Women's Basketball Advances to Ed Hockenbury Classic Title Game

LEWISTON, Maine -- Megan Boutilette (Charlton, Mass.)totaled 21 points on 10-15 shooting from the floor and completed the double-double with 12 rebounds to lead the Bears of Bridgewater State University to an 82-65 win against Bates College on Friday evening in the semifinals of the Ed Hockenbury Classic hosted by Norwich University.

The Bears improve to 4-2 on the season with the win, while the loss drops the Bobcats of Bates to 5-4.  Bridgewater will take on host Norwich in the tournament championship game on Saturday afternoon at three, while Bates will face UMaine Augusta in the consolation game at one.

Boutilette added a game-high five steals as well as two assists.  In addition to Boutilette, the Bears saw 16 points from Colleen Hanscom (Melrose, Mass.) and a pair of 13-point performances from Elisha Homich (Ludlow, Mass.) and Jennie Lindland (Edgartown, Mass.).  Homich connected on 4 of 5 three-point attempts, while Lindland came off the bench to knock down 5 of 6 shots from the floor.

Jenna Williamson (Ludlow, Mass.) added a season-high nine assists for the Bears in addition to seven points and five rebounds.  With her seven points, Williamson increased her career total to 1,027 as she moved past BSU Hall of Famer JoAnn Runge (1,023 pts) into 12th place on the Bears' all-time scoring list.

Bates was led by Meredith Kelly (Cohasset, Mass.) with a game-high 23 points. Allaina Murphy (Poland Spring, Maine) chipped in with 19 points, while Kristin Calvo (South Deerfield, Mass.) added 10. Chelsea Nason (Boxford, Mass.) led the Bobcats on the boards with 10 rebounds.

Bates would score the first four points of the game, but Bridgewater wasted no time closing the gap. The Bears took the lead at 6-4 on a three-pointer by Homich 2:09 into the game and would not trail again, as they quickly sprinted to a 16-point advantage with 12:51 to play in the first half. The Bears would take their largest lead of the first half on the final shot of the stanza, another three-point basket by Homlich that put the Bears up 20 points, 43-23, as the teams entered the locker rooms for halftime.

Bates outscored Bridgewater St. 42-39 in the second half and improved upon their first-half 30 percent shooting to shoot 43.2 percent in the second half, but their efforts fell short as the Bears took the win.

Bridgewater State shot an impressive 54.2 percent from the floor over the course of both halves, including a 55.2 percent effort in the first half. The Bears also connected on 55.6 percent (5-9) of first-half three-point attempts.