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Danbury
2001

Coverage of the women's Final Four

Second-round game stories

Saturday, March 3, 2001

Bowdoin 72, Salem State 65 (OT)
SALEM, Mass. — Bowdoin hit 13 of 16 free throws in overtime and used 23 points and nine rebounds from sophomore Kristi Royer to upset Salem State College in the New England region semifinal of the NCAA Division III National Tournament. With the victory, Bowdoin (21-7) advances to the Sweet Sixteen and will face NYU on Friday at a time and place to be determined.

This is the first time in the history of the program that Bowdoin has advanced to the 'Sweet Sixteen' as the Polar Bears improve to 3-1 in NCAA action overall. The victory was also the second win in eight tries against Salem State (23-4) for Bowdoin, which continues to add to its school-record total for wins.

The game started quickly for both teams as Bowdoin took a 6-5 lead at the 17:13 mark of the first period on a Royer jumper. Salem State would respond with a 7-0 run over the next five minutes to take a 12-6 lead with 12:52 remaining in the first half. Lauren Myers would snap the streak with two of her eight first-half points, but the Vikings answered with back-to-back layups by Kara Smolinsky to push the lead to 16-8 with 7:40 left.

Still trailing, 17-10, with 6:05 left, the Polar Bears picked up the pace and rattled off a 6-0 run comprised of a Kristina Fugate layup, a Myers jumper and pair of Royer freebies to cut the margin to 17-16. The lead was still 21-20 for Salem State with 1:56 left when Tracy McKeen buried a foul-line jumper to give the Vikings a 23-20 edge.

Fugate answered again for Bowdoin with a three-point play to tie the game at 23-23. Royer took a pretty feed from Lora Trenkle with 40 ticks left in the first period and converted an easy layup to give Bowdoin its first lead since the first three minutes of the game at 25-23. Cassie Rhodes answered with a jumper from the elbow with 22 seconds remaining to tie the score at 25 apiece heading into the locker room.

The Polar Bears missed all 11 of their three-pointers in the first half and shot just 33% from the floor in the frame, but managed to keep the game tied.

Salem took a 33-29 lead early in the second half as Smolinsky sank a three-ball — the Vikings only three of the game — and followed it up with a leaner in the lane. Bowdoin looked to a couple of rookies to get back in the game and Courtney Trotta and Lindsay Bramwell were up to the task as each drained three-pointers to give the Polar Bears a 35-33 edge. Melissa Smock — Salem State's leading scorer with over 15 points per game — accounted for her only two points of the afternoon with a jumper to tie the game at 35-35 with 14:33 left in regulation.

The game remained close for the next six minutes with Bowdoin holding a slim, 44-43 lead with 8:51 left when the Polar Bears put together a little run. Jessie Mayol increased the lead to four points as she drained a three-pointer and Nicole Fava netted her only bucket of the game a minute later to give the visitors a 49-43 lead. Betsy Nichols connected on 3-of-4 free throws and Rhodes hit another jumper to quickly pull the Vikings back to within one at 49-48.

Bowdoin still held a 52-51 lead with 2:18 left to go when Mayol was fouled taking a three-pointer. Mayol had to be removed because of a cut and Fava was substituted in and she calmly sunk all three shots to move the lead to 55-51. Fava and Smolinsky traded a made free throw over the next 48 seconds to keep the Bowdoin lead at four, 56-52, with 1:30 remaining. McKeen drained a pair of freebies to cut the lead to 56-54 with 1:14 left before Nichols tied the game with 42.9 seconds left on a baseline jumper.

On the next possession, Bowdoin was tagged with a shot-clock violation, giving the ball to Salem State with 11.2 seconds left in regulation. Smolinsky found Edwina Ashe on the block, but Ashe's layup attempt spun off the front of the rim and the two teams were headed to overtime.

The Polar Bears put the pressure on Salem early in the extra period as Royer hit two free throws — she ended the game with a perfect 12-for-12 performance from the charity stripe — before Mayol hit the back end of a two-shot foul to give Bowdoin a 59-56 lead. The two teams would go scoreless for the next minute before Mayol delivered a dagger of a three-pointer to give Bowdoin a 62-56 lead with 2:45 left in the game.

Smolinsky responded with a three-point play to trim the lead to 62-59, but Mayol and Jamie Bennett combined to make 3-of-4 free throws to push the lead back to six at 65-59 with 1:20 left. Smolinksy nailed a runner with 1:02 left before Nichols hit two freebies with 18.1 seconds left to cut the lead to 65-63.

On the ensuing inbounds play, Salem fouled Trenkle, who entered the game as the nation's leading free throw shooter at 88.2%. Trenkle made both attempts to give Bowdoin a 67-63 lead with 17.0 seconds left. Smolinsky drew a foul and hit two free throws to trim the margin to 67-65 with 13.3 ticks left. Again, Trenkle was fouled. She made the front end, but missed the second and Salem pushed it up the floor looking for the tie-breaker. However, a pass to the wing was fumbled out of bounds by the Vikings and Bowdoin had possession with a three-point lead. Trenkle and Mayol each sunk a pair of free throws in the final 10 seconds to leave the final margin at 72-65.

As a team, Bowdoin finished with 29 made free throws in 35 attempts (85.3%) to help the cause with Royer leading the way with her 12-for-12 performance. Mayol was the only other Polar Bear besides Royer with double-digits as she netted 11. For just the fourth time this season, Bowdoin was outrebounded (41-39).

Nichols was the Vikings' top gun with 23 points — 13 of which came on the free throw line. Smolinsky added 18 points while Rhodes finished with 11. Ashe led all rebounders with 11 before fouling out in overtime.

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