Courtesy of Bates Sports Information

LEWISTON, Maine – The No. 3/3 nationally-ranked Amherst College women's basketball team recovered nicely from its lost last night to hand Bates College its worst defeat of the season, 82-47, in New England Small College Athletic Conference action on Saturday in Alumni Gym.

The Purple & White improved to 15-1 overall and 3-1 in NESCAC play. Bates dropped to 9-7 overall and 0-3 in the conference.

Ali Doswell '17 led four Jeffs in double-figures with 17 points, to go with five rebounds and four assists. Hannah Peterson '17 scored 15, Marley Giddins '16 added 14, and Hannah Hackley '18 scored 10 points with four assists. Meredith Doswell '17 led Amherst with five assists and three steals.

Allie Coppola paced the Bobcats with 17 points, five rebounds and four assists, while Bernadette Connors chipped in 10 points. Nina Davenport contributed nine points, four rebounds and three steals.

Amherst made 50% of its shots from the field (33-66) and 43.5% from beyond-the-arc (10-23). 

The Jeffs were particularly dominant in the first half, shooting 55.6% overall (20-36) and 50% from three-point territory (7-14). Meanwhile they limited Bates to 30.8% shooting (8-26), including 0-for-6 on three-point attempts, and also outrebounded the Bobcats 21-11 en route to an commanding 49-19 lead at intermission. Ali Doswell scored all 17 points in the first half, making 7-of-9 shots, and Peterson had all 15 at the break as well on 6-of-8 shooting. Coppola had 13 of Bates' 19 points in the opening half.

Ali Doswell and Peterson made back-to-back threes at 15:03 and 14:28 of the first half, assisting each other on the two hoops, as Amherst opened the game with a 20-2 lead in less than six minutes. Late in the period, Ali Doswell and Peterson bookended a Coppola layup with two more threes for a 32-point lead, 49-17. Bates' Alexa Goldman made two free throws before the break to close it to 49-19.

Amherst continued to make its threes to start the second half, making any comeback attempt futile on Bates' part. Taylor Smith '15 and Hackley drained treys that sandwiched a Connors jumper for a game-high 42-point Amherst advantage, with 12:07 left in the game, at 68-26.

Bates then went on a 14-6 run to cut it to 74-40, after Connors completed a three-point play with 7:50 on the clock. Davenport made back-to-back hoops in the run, which Emily Freedland kick-started with a 3-pointer. However, Amherst outscored the Bobcats 33-28 in the final 20 minutes of regulation as they claimed the decisive 35-point win.

Amherst returns to the court Wednesday, Jan. 21 and will head to NESCAC archrival Williams for a 7 p.m. tip-off.