Senior captain Meghan Graff scored a game-high 28 points but visiting WPI scored the final seven points of the game to edge the Bates women's basketball team 56-54 Sunday afternoon at Alumni Gym.
It's the second straight season the Bobcats (2-2) have fallen to the Engineers (4-1) by two points.
Bates had the ball up 54-49 with 2:03 remaining in regulation. But a turnover on an inbounds pass led to an easy basket for McKenna Finken, cutting the Bates lead to three. The Engineers got a stop on defense and Finken scored another bucket to trim the Bates edge to 54-53 with 1:26 left.
Still, it looked like Bates had a chance to pull out the win when first-year Elsa Daulerio (Harpswell, Maine) grabbed a rebound off a Finken miss with 39 seconds remaining. But the Bobcats could not convert on the other end, with WPI's Alice Kelly blocking a Bates shot.
With six seconds left, the Engineers called timeout and set up a play for Victoria Mirecki in the front court. Mirecki converted a layup and drew the foul, making the free throw to put the Engineers up two. The Bobcats called timeout and advanced the ball for an inbounds pass in the front court. But Finken stole the pass and the Engineers held on for the win over Bates.
Trailing 19-14 through one quarter, Graff (South Portland, Maine) and the Bobcats had a big second quarter. Graff poured in 11 of her 28 points in the second as Bates outscored WPI 20-7, taking a 34-26 lead into halftime.
The third quarter was almost the exact opposite for Bates, as WPI out-scored the hosts 18-8, grabbing a 44-42 edge heading into the fourth.
Bates got off to a strong start in the fourth quarter and sophomore Alexandra Long (Newtown, Pa.) made a layup with 4:14 left to put Bates up by six at 53-47. But the Engineers scored nine of the final 10 points in the contest to rally past the Bobcats.
Mirecki paced the visitors with 15 points on 6-10 shooting, including the game-winner. Graff shot 11-24 from the field, including 4-5 from three-point range. No other Bobcat finished in double figures scoring, but Daulerio did pull down a game-high 10 rebounds.
The Engineers tallied 17 second chance points to just nine for Bates.
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