BRUNSWICK – For Justine Pouravelis, it was simply her turn.
All season long, the Bowdoin women’s basketball team has relied on leading scorer Eileen Flaherty while her teammates alternate in a supporting role. Pouravelis was the one that shared the limelight Saturday.
While Flaherty scored her usual 15 points, Pouravelis was a demon on the offensive boards and scored a career-high 21 points to help lift top-seeded Bowdoin over No. 5 Amherst with a 60-48 NESCAC semifinal win. The victory sets up the much anticipated grudge match between Polar Bears and the Bobcats who split their two games during the regular season.
The junior forward grabbed seven offensive rebounds and finished with a game-high 12 boards. She also made the most of those opportunities on the offensive glass as she connected on 10 of her 11 shots.
“We have a lot of parts,” said Bowdoin coach Stefanie Pemper, “It’s just a matter of which parts will work on a given night.”
Pouravelis scored the final six points for Bowdoin (23-2) in the first half which saw the Polar Bears grab a 25-21 advantage. Her final basket of the half came just before the buzzer sounded. Alison Smith missed a three-point attempt from the top of the key in the waning seconds and Pouravelis slipped in for the rebound and converted it.
“That was the key,” said Amherst co-coach Billy McBride of Pouravelis’ contribution. “A rebound is like a pass in the zone. You have to go and get it. She wasn’t going to be denied.”
The Polar Bears got the Lord Jeffs (15-11) out of their offensive rhythm in the opening minutes of the second half by a small change to their full-court zone pressure. Smith made one steal and then raced underneath for an easy basket to put the Polar Bears up 33-23.
“We changed up our zone pressure,” said Pemper. “Never in my years here have I changed it up. They were being hesitant and the shot clock kept winding down.”
While Bowdoin was able to increase its intensity, Amherst found itself in deep foul trouble. Both starting post players for the Lord Jeffs picked up their fourth foul early in the second half. Leading scorer Matia Kostakis scored eight points in the first half but picked up her fourth foul less than two minutes into the second half and ended up fouling out with 8:20 left in the game. She finished with team-high 14 points.
Instead of a man-to-man pressure in the halfcourt set, the Lord Jeffs were forced to go to a more complacent zone defense.
“We were forced to go to a zone,” said McBride. “When we got away from our man defense we weren’t as aggressive. With foul trouble you have to play cautious and tentative.”
Kristine Morin (13 points) closed the gap to 44-39 in the second half after she nailed a 3-pointer from the side and followed that up with a conventional three-point play with 6:41 to play, but the Polar Bears pulled away.
A post up underneath by Pouravelis and a trey from the wing by Julia Loonin put the Polar Bears up 49-41 and back-to-back offensive rebounds by Pouravelis sealed the win.
“We’ve been working on getting weakside rebounds,” said Pouravelis. “I was getting single coverage and Eileen wasn’t.”
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