Wilmington of Ohio shakes off the Polar Bears with a 59-53 victory.
By Sun Journal Staff

NORFOLK, Va. – Bowdoin’s quest for perfection, and its first national championship in school history, came up a game short.

Tara Rausch scored 16 of her game-high 19 points in the second half and added 11 rebounds to lead Wilmington of Ohio to a 59-53 victory over previously undefeated Bowdoin in the NCAA Division III women’s championship game Saturday.

Leading 47-43 with 6:46 remaining, Bowdoin was unable to take advantage when Rausch went to the bench with her fourth foul.

Wilmington held Bowdoin scoreless for nearly four minutes and outscored the Polar Bears, 16-6, after the All-American forward returned to the game with just over five minutes left.

Eileen Flaherty led top-ranked Bowdoin (30-1) with 14 points, while Laura Trenkle added 12 points, six rebounds and eight assists. Amy Kincer had 11 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for Wilmington (27-6).

A turnaround jumper by Justine Pouravelis (12 rebounds) with 9:29 left gave Bowdoin its largest lead of the game at 46-37. Rausch, the tournament’s most valuable player, then went on a 6-0 run of her own to pull the Quakers within three before picking up her fourth foul.

A pair of baskets by Flaherty gave the Polar Bears a four-point lead with 4:07 left, but those would be the last Bowdoin hoops for a while. Wilmington tied it at 51 with a free throw and a three-point play by Rausch with 2:28 remaining.

The Quakers finally took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Samantha Hood with 1:43 remaining.

Wilmington extended its lead to seven before Flaherty finally broke Bowdoin’s scoring drought with a basket with 30 seconds left.

Wilmington won its first championship in school history despite shooting just 29 percent from the field for the game.

But the Quakers gave themselves plenty of second chances by attacking the offensive glass (23 offensive rebounds) and controlling the boards on both ends (51-38).

They also got to the free throw line nearly four times as often as the Polar Bears, shooting 15-for-23 from the charity stripe compared to 4-for-6 for Bowdoin.

The Quakers jumped out to an early 9-2 lead, but back-to-back 3-pointers by Kristina Fugate and Trenkle ignited a 12-2 Polar Bear run on their way to a 14-11 advantage.

Defensively, the Polar Bears forced nine turnovers in the first half and scored 13 points off of Wilmington miscues to carry a 28-23 lead into halftime.

Copy the Story Link