Bates junior Kelsey Flaherty (South Portland, Maine) led the Bobcats (11-3) with a career-high 15 points, while sophomore Allie Beaulieu (Swampscott, Mass.) chipped in 11 points and Jessie Igoe added 10 points and seven boards. Senior Christine McCall (Lowell, Mass.) grabbed a game- and career-high 12 rebounds, and junior Lauren Dobish (Chambersburg, Pa.) passed out a game-high six assists.
Bowdoin jumped out to a 16-5 lead over the first 6:23 of the game, on the strength of a pair of putbacks by Coombes and three-pointers by Henrikson and Donahoe. Henrikson canned back-to-back threes at the 10:39 and 9:19 marks, extending the lead to 15 (26-11), and another three by Amy Hackett put Bowdoin on top 35-17 with 5:20 left. Bates outscored Bowdoin 9-4 over the final five minutes to head into the locker room at a 13-point disadvantage.
A layup by Igoe and a three by sophomore Taryn O'Connell (Georgetown, Mass.) cut Bowdoin's lead to 41-31 early in the second half, and the Bobcats continued to whittle at Bowdoin's lead, cutting it as low as 48-41 with 12:42 left in the game. The Polar Bears punched back with a 9-2 run to build the lead back to 14 (57-43) with 8:25 left, and another Henrikson three made it 62-47 with 5:40 to play.
Bates made a final run at Bowdoin, scoring nine unanswered points with three-pointers by Flaherty and Beaulieu and a layup by Dobish, cutting it to 62-58 with 28 seconds left in the game. Bowdoin's Colleen Sweeney and Hacket combined to hit 5 of 6 foul shots in the final 23 seconds to ice the win, offsetting another three by Flaherty.
The teams will meet again for their NESCAC matchup on Jan. 22 at 4 p.m. at Bowdoin. Bates opens NESCAC play on Friday at 8 p.m. against Williams. The game can be followed via Live Stats and Live Video Webcast.