LEWISTON – It isn’t the heat in Alumni Gymnasium that’ll get you. It’s the lack of hospitality.
True, the consensus in Emmanuel College’s camp Saturday was that the temperature in Bates’ old, brick barn was hot enough to conduct botany experiments.
Put Olivia Zurek and Meg Coffin’s domination down low, Betsy Hochadel’s shameless thievery and Kyla Decato’s 3-point prowess on a freshly plowed outdoor court in Alaska, though, and the result would have been the same.
No. 3 Bates never trailed in an 83-64 rout of No. 13 Emmanuel, catapulting the Bobcats into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division III women’s basketball tournament for only the second time in school history.
Bates (25-2) will meet Southern Maine in a regional semifinal next Friday night at a site to be announced today.
Both teams are among the nation’s top five and both are adept at jamming the gym, so the game is almost certain to be in Maine.
“We’ll go where they tell us to go,” said Bates coach Jim Murphy. “Obviously, we’d be tickled to play it here.”
Hundreds of spectators packed the bleachers. Dozens more sat and stood in corners when seating ran out.
Bates didn’t announce an official number, possibly to avert any head-scratching by the fire department. This much is known: However many fans attended the game, they generated a stifling amount of body heat. And the home team gave them ample reason to holler from the opening tap.
Sophomore forward Coffin led the Bobcats with 21 points and 18 rebounds. Zurek, a senior and NESCAC Player of the Year, added 17 points, seven boards and seven assists.
Coffin and Zurek stopped the Saints from dominating the boards the way they did in their first-round triumph. Emmanuel racked up 66 rebounds in a 43-41 victory over Salem State. This time, the Saints suffered a two-to-one disparity in the second half.
“The offensive rebounds just didn’t happen for us. We didn’t get as many second shots,” said Paulette Johnson, who led Emmanuel with 13 points. “And this is the hottest gym I’ve ever been in, in my life.”
Katey Wentworth scored 10 of her 12 points in the first half.
“I enjoyed the fans. It was a great atmosphere,” Wentworth said. “I just didn’t like the heat. (Bates) kept running their fastbreak really well. I think that was the difference in the game.”
Decato, an Oxford Hills product, combined with Leah Schouten to drain four first-half 3-pointers off the bench. She nailed her third trey of the game shortly after intermission and finished with 13 points.
“I’m not usually that open,” said the junior. “If there’s somebody two inches in front of me, I’ll usually take it.”
Hochadel made seven steals for Bates, which harassed Emmanuel (27-3) into 23 turnovers.
“We make a game out of one of our defensive drills in practice. Sometimes I wish I could tape it,” Murphy said, “because there are times when I don’t think we could possibly play better team defense.”
Bates answered two substantial Emmanuel runs to take an 42-30 lead halftime lead.
Then the Bobcats dropped the first dozen points of the second half to put it away.
“They were absolutely on fire to start the second half,” said Emmanuel coach Andy Yosinoff. “We had no answer for 21 (Coffin). She was even better than I thought she was. We’d seen a couple of tapes, and obviously Zurek also is a great player.”
Coffin scored 16 in the second half. She also combined with Zurek and Sarah Barton to score every point in an 11-2 surge to start the game.
The Saints answered with eight straight points to cut it to one, but Decato dialed long distance twice to boost the Bobcats to a 31-20 advantage.
Two free Franessa Green free throws, a drive by Jade Paez and Alyssa McCoy’s inside hoop cut it to five, but then Schouten dropped her two trifectas to restore Bates’ roar.
“We really fed off the crowd,” said Murphy. “The kids heard that roar when they came out 20 minutes before the game, and you could see that look on their face that said, Wow, this game’s different.'”
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