By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer

This year’s Bates College women’s basketball team has it all, really.

The Bobcats showcase size and strength on the boards, senior leadership in the starting lineup, dangerous perimeter shooters off the bench, and the ability to play suffocating defense from baseline to baseline.

They’ve got everything, that is, except suitable seating capacity in their home gymnasium.

Surely swayed by the University of Southern Maine’s ability to accommodate an overflow crowd, the NCAA Division III women’s basketball tournament committee announced Sunday that USM, not Bates, will host the Sweet 16 clash of those in-state powers at 8 p.m. next Friday night at Hill Gymnasium.

Tip-off time and ticket information will be announced early this week. It’s an all-New England bracket, with Wesleyan (Conn.) meeting Springfield College in the other sectional semifinal on Friday.

The winners will collide Saturday for a berth in the Division III Final Four in Norfolk, Va., on March 18 and 19. Whichever team survives the Bates-USM barnburner would be a prohibitive favorite to make the trip. They’re ranked No. 3 and No. 4 in the nation, respectively, in the D3hoops.com national poll.

Bates beat USM by 24 during the regular season, but it happened almost four months ago.

“We’re happy to be playing another game and going on to the round of 16,” Murphy said. “Obviously, that’s not our ultimate goal.”

Three Maine schools have advanced to the third round of tournament play, and there’s a strong chance that two might advance to the national semifinals.

Bowdoin’s bid for a second straight journey to the title game will travel through Scranton, Pa. The Polar Bears face William Smith on Friday, with the winner drawing Scranton or Messiah in the Elite Eight match-up on Saturday.

Bates or USM could not face Bowdoin until the national final or consolation game.

The Polar Bears say they’re happy to get away from the rugged New England region, but they wouldn’t mind a taste of the atmosphere in Gorham, either.

“Wow, four New England teams,” said Bowdoin junior Justine Pouravelis. “That’s going to be wild no matter where they play it.”

Bates admittedly would have loved to meet USM in Lewiston’s Alumni Gymnasium, a quaint but cacophonous and tiny haunt with bleacher space for a few hundred spectators.

Emmanuel College had trouble handling the noise and heat in an 83-64 loss Saturday.

On Nov. 23, Bates hammered Southern Maine, 61-37, in its home gym. The Bobcats held USM to 30 percent shooting and forced 26 turnovers.

USM lost its next game at Bowdoin. The Huskies have won 26 straight contests since.

“We didn’t get down,” USM coach Gary Fifield said last month. “Those were tough road games against in-state rivals, in their gyms.”

Indeed, the gym is a distinct advantage in March. But Bates will travel well.

The Bobcats played two games at Bowdoin this winter before crowds of more than 1,500, and close to half the congregation wore maroon sweaters or face paint.

“You’d love to reward your student athletes who put in so much hard work by playing another game in front of their friends and professors and teammates from other athletic teams,” Murphy said. “But we’re ready to play anywhere they tell us to play.”