LEWISTON, Maine -- Junior Ava James drilled a three-pointer from the right wing with 1:24 left in regulation to give Bates women's basketball the lead for good in a 66-63 win over Colby Tuesday night in a non-conference game at Alumni Gymnasium. 

The Bobcats (6-1) found themselves down 58-56 after an Amelia Hanscom layup with 1:46 remaining. On their next possession, Bates senior captain Alexandra Long (Newtown, Pa.) got the ball to James (Bethesda, Md.) with 12 on the shot clock and the much-improved guard drilled the go-ahead three. James is 7-13 this year from three-point range after finishing last year 7-43 from long distance.

The Bobcats got a defensive stop and junior Elsa Daulerio (Harpswell, Maine) hit a jumper with 37 seconds left to extend the Bates lead to 61-58.

It looked like Bates had the game won when sophomore Sarah Hughes (Rumson, N.J.) sank a pair of free throws with 15 seconds left.

But the Mules (2-4) wouldn't go away. Kate Olenik made a layup with 10 seconds on the clock, and the Mules quickly fouled James. James split a pair of free throws and Olenik drilled a three on the other end to cut the Bates lead to 64-63 with three seconds left. Junior Sophie Spolter (Blacklick, Ohio) made two free throws to put the Bobcats back up by three and James blocked a desperation heave from Hanscom at the buzzer to secure the victory. 

Tuesday's game was the third straight contest between the Bobcats and Mules decided by three points or less. Bates has prevailed six of the last seven times they've squared off with Colby in women's basketball.

Daulerio paced the Bobcats with 17 points on 7-14 shooting. She grabbed seven rebounds and matched her career-high with five assists. Hughes added 16 points on 5-9 shooting, tallying four rebounds, dishing out three assists, and recording two steals along the way. James finished with 12 points on 4-6 shooting, knocking down 3-5 from three-point range. She notched six rebounds and blocked two shots. 

Olenik finished with a game-high 25 points on 9-19 shooting for the Mules. Ana Von Rumohr recorded a double-double with 11 points on 3-8 shooting and a game-high 12 rebounds. 

The Mules led the Bobcats by a count of 28-25 at halftime, their largest lead of the contest. Bates rallied to go up 31-30 with 8:01 left in the third quarter on a Hughes three-pointer. The Bobcats maintained the lead for the rest of the stanza and took a 45-44 lead into the fourth quarter of action.

Bates opened the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run, taking their largest lead of the contest at 53-44 on a pair of Spolter free throws with 7:53 remaining in regulation.

But a 12-2 run from Colby gave the visitors the lead back at 56-55 on a Hanscom layup with 3:06 left. Hughes tied the game at 56 by splitting a pair of free throws with 2:11 remaining, setting up the dramatic finish.

The Bobcats have won four in a row and will test themselves Thursday when they head to Brunswick to take on No. 7 nationally ranked Bowdoin in another non-conference game against an in-state NESCAC rival. Tip is set for 7 p.m.