BANGOR – The way the Bates College women are currently playing, they could probably field two teams and both would be of playoff caliber.

Lewiston’s Bobcats used the two D’s – defense and depth – to storm out to another early lead and simply frustrate the heck out of their opponents en route to another easy victory, this one an 80-55 triumph over Husson College in the 36th annual Paul Bunyan Invitational tournament’s championship game Saturday afternoon.

The Bobcats, now 3-1, seem to have made Newman Gymnasium their home away from home as they came away with their second straight Bunyan tourney title.

For the second time in less than 24 hours, Bates harassed its opponent into 21 turnovers in the first half. The defensive pressure was unmerciful and unflagging as Bates’ full-court press and smothering man-to-man led to 35 Husson turnovers in the game.

“They were incredible. We knew it would be hard and I think they gave us even more than we expected,” said Braves senior captain Kelly Dow. “Their press just broke us. We couldn’t break it and had a really hard time with it. It’s more tenacious than any we’ve seen.”

Bates coach Jim Murphy just kept throwing fresh bodies at the Braves, wearing them out. After Bates’ starting five got off to a bit of a sluggish start, Murphy moved up the timetable and sent in his second-five unit to replace the starters just two minutes into the game – three minutes earlier than usual.

The second five turned a 4-0 Husson edge into a 9-4 Bates lead in two minutes and the Bobcats never looked back from there. Then the first five took advantage of their breather and came back with a vengeance, going on a 15-0 run in which Husson was held scoreless for just over four minutes. It turned a 24-17 Bates lead into a 22-point cushion with 2:54 left in the first half. During the run, 11 points came off fast breaks.

“That’s the way we’ve made our living, if you will, for eight years is creating all kinds of turnovers and creating havoc,” Murphy said. “What we try to do is get teams to play faster than they want to, but it all starts with defense with us because it can create some real easy chances for us on the other end.”

Carla Flaherty led Bates with three of her four steals and nine of her 16 points during the run. Both totals were game highs.

“That’s the name of the game with us. We’re constantly trapping and rotating,” said the junior forward who was chosen as tourney MVP. “You go hard for five minutes and leave everything out on the court because you know the second team’s coming in and you won’t lose anything. It’s exciting.”

Forward Laura Nafe led the second team’s charge with 11 points and three steals off the bench.

“Sometimes it is hard to wait for our turn, but it’s also so fun to watch the other girls play,” the sophomore from Roland, Ark., admitted. “We constantly have fresh legs and it makes the game so much more fun when you can go out there and give it everything you have.”

Nafe and Flaherty were it for double-digit scorers as Leslie Trott and Jenn Comeau led Husson with nine points apiece. All but two of 26 players in the game (one per team) scored at least two points.

For the fourth time in four games, Bates was outrebounded as Husson held a 49-41 edge, but Husson shot just 35.8 percent from the floor to Bates’ 40.5. Throw in Bates’ 7-for-14 effort from 3-point range and big edge in turnovers (16 to 35), and it tipped the balance.

“It is a bit frustrating to outrebound someone and still come up short,” said coach Harold Williams, whose Braves dip to 1-3. “If you look in that turnover column, that’s what really jumps out.”

Sophomore Brooke Turner of Lincoln had a game-high 10 boards off the bench for Husson.

In the consolation game, freshman forward Kelli-Ann Henry finished with a game-high 23 points and 19 rebounds to lead the Five Towns Sound (N.Y.) to the win over the 3-4 Clippers. All-tourney pick Tenille Dunning and Rameeka Beal scored 17 and 16 points, respectively for the Sound. Gillian Guest had eight points and 11 boards for UM-Machias and Rukhsana Aziz had nine points.

The rest of the all-tourney team includes Lauren Dubois of Bates, Trott and Dow of Husson, and UMM freshman Sara Ricker.

(Consolation Game)

UM-Machias (3-4) 50

Aziz 3-2-9, Robb 3-1-8, Welles 2-0-4, Ricker 3-2-8, Guest 3-2-8, Rich 1-3-6, Nuite 1-0-2, Magnussen, Willett 1-1-3, Copeland 1-0-2

Five Towns (3-4) 80

Robinson 2-1-5, Marcus 1-2-4, Dunning 6-4-17, Finney 2-3-7, Corley 3-2-8, Henry 9-5-23, Beal 7-1-16, Fung, Newell

3-pt. goals: Aziz, Robb, Rich; Dunning, Beal

Halftime: Five Towns 47-21

BOBCATS 80, BRAVES 55

Bates (3-1) Husson (1-3)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG F AF TP

Price 3 5 1 2 8 McDonald 0 0 0

Taylor 2 8 2 4 6 Trott 4 10 0 9

Hoffman 1 4 0 0 3 Sexton 1 2 0 3

Zurek 0 2 0 0 0 Comeau 3 6 3 9

Nafe 4 11 0 0 11 Fry 0 0 3 3

DeFranco 3 6 0 0 8 Hughes 1 5 5

Flaherty 5 11 6 7 16 Duplisea 1 2

Dockery 3 9 0 0 6 Fry 0 0 2 2

Dubois 1 2 0 0 2 Dow 3 10 1 8

Hochadel 2 3 0 0 4 Poirier 1 1 2

King 2 6 0 0 4 Turner 2 5 2 6

Blakeley 1 2 0 2 2 Boone 3 7 6

Vincent 2 5 0 0 4

Golobski 3 5 0 1 6

Totals 32 79 9 16 80 19 53 14 22 55

3-pt. goals: Bates (7-14): Nafe 3-5, DeFranco 2-3, Price 1-1, Hoffman 1-2, Dockery 0-3; Husson (3-9): Trott 1-2, Sexton 1-2, Dow 1-2, Duplisea 0-3

Attendance: 147

Halftime: Bates 43-26