Box Score BRUNSWICK, Maine – Senior Sara Binkhorst (West Hartford, Conn.) scored a game-high 19 points as a hot-shooting Bowdoin College Polar Bears defeated the University of Southern Maine Huskies 65-44 in a non-conference women's basketball game Wednesday night at Morrill Gymnasium.
With the win, Bowdoin improves to 5-2 on the season. The Huskies even their record to 3-3 with the loss.
Binkhorst scored 11 of her 19 points in the first half as the Polar Bears shot nearly 65 percent from the field to open up a commanding 43-23 lead at the break. Junior Shannon Brady (Scituate, Mass.), who finished with 16 points, scored 12 points in the opening half to lead Bowdoin. Binkhorst was 7-for-16 from the field adding five rebounds and four assists. Brady was 8-or-13 from the floor, grabbing a team-high seven rebounds, while sophomore Marie Curle (Plattsburgh, N.Y.) tossed in 15 points on 4-for-7 shooting.
Junior Megan Pelletier (Winslow, Maine/Messalonskee) led the Huskies with 16 points and eight rebounds. Senior Rebecca Knight (Alfred, Maine/McAuley) tossed in 10 points and had four rebounds. Junior Ella Ramonas (Portland, Maine/Deering) added eight points and five boards.
Both teams kept pace with each other in the opening minutes and the Huskies trailed 13-10 on a layup from Knight, before the Polar Bears got hot scoring 12 straight points while connecting on 6-of-6 from the field to open up a 22-10 lead. Curle had five points in the run.
Pelletier halted the Polar Bear scoring flurry with a layup on a feed from senior Stephanie Gallagher (York, Maine), but Bowdoin responded with an 8-2 run for a 30-14 lead. Knight made another jumper to trim the Huskies' deficit to 30-16, but Bowdoin outscored USM 13-7 in the final nine minutes for the 43-23 lead.
Southern Maine started the second half strongly, outscoring the Polar Bears 7-3 to trail 46-30 with 17:34 to play. Pelletier started the scoring with a strong move in the paint, followed by a Ramonas three from the top of the circle. Binkhorst interrupted the Huskies' run with a three, before USM senior Taylor Flood (Sanford, Maine) stuck a three off of a feed from Knight. However, the Polar Bears stymied USM's efforts with a 9-0 run to regain momentum and snag a 55-30 lead. USM kept pace with the Polar Bears in the second half, but were never able to cut the lead into single digits.
Southern Maine shot just 29.3 percent (17-for-58) from the field compared to Bowdoin's 46.4 percent (26-for-56). Both teams were even on turnovers with USM having 17 to Bowdoin's 16.
Southern Maine opens its Little East Conference schedule when travels to Western Connecticut on Saturday (1:00 p.m.). Bowdoin travels to Colby on Saturday (2:00 p.m.) for a non-conference game.
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