Bowdoin College pulled away early in the fourth quarter and the Polar Bears posted a 77-63 win against the upset-minded Hamilton College Continentals in a 2020 NESCAC Women's Basketball Championship quarterfinal at Bowdoin's Morrell Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.

Hamilton (15-10 overall) is the sixth seed for the championship and the Polar Bears are the third seed. The Continentals' 15 victories are the most in a season since Hamilton won the same number of games in 2009-10. The Continentals, who were in the postseason for the first time since 2015, achieved their highest seed in the championship and their highest number of conference victories (five) since they joined the NESCAC for basketball in 2011-12.

Bowdoin (23-2) is ranked fourth in the Division III Top 25 coaches poll and fifth in the D3hoops.com Top 25 poll. The Polar Bears are also fourth in the Northeast Region according to the NCAA.

Hamilton's Kelcie Zarle '22 drained four 3-pointers and finished with 18 points. Zarle was credited with three steals and is fifth in the conference with 2.1 per game. She's also fourth in the NESCAC with a 3-point field goal percentage of 39.6 percent.

Liz Arnold '22 made all six of her field goal attempts and ended up with 15 points for the Continentals. Arnold grabbed 11 rebounds (seven offensive) and boasted her fourth double-double this season. She leads the conference with 4.2 offensive boards per contest.

Kayla Glemaud '21 chipped in 10 points and Scout Lansing '21 handed out four assists for Hamilton. The Continentals were 7 of 15 from beyond the arc.

Maddie Hasson led Bowdoin with 23 points, 16 rebounds and five assists. Hasson pulled down 12 of the Polar Bears' 28 offensive boards as they held a 47-30 advantage on the glass. Sela Kay contributed 15 points and Ali Meade and Annie Maher added 10 apiece. Dorian Cohen registered 10 rebounds and three steals. Bowdoin shot just 36.2 percent from the field but made more free throws (21) than Hamilton attempted (12). The Polar Bears scored 27 points off 20 Continental turnovers and ended up with 22 second-chance points.

Bowdoin's six-point lead early in the second quarter was the largest for either team in the first half. The Polar Bears held an 18-17 edge after one quarter and the teams went into the break tied at 35-35 after a 3-pointer by Hamilton's Marie Steiner '20 with 25 seconds left. The visitors were 14 of 23 (61 percent) from the floor in an entertaining first half.

The Continentals took their largest lead of five points at 49-44 after Zarle found Glemaud for a layup with 5:23 remaining in the third quarter. Bowdoin went in front for good by scoring the next 12 points. Glemaud, who scored six of her 10 points in the third, made a jumper that pulled Hamilton within five at 56-51 at the end of three quarters.

Carly O'Hern '20 opened the fourth quarter with a long-range bomb and cut the Continentals' deficit to just two points at 56-54. O'Hern made a team-record eight 3-pointers the last time these teams met in early February.

The Polar Bears scored the next 16 points and led by at least 14 the rest of the way. Meade and Hasson scored eight points apiece in the final 10 minutes.