Cold-shooting White Mules no match for Polar Bears

Wednesday, January 14, 2004

By TRAVIS LAZARCZYK
Staff Writer

WATERVILLE -- A standard collegiate basketball game is played in 40 minutes, but sometimes it can be won in five.

Five minutes into Tuesday's game at Wadsworth Gymnasium, Bowdoin College had an 18-point lead over host Colby College. Over the next 35 minutes, the Polar Bears' lead never fell below 13 points as they took the 77-55 win.

Bowdoin is now 7-5, while Colby falls to 4-10.

The Polar Bears made 10 of their first 11 shots in building their quick double-digit lead, while Colby was cold from the floor in the opening minutes.

"We came out with a lot of energy, and they weren't making shots," Bowdoin coach Tim Gilbride said. "You never know how much of that is your defense and how much is them just not making shots."

For the game, Colby shot just 32.3 percent from the field (21-of-65) and struggled to get points in the paint. The Mules, who have no starter over 6-foot-4, didn't get their first basket inside of 10 feet until a Mike Rutherford layup with 3:48 to play in the first half. All told, the Mules scored 20 points from close range.

Colby trailed 47-26 at the half, and the White Mules opened the second half with an 11-3 run to cut their deficit to 13 points, 50-37, but Bowdoin quickly pushed its lead back to 20.

The loss was the second consecutive in Colby-Bates-Bowdoin play for the Mules, who fell at Bates College on Saturday, 77-59.

"We're in a really deep funk right now," Colby coach Dick Whitmore said. "We played well at USM last week and lost a tough one at the end. We have played two really poor games since, and that's the fault of the coach."

Six-foot-7 Mark Yakavonis used his size advantage over Colby and led the Polar Bears with 15 points. Kyle Petrie added 14 points for Bowdoin, while Kevin Bradley scored 13. Skowhegan Area High School grad Sean Walker scored five points for Bowdoin, while Augusta native Jac Arbour had one point and three rebounds.

Michael Westbrooks led Colby with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Patrick McGowan had 12 points for the Mules, while Waterville's Tom Nale had two points and three rebounds.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

USM 87, RHODE ISLAND COLLEGE 44: In Gorham, Skowhegan Area High graduate Tiffany Jones scored game-high 26 points to lead the University of Southern Maine to an 87-44 Little East Conference victory over Rhode Island College.

Ranked fifth nationally in Division III, the Huskies improved to 12-1 overall and 4-0 in the conference.

Southern Maine made 30-of-57 field goal attempts for 53 percent.

Rhode Island falls to 7-5 overall, 2-2 in the conference.

BOWDOIN 60, COLBY 43: The undefeated Polar Bears, ranked second in the country, got 18 points from Lora Trenkle in a victory over the White Mules in Waterville.

Trenkle also contributed seven rebounds and four assists, while Eileen Flaherty added 14 points. Bowdoin is now 11-0.

Wendy Bonner had nine points and Caitlin Bourque added eight for Colby (6-7). Bonner and Bourque each had six rebounds.

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