February 11, 2005 

AMHERST, MA - The Amherst College women's basketball team couldn't overcame a 27-point halftime deficit en route to a 72-52 loss to the No. 1 ranked team in the nation, visiting NESCAC foe Bates College, on Friday night. Amherst, which is already assured of a spot in the eight-team NESCAC Postseason Championship Tournament, fell to 13-9 overall and 4-4 in conference play, while Bates improved to 21-1 (7-1 NESCAC). 

Bates placed four players in double figures, led by sophomore Meg Coffin's (Westford, MA) game-high 19 points. She was joined by senior Betsy Hochadel (Portland, ME) with 16 points and fellow seniors Heather Taylor (Nobleboro, ME) and Olivia Zurek (Arlington, MA) with 10 apiece. 

Sophomore Jenny Muller (Andover, MA) and rookie Stefanie Reiff (Hinsdale, IL) paced Amherst with 12 and 10 points, respectively. 

Bates jumped out to an early 9-1 lead over the first 4:31 on the strength of a trio of buckets by Zurek and never looked back. Amherst shot just 20.7% (6-for-29) in the opening stanza and carried a 44-17 deficit into the locker room at halftime. 

The Jeffs played better in the second half, opening with a 16-6 run and outscoring the Bobcats 35-28 after the break, but it was too little, too late. A Muller three-pointer with 13:58 would cut Bates' lead to 17 points, but that's as close as Amherst would get. 

Amherst will wrap up regular-season conference play tomorrow (Saturday) at 3 p.m. against visiting Tufts University. 

BOX SCORE/PLAY-BY-PLAY