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Danbury
2001

Coverage of the women's Final Four

First-round game stories

Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2001
Bowdoin 61, Eastern Connecticut 53
WILLIMANTIC, Conn. — Sophomore forward Kristi Royer scored six points and grabbed two rebounds in the final 2:33 to help lift Bowdoin to a 61-53 victory against Eastern Connecticut in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

Bowdoin (20-7) clinches its first 20-win season with its fifth consecutive win and advances to a second-round game Saturday at Salem State. Salem drew a first-round bye. Eastern Connecticut (22-4) finished the season with its first two-game losing streak of the year. ECSU finished 12-2 at home after winning its first 12.

Royer, who finished the game with 22 points and a career-high 17 rebounds, scored two buckets and grabbed a rebound and freshman guard Lora Trenkle added a basket as the Polar Bears pushed a three-point lead to nine 57-48 with 1:25 left. Royer scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the second half to help her team pull away from a four point, 29-25 lead.

Trailing by one, 14-13, Bowdoin scored 12 straight points in the first half to take command 25-14 with 6:36 left. Trenkle, who led the Polar Bears to last weekend’s NESCAC title, hit both of her three point field goals in that run.

Eastern trailed by as many as ten in the second half but managed to pull to within three on two occasions, the final time at 51-48 when freshman forward Allison Coleman hit a basket with 2:33 left. The Warriors missed six of their next seven shots, however, until a late basket closed out the scoring.

Trenkle followed Royer with 14 points. Bowdoin, ranked 12th nationally in free throw percentage, converted 13 of 15 tries while ECSU missed five of 13. Eastern shot just 31.7 per cent from the floor, missing 17 of 22 three-point field goals.

Coleman finished with 15 points and a career-high 14 rebounds while junior post player Kristyn Grassi had 12 points. Junior guard Darcy Mund and junior forward Joanna Debicki each had 10 points for the Warriors. Grassi was limited to 27 minutes due to foul trouble. She picked up her fourth with 8:30 left and ECSU trailing 45-41 and fouled out with 3:37 left with the Warriors down 49-46. Royer was 3-for-3 from the floor and had two rebounds following Grassi’s departure.

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