Box Score

BIDDEFORD, Maine -- Sarah Barton '08 (Portsmouth, N.H.) scored 11 points and dished out 14 assists to set the Bates College all-time mark in that category, as the visiting Bobcats defeated the University of New England 81-68 on Tuesday at the Campus Center.

Val Beckwith '09 (Woburn, Mass.) and Meg Coffin '08 (Westford, Mass.) led the Bobcats (8-3) with 17 points apiece, with Coffin adding eight rebounds, five assists, three blocks and two steals. Matia Kostakis '08 (Andover, Mass.) contributed 13 points and nine rebounds as Bates won its fifth straight game.

#Carrie Bunnell# '11 (Barnet, Vt.) scored a team-high 16 points for the Nor'easters, including a 3-for-5 shooting performance from three-point land, #Kylie Bragdon# '11 (Winter Harbor, Maine) chipped in with 12 points.  Bunnell and Bragdon combined to score 28 of UNE's 41 bench points.  #Katie Diggins# '10 (Merrimack, N.H.) added eight points and a game-high 10 boards.

Bates (8-3) built a 47-25 lead at halftime and cruised the rest of the way. The Bobcats shot out to an early 10-2 lead after a 3-pointer by Kellie Goodridge '10 (Merrimack, N.H.), then closed the half on a 24-4 run over the final 8:39.

The Nor'easters fell behind by as many as 26 (59-33) in the second half but clawed back to within 11 (77-66) on a 3-poniter by #Marissa Hesketh# '08 (Tolland, Conn.) with 2:22 to play.

Barton needed nine assists going into the game to break Colleen McCrave's Bates career record of 579. The 5-foot-9 point guard broke McCrave's mark with No. 580 on Bates' first basket of the second half, a jumper by Kostakis. Barton already owns Bates' assist record for a single season (199) and a single game (18).

The Nor'easters (5-5) will next play at Saint Joseph's College Thursday at 5:30 p.m.  Bates plays at nationally-ranked Tufts University in a non-league contest on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.

(posted Jan. 8, 2008 | 22:30 ET)