AMHERST, Massachusetts — The Bowdoin College women’s basketball team couldn’t overcome 26 percent shooting from the field as the University of Rochester held off a late Polar Bear rally to survive, 60-53, in the third round of the NCAA Division III Tournament on Friday evening at Amherst College.
The Yellowjackets improve to 23-5 and advance to the Elite Eight Saturday night. The Polar Bears finish with a record of 22-7.
Rochester still held a 10-point lead, 49-39, with seven minutes to play before the Polar Bears made their final run.
Bowdoin’s Shannon Brady scored four points in a quick 6-0 spurt that cut the lead to 49-45 with 2:17 to go.
Bowdoin had two chances to cut into the lead further, but a turnover gave the ball back to Rochester and Sarah Kaminsky hit a back-breaking 3-pointer to make it 52-45 with 1:28 to go.
Bowdoin wouldn’t go away, but could get no closer than five points as Rochester hit nine free throws in the fourth quarter to put the game on ice
Kayla Kibling led Rochester with 16 points.
Shannon Brady scored a game-high 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead Bowdoin. Marle Curle chipped in with 17 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals.
Baseball
Stetson 6, Maine 4
At Deland, Florida, Stetson rallied for two runs in the bottom of the sixth, after Maine had taken a 3-2 lead in the top of the inning, en route to the win.
Vance Vizcaino sparked Stetson (8-7) with three hits while Jacob Koos, Matt Morales, John Fussell, Will Mackenzie, Colton Lightner and Austin Hale each drove in a run.
Brenden Geary and Brett Chappell each hit solo home runs to lead the Black Bears (4-9). Chappell also singled and finished with two RBIs. Colin Ridley also drove in a run.
Maine sophomore righthander Jonah Normandeau (0-1) suffered the loss. He allowed nine hits and six runs in 5 ⅓ innings. He walked two and struck out three.
Sophomore lefty Connor Johnson closed out the game and allowed just two hits in 2 ⅔ innings while not walking a batter and striking out three.
RIC 5, Husson 1
At Winter Haven, Florida, Myles Levy scattered nine hits over nine innings to shut down the Eagles of Bangor and give Rhode Island College the victory.
Levy struck out three and walked one as RIC improved to 5-6. Husson slipped to 2-5.
T.J. Lynch doubled and drove in two runs to spark RIC and Erik O’Connell chipped in with two hits.
Husson scored its only run in the fifth when Ryan Rebar’s single to center plated Andrew Curran. Curran led off with a single and advanced to third when J.T. Whitten reached base on an infield error.
Conor Maguire finished with three singles for the Eagles and Curran had two hits.
It was the final game of Husson’s spring trip and they will return to action against Bates College at 1 p.m. Sunday, March 20 at the Husson’s Winkin Complex.
Softball
Maine 4, Western Michigan 2
At Clearwater, Florida, sophomore righthander Annie Kennedy scattered 10 hits to win her second game of the season.
Kennedy walked only one and struck out two for the Black Bears (4-2), who went on to beat Butler 8-0 in five innings later in the day.
Trailing 1-0 entering the fifth, the Black Bears rallied for three runs, highlighted by Janelle Bouchard’s two-run single to right field.
Ericka Leonard and Bouchard and finished with two hits to spark the Black Bears with Leonard also driving in a run.
Illinois 3, Husson 0
At Kissimmee, Florida, Illinois College’s Mariah Hedges held the Eagles of Bangor to just three hits en route to the victory.
Hedges struck out five and walked six as Illinois College improved to 5-3 while Husson dipped ot 2-8. The Eagles beat Thomas More College (Ky.) 4-1 earlier in the day.
Jackie Reilly, Katie Prizer and Marissa Knowles each notched a hit and an RBI for Illinois.
Kristen Chapman doubled for Husson while Brianna Bires and Erika Parker each singled.
Men’s Basketball
No. 1 Kansas 70, Baylor 66
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Top-ranked Kansas overcame a sluggish first half to claim a 70-66 victory over Baylor and advance to the finals of the Big 12 Championship at Sprint Center.
It’s Kansas’ 12th appearance in the title game in the 20-year history of the tournament. Baylor’s defeat also means that the state of Texas will be without a tournament champion for the 20th straight year.
Kansas (29-4) was led by forward Perry Ellis with 20 points. Guard Devonte’ Graham added 14, guard Wayne Selden had 11 and forward Carlton Bragg had 10.
Baylor (22-11) was led by forward Al Freeman with 14 points. Forward Rico Gathers added 13 and forward Johnathan Motley had 11.
The second half was the opposite of the first half, at least for Kansas, which trailed 23-21 at halftime.
Ellis scored eight early second-half points as the Jayhawks scored on their first five possessions. Ellis made four straight free throws sandwiched around two successful drives to the basket.
Kansas held its biggest lead of the game to that point — 31-25 — before the first media timeout.
Gathers scored the next seven points to get Baylor back into the game.
Clinging to a 37-32 lead, Kansas went on a 9-1 run to blow the game open. The last two buckets were impressive dunks.
First, Bragg threw down a perfect alley-oop pass from Graham. That was followed by a thunderous dunk by Wayne Selden.