The Bates College women’s basketball team hopes to have some fun in the sun heading into the holiday break.
The Bobcats head to Miami Gardens, Florida, to take on Central College and Emmanuel College on Thursday and Friday at the Cruzin Classic
“I think trips are always fun for teams and continue to build that camaraderie,” coach Alison Mongomery said. “So I think going into sort of the middle part of our season, we’re really excited to spend some more time together. It’s nice to have like a pause and to have them feel like they can just be fully present and focused on the basketball, and just focus on their time together.”
The Bobcats will be coming off a two-week break because of finals when they arrive in Florida.
Bates is 6-1 and ranked 12th in the latest D3hoops.com poll. After a 77-70 double-overtime loss to Bowdoin in their most recent game, Montgomery hopes the Bobcats can get back to their winning ways.
“ I mean, we have some high expectations this year,” she said. “I think we always feel like we can play better and we’re coming off a pretty disappointing loss. This little brief pause here in games because of finals, I think everybody’s just really anxious to keep it rolling.”
Montgomery has been impressed with the offensive consistency of Sophie Spolter (13.3 points per game) and Elsa Daulerio (12.3 points per game). Sarah Hughes (4.4 rebounds per game and seven steals) and Lily Lambo (3.1 rebounds per game) have provided tough defensive play as well.
The Cruzin Classic will be the first of two nonconference tournaments before the calendar flips to January. Bates will also take part in the WPI Winter Invitational on Dec. 30-31 , where it will face Roger Williams and Hunter in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Maine football standouts earn Division III honors
Angus Leary (Bowdoin), Ryan Rozich (Bates), Eli Soehren (Colby) and Chris Winslow (University of New England) were named to D3football.com’s All-Region First Team.
Leary topped the Polar Bears with 8.5 sacks. Rozich, meanwhile, led the NESCAC with 82 tackles. Winslow contributed 41 tackles for the Nor’easters.
Soehren, an Oxford Hills graduate, led the NESCAC with a 41.7-yard punting average.
Named to the second team were University of New England’s Damien Jones (returner) and Bates’ Michael Spencer (safety).
In addition, Jones earned third-team honors at running back. His teammate, Ily Mucic, was selected as one of the two offensive tackles on the third team. UNE’s Spencer LaBrecque (defensive tackle) and Spencer Sherck (safety), and Husson’s Ryan Bannister (linebacker), rounded out the defensive third-team selections.
Productive defense
Lewiston’s Paige Pomerleau is leading Division III women’s hockey defenders with 15 points, which was ninth overall in the country heading into last weekend’s games.
The junior at Adrian (Michigan) College is also tied for the team lead in points.
Pomerleau helped Lewiston win the 2020 state championship before transferring to The Winchendon School in Massachusetts for the 2021-22 season.
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