All those Babson six-footers gave Bowdoin plenty of headaches Friday night.

Ultimately, though, the tallest obstacle for Bowdoin was a lengthy scoring drought that pushed the Polar Bears from the NCAA Division III women’s basketball tournament.

Bowdoin gave away a nine-point lead in the final nine minutes of regulation and was shut out until the 1:06 mark of overtime, leading to a 61-58 loss in a Sweet 16 game at LeFrak Gym in Amherst, Mass.

Babson’s frontcourt tandem of Kathleen King, Nicki Wurdeman and Sarah Collins dominated the paint and kept the Beavers (30-0) unbeaten.

King chalked up 14 points and 15 rebounds. She hit two game-winning free throws with 55 seconds remaining in OT.

Wurdeman led Babson with 16 points and nine boards. Collins brought 10 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots off the bench for the Beavers, who owned a 53-33 advantage on the glass.

Katie Bergeron scored a game-high 17 points and added six steals for Bowdoin (24-6). Kaitlin Donahoe added 16 points and six assists.

Bowdoin had multiple opportunities to force a second extra session.

Collins corraled Bergeron’s miss, but Babson’s 27th turnover put the ball back in Bowdoin’s hands with 26 seconds to go.

Again, Collins played spoiler, this time swatting Bergeron’s bid for a layup into the hands of King.

Nicole Coombes fouled Wurdeman with seven seconds left, and a pair of missed free throws granted life to the Polar Bears.

But Bowdoin traveled with two seconds remaining. Wurdeman applied the finishing touch with a free throw.

Bowdoin missed its first four field goal attempts of overtime before Bergeron’s steal led to her two free throws and a 58-58 deadlock with just over a minute to play.

That ended the Polar Bears’ crucial cold snap, one that began after Bowdoin built leads of 50-41 and 56-50 late in regulation.

Caitlin O’Connell cut the latter deficit in half, scoring her only points for Babson on a 3-pointer with 2:19 to go.

After an exchange of unfruitful possessions, Colleen Sweeney’s steal led to a one-and-one for Bowdoin with 36 seconds remaining.

The Polar Bears missed the front end, however.

King collected the rebound and located Wurdeman for the tying 3-pointer at the 21-second mark.

Earlier, Bowdoin seemingly took control of the game with 15 unanswered points and its own seven-minute defensive lockdown.

Babson owned a 30-29 edge at halftime and bolted to its largest lead of the game at 37-30 with 16:40 to go prior to Bowdoin’s response.

Coombes’ layup and Bergeron’s jumper got it started.

Jill Henrikson, playing her first game since sustaining a concussion in the semifinals of the NESCAC tournament last month, nailed a 3-pointer for the tie.

Donahoe’s free throw nudged the Polar Bears in front. Coombes and Donahoe each cashed in a layup, the latter off a steal, before Ellery Gould etched the exclamation point with another 3-pointer.

Another Donahoe bucket made it a nine-point margin with 8:42 left.

Two hoops by Damisi Adewumi, a King free throw and a Collins layup rallied Babson.

Neither team led by more than four points in the first half.

Bowdoin held Babson to just under 38 percent from the field, including 3-for-11 from 3-point range.

The Polar Bears were making their ninth Sweet 16 appearance in the last 11 seasons.

koakes@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link