MEDFORD, Mass. – The No. 5/5 and second-seeded Amherst College women's basketball team used a strong third quarter and a game-high 23 points from Hannah Hackley '18 to help the Purple & White secure a 63-51 victory over third-seeded Bowdoin College in the Saturday afternoon's NESCAC Semifinal contest at Tufts University in Medford, Mass.

With the win, Amherst advances to the NESCAC title game against No. 6/4 and top-seeded Tufts tomorrow afternoon at 12 p.m. in Medford, Mass.  

RECORDS
Bowdoin (20-6)
Amherst (25-1)

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Holding a slim, 27-26 advantage at halftime, Hackley netted seven of Amherst's 14 points in the third quarter, and Jaimie Renner '17 added five as both players canned clutch three-pointers to help the Purple & White stake a 41-34 cushion after three frames. Amherst pulled away to the victory, outscoring Bowdoin, 22-17 in the final 10 minutes.
• Hackley poured in her 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field and 4-of-7 efficiency from three-point range. Jackie Nagle '18 and Meredith Doswell '17 each posted a double-double as Nagle finished with 10 points and a game-best 14 rebounds, while Meredith Doswell chipped in 10 points and 11 boards.
• Renner finished with eight points, while Ali Doswell '17 and Haley Zwecker '16 added six points each. The Purple & White shot 41.1% from the floor, 37.9% from long distance, and out-rebounded Bowdoin, 43-31.
• The Polar Bears were led by Marle Curle who scored a team-high 17 points, while Shannon Brady followed with 15 points. Kate Kerrigan pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds, and scored seven points in the losing effort.
• Bowdoin forced 20 Amherst turnovers and scored 18 points off those miscues.

FIRST HALF HIGHLIGHTS

• In a tightly contested first quarter, Bowdoin jumped out to an early, 6-0 advantage as Brady provided a pair of buckets while Curle swished a pair of free throws.
• Amherst rallied to within one following a trey by Ali Doswell with 5:33 to play in the period to make it 6-5, and the Purple & White scored seven of the next 10 points take a 12-9 lead after 10 minutes of play.
• The second quarter saw Bowdoin edge Amherst, 17-15 thanks to eight points from Curle, and a 58.3% shooting effort from the field as the Purple & White took a narrow 27-26 lead in the halftime break.
• Zwecker highlighted the stanza with a pair of three-pointers.

SECOND HALF HIGHLIGHTS

• The third period saw Hackley and Renner combine for 12 of Amherst's 14 points, and the stingy Purple & White defense held the Polar Bears scoreless over the final 4:46 of the quarter en route to a 41-34 advantage after 30 minutes of play.
• The fourth frame saw Hackley and Nagle each power in a layup, before Bowdoin began to chip away at its deficit. A Kerrigan trey with 6:39 left in regulation pulled the Polar Bears to within five (45-40), before Hackley connected from three-point range, and then delivered on three consecutive foul shots to highlight a 6-2 run that lifted Amherst to a 51-42 lead.
• Leading 54-49 with 2:14 to play, Meredith Doswell drained a three-pointer, and Renner converted 3-of-4 from the foul line, before Meredith Doswell struck once more from beyond-the-arc to help the Purple & White pull away to a 63-51 win.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Amherst is making its eighth appearance in the NESCAC title game in the last nine years, and takes aim at its fifth conference crown in the last seven seasons having last won the championship in 2013.
• The Purple & White were handed their only loss of the regular season by Tufts, 52-51 on Feb. 6 at LeFrak Gymnasium, which also ended the team's remarkable 121-game home winning streak.
• The Jumbos punched their ticket to the NESCAC finals with a 62-42 win over fifth-seeded Colby College in other semifinal action.