), beating the Owls, 109-18.

The Bobcats beat USM and Wesleyan in the regular season, making them the favorite in sectional play. Bates beat USM, 61-37, on Nov. 23, and Wesleyan, 84-49, on Jan. 29.

Despite all the individual accolades this season, Murphy attributes Bates’ success to selfless team play, evidenced by the assist record set this season (504). It is the sixth time the assist record has been broken during Murphy’s tenure.

Murphy emphasized the team-first approach before the NCAA tournament.

Practicing in Alumni Gym the night before the Emmanuel game, he gathered his players around the center circle and said:

“Remember, if you shoot too much, people say you’re a gunner. If you dribble too much, people call you a ‘hot dog’. If you pass too much, people say you’re not aggressive enough. If you rebound too much, people call you a champion.”

It may look like a lion, but it’s Bobcat basketball.

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

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.

Athletic teams at Bates are on a brief hiatus for exams this week. Contests will resume on Jan. 3 with the women’s basketball team heading to Williamstown, Mass., for the Williams Tournament. But it’s been a tremendous first month of the winter sports season for the Bobcats, with several teams earning national recognition.

The women’s basketball team remains perfect through eight games this season, moving up to 16th in the D3hoops.com national poll on Tuesday. Olivia Zurek ’05 (Arlington, Mass.) scored her 1,000th career point in the team’s 61-37 win over the University of Southern Maine, ranked second nationally at the time.

The men’s basketball team has also gotten off to a hot start, posting a 9-1 record at the break. The Bobcats are the top-ranked team in Maine, and Brian Gerrity ’05 (Augusta, Maine) scored his 1000th career point in a win over Husson on Saturday.

Kelly Godsey ’06 (Parker, Colo.) opened the indoor track season with an impressive performance in the 20-lb. weight throw, breaking her own school record by three feet and one inch with an automatic national qualifying distance of 63-feet, 0.25-inches. Godsey posted a provisional qualifier in the shot put with a throw of 44-7.5. Scott Cooper ’05 (Sherman Oaks, Calif.) and Dustin Gauthier ’05 (Amherst, N.H) also hit provisional qualifiers in the 35-lb. weight throw to lead the men’s track and field team.

Both squash teams are ranked in the top 10 nationally after a solid start to the season. The women are ranked ninth and have a 5-1 record, sweeping four teams at the Wesleyan round robin by 9-0 scores. Gary Kan ’07 (Hong Kong) is ranked 44th as an individual to lead the men’s team, which is ranked 10th at 3-1.

Both swim teams have started the season 1-1, with two members of the women’s team hitting NCAA qualifiers. Kara Seaton ’05 (Wayne, Pa.) qualified for the 1-meter diving event with a score of 265.80, while Vanessa Williamson ’05 (Auburn, Maine) qualified provisionally for the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:08.26.

While the ski teams have been training for the last several weeks, the EISA schedule doesn’t begin until January. The Nordic team begins on Jan. 14 at the St. Michael’s Carnival, while the alpine season begins on Jan. 21 when Bates hosts a carnival at Sunday River and Black Mountain.

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.

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.

By virtue of their 77-59 victory over Trinity College on Feb. 17, the women’s basketball team has advanced to the semifinals of the New England Small College Athletic Conference tournament. The Bobcats will face Middlebury at 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 23, at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. Ticket prices are $5 for adults and $2 for students and children under 18.

The Bobcats, the No. 3 seed in the tournament, avenged one of their two regular-season conference losses with the win over Trinity. Junior forward Carla Flaherty of Gorham led four Bates players in double figures with 18 points. Sophomore Lauren Dubois of Beverly, Mass., had a fine all-around game with 11 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and two steals.

Bates takes on No. 2 Middlebury in the semifinals and will hope to win against the only other conference team that beat them in the regular season. The Panthers took a 58-50 victory in Vermont on Feb. 8. The 50 points was the lowest total posted by the Bobcats this season.

A win by Bates in that game and victory by top seed Bowdoin over No. 4 Williams in Saturday’s first game would set up a Colby-Bates-Bowdoin showdown in the NESCAC finals with a berth to the NCAA tournament on the line. The finals, to be played at noon Sunday, Feb. 24, will be the rubber match in the season series between the two teams. Bowdoin won in Brunswick, 65-51, on Jan. 22, but Bates handed the 22-1 Polar Bears their only loss of the season less than two weeks later, 56-54 in the Alumni Gymnasium. Bates senior Kate Dockery of New York, N.Y., hit two free throws with six-tenths of a second left on the clock to give Bates the win in that game.

Senior guard Kate Dockery of New York, N.Y., has been selected as the Maine Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Association (MWBCA), New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC)  and Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Women’s Basketball Player of the Week for Dec. 10.

Dockery, who also earned NESCAC Player of the Week honors in the fall as a member of Bates’ women’s soccer team, averaged 24 points, three rebounds, two steals, 1.5 assists and one block per game in a 2-0 week for the Bobcats. She also shot 57.1 percent from the floor (20-35) and 75 percent from 3-point range (6-8) on the week.

Dockery had 11 points in limited minutes in Bates’ 94-38 midweek win over Thomas College Dec. 5, but she earned the award primarily for her stellar performance in a 74-70 Bobcat win over the University of Maine-Farmington Dec. 8. In that game, Dockery tied two school single-game records with 37 points and five 3-pointers. She hit 15-of-24 from the floor against UMF, including five-of-seven from long range. Dockery scored 19 points in the first half as the Bobcats jumped out to a 40-26 lead at the break. Maine-Farmington climbed back in the game, however, taking advantage of a 16-1 scoring margin from the free throw line in the second half. The Beavers cut the lead to one, 68-67, with 2:30 left in the contest, but Dockery hit Bates’ final three field goals to ice the victory.

In coach Jim Murphy ’69′s eighth year at the helm, Bates is 5-1 and ranked third in the most recent MWBCA poll. The Bobcats are the top field-goal- and 3-point-shooting team in the NESCAC and in the MWBCA. Dockery is seventh in the NESCAC in scoring, averaging 13.3 points per game.

For more information on Bates women’s basketball, please visit our web site at http://www.bates.edu/whoops.xml.