The undefeated Bowdoin College women’s basketball team’s quest for the program’s first NCAA Division III championship continues this weekend at its Morrell Gymnasium in Brunswick on Friday and Saturday when it hosts a four-team Third/Fourth round sectional.
The winner will move on to the Final Four.
The first game on Friday night will pit 23-5 McMurry University from Abilene, Texas, against 28-1 Gustavus Adolphus College from St. Peter, Minnesota. Tip off is at 5 p.m.
That will be followed by the 7:30 p.m. game between 29-0 Bowdoin and 28-2 Smith College from Northampton, Massachusetts.
Smith played in the national championship a year ago, losing to New York University 51-41.
Friday’s winners will play on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m..
Bowdoin has played in three national title games, losing to Wilmington (Ohio), 59-53, in 2004; New England Small College Athletic Conference rival Amherst (65-45) in 2018 and Thomas More (Kentucky) 81-67 in 2019.
Southwest Harbor native Megan Phelps is in her third season as the head coach at Bowdoin after serving as an assistant and recruiting coordinator at Bowdoin under Adrienne Shibles from 2017 to 2020.
The Polar Bears went 87-7 in her time as an assistant and reached two NCAA title games.
The former two-time Big East Player of the Year, 1,000-point scorer at Mount Desert Island High School in Bar Harbor and Miss Maine Basketball finalist was the youngest player inducted into MDI Hall of Fame in 2019.
She played at Bowdoin and was a two-time captain, leading Bowdoin to three NCAA tourney berths.
Phelps and assistants Abby Kelly and Taylor Choate were named the NESCAC coaching staff of the Year.
Her Polar Bears advanced to the third/fourth round sectional with wins over Brooklyn (66-42) and Cortland 67-54.
The Polar Bears were tied with Cortland after three but outscored the New York school 23-10 in the fourth quarter behind junior guard Maria Belardi’s 10 points.
Senior guard Sydney Jones from Chestnut Hill, Mass. leads the Polar Bears in scoring (16.3 points per game), rebounds (6.4), assists (3.5) and steals (2.6).
She was named the NESCAC Player of the Year and an All-NESCAC first team selection.
Former Bangor High School All-Maine selection Abbie Quinn, a sophomore forward, is the team’s second-leading scorer at 11.3 points per game. She is also grabbing 4.5 rebounds per game.
Quinn’s 52.4 percent shooting percentage from the floor is 29th in the country among players from 415 Division III schools.
She was an All-NESCAC second team pick.
Quinn was a Bangor Daily News All-Maine Schoolgirl second team selection her senior year at Bangor High.
Junior point guard Carly Davey from Westford is averaging 8.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists; freshman guard Grace Kinum from New Providence, N.J. is producing 7.9 PPG and 4.2 rebounds per game and senior forward Callie Godfrey has averaged 6.6 PPG and 4.9 RPG.
Belardi has chipped in with 6.4 PPG and 2.7 RPG.
The Polar Bears have the nation’s 15th best rebounding margin, grabbing 10.2 per game more than their opponents.
They are averaging 67.8 points per game while holding their opponents to 48.8.
They are also forcing 17.9 turnovers per contest while turning it over 15.7 themselves.
Bowdoin is shooting 43.8 percent from the floor and 30.9 percent beyond the 3-point arc while limiting its opponents to shooting percentages of 34.3 percent and 22.6 percent, respectively.
The Polar Bears boast the nation’s sixth-best 3-point defense.
