A capacity crowd at Morrell Gymnasium watched Bowdoin rally past Amherst in a rematch of last year's national title game. Bowdoin athletics PHOTO

After falling behind by 16, the Polar Bears roared past Amherst to stay unbeaten in conference and overall. Meanwhile No. 3 Scranton got knocked from the ranks of the unbeaten, No. 2 Thomas More didn't miss a beat after 17 days off and Trine completed a regular season sweep of Hope.

• Saturday's scoreboard: Women | Men
• More news releases: Women | Men
• Saturday's men's wrapup

Trailing 34-18 at the half, Bowdoin brought in a big lineup, ran a full court press and caught fire on offense. The Polar Bears outscored Amherst 28-10 in the third quarter on 65 percent shooting. Amherst got to the foul line in the fourth quarter where the Mammoths shot 8-for-10 and hung around until Bowdoin guard Sam Roy drilled a three with under two minutes to play to put the Polar Bears up 62-56. Amherst missed its next two shots and Bowdoin made its free throws to salt away the 65-56 victory.

Roy finished with 13 points, six rebounds and five assists, Abby Kelly scored 17 points and Maddie Hasson added 14. Amherst only used six players and shot 6-for-26 in the second half. Madeline Eck scored 21 points in 36 minutes for the Mammoths (17-2, 4-1 NESCAC). Bowdoin (19-0, 6-0 NESCAC) now has head-to-head wins over Amherst and Tufts, which practically gives the Polar Bears a two-game lead over both with four to play in the conference's single round-robin format.

Having not played since Jan. 9, the Saints, ranked second by a tiebreaker, roared out to a 30-9 lead after one quarter and cruised to a 90-57 win at Geneva. The Golden Wolves (2-16) are one of just two members on Thomas More's former conference, the Presidents' Athletic Conference, to retain the Saints on their schedule after the Saints departed the league without a new home. Thomas More improved to 23-0 behind a game-high 23 points from Madison Temple, 20 of them in the first half.

Mikayla Ruth shot 7-for-11 from the floor en route to a game-high 18 points and Marissa Emlet scored all 12 of her points in the second half as Elizabethtown went to No. 3 Scranton and took down the unbeaten Lady Royals, 64-56. Sofia Recupero scored two of her team-high 16 points to open the third quarter for Scranton (18-1, 7-1 Landmark), putting the Lady Royals up 29-26, but the Blue Jays (12-6, 5-3) embarked on a 21-6 run to go up by 12. Scranton was able to cut the lead to four with 5:10 left, but could get no closer as the Blue Jays shot 15-for-28 from the floor after halftime.

No. 10 Trine battled past No. 9 Hope 78-72 to sweep the regular season series and take control of the MIAA race. Brandi Dawson scored 20 points and Cassidy Williams added 17 more for the Thunder (18-2, 11-0 MIAA), which has a 2.5-game lead on Hope. Francesca Buchanan tallied 27 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for the Flying Dutch (16-3, 8-2 MIAA).

No. 25 Transylvania shot 51 percent from the field, including 9-for-21 from three, and the Pioneers seized first place in the HCAC with a 61-47 victory over Rose-Hulman. Zevoniah Walker and Celina Kline scored 13 points apiece for Transylvania (17-2, 11-1 HCAC) which has won 13 straight. 

Emily Benway and Julia Champagne scored 20 points apiece as No. 11 St. Joseph's (Maine) remained perfect on the season, defeating Suffolk 77-63. Kelsi McNamara added 19 points on just 6-for-22 shooting, while adding nine assists. The Monks (19-0, 7-0 GNAC) took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Julia Quinn with 3:55 left in the first half, sparking an 11-0 run to leave Suffolk (14-5, 6-1) trailing by six going into the locker room.

UW-Whitewater continued its surge up the WIAC standings with a 55-53 victory at No. 22 UW-La Crosse, pulling the Warhawks into a second-place tie with the Eagles. Whitewater (12-7, 5-3 WIAC) built a 10-point lead and then made enough free throws to stave off La Crosse's rally. Both teams sit two games back of No. 12 Oshkosh which handled River Falls, 65-45.

Maya Howard hit two free throws with 17 seconds left and Oberlin missed a 3-pointer with one second remaining as No. 16 DePauw took a 51-48 road win in NCAC play. Claire Keefe paced the Tigers with 17 points, while Howard added 14 for DePauw (16-4, 10-1 NCAC). Cheynne Arthur had 16 for Oberlin, which fell to 11-8, 6-4.

No. 5 St. Thomas broke its own MIAC record for consecutive wins over conference foes, pushing its streak to 66 in a row with a 76-39 trouncing of Carleton. Augsburg set a program record with its 16th win of the season as the Auggies took care of Concordia-Moorhead, 69-45. Tamira McLemore scored 22 points in 22 minutes for Augsburg (16-3, 11-1 MIAC), which also tied the program record for conference wins. Those teams meet for a second time on Feb. 9 after St. Thomas won the first meeting earlier this month.

Haverford slowed No. 20 Gettysburg's roll to home court throughout the Centennial Conference playoffs, blowing out the Bullets 59-38. Haverford (14-4, 10-4 CC) held Gettysburg to seven points in the first quarter and six in the fourth. Gettysburg shot 3-for-25 from three and attempted just two free throws in the loss.

Outside the Top 25, it was a good day to be a Lion.

Penn State-Harrisburg overwhelmed Southern Virginia 24-7 in the fourth quarter and the Lions dealt the Knights their first conference loss, 64-53. Both team struggled to score as they combined for 41 turnovers versus 36 field goals. Shanique Mattis tallied 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Lions (8-11, 2-6 CAC).

TCNJ scored more points in the second half (37) than Montclair State did in the game and the Lions rolled over the Red Hawks 54-33. TCNJ is tied for second with Rutgers-Newark which held off New Jersey City 56-51.

It was a pretty good day to be a Cougar, too.

Katie Sieg filled the stat sheet with 25 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and five steals for Chatham and the Cougars surprised Washington and Jefferson, 72-70. The loss ends the Presidents' 13-game winning streak and drops them a game behind St. Vincent in the PAC standings. Alixis Rocccia's jumper with seven seconds left was the difference as the Averett Cougars edged rival Greensboro 72-70.

New England College dominated around the rim and just about everywhere else in a 75-50 win over Becker that forges a first-place tie between those teams in the NECC standings. The Pilgrims outscored Becker 32-12 in the paint and outrebounded the Hawks by 28.

Rosemont defeated Keystone 86-69 and pushed its lead in the CSAC standings to 3.5 games with six to play. The Ravens (16-3, 10-0 CSAC) play half of their remaining games against three teams that have eight wins combined.