BRUNSWICK – Most coaches believe it is defense that wins championships.

Keene State basketball coach Keith Boucher thinks it is offense that sets Bowdoin College apart in Division III women’s basketball.

Senior forward Eileen Flaherty scored eight points during a decisive 15-0 scoring run Saturday evening that enabled the Polar Bears to charge to a 77-52 victory over the Owls in an NCAA Tournament second-round game at Morrell Gym.

Coach Stefanie Pemper’s top-ranked Bowdoin squad (28-1) advances to the Sweet 16 for the seventh straight season, while Keene State finishes at 22-7.

“That was as about as good as we can play,” said Pemper, whose Polar Bears will play the University of Rochester on Friday at Scranton, Pa.

The Polar Bears did play well offensively, shooting 48 percent from the field. Most importantly, they were often able to get the ball to the slippery Flaherty, who went 10-for-13 from the floor on her way to a game-high 26 points.

Jill Anelauskas tossed in 18 points for Bowdoin, which got at least two points from each of the nine people who played.

“I thought that Bowdoin’s execution was tremendous,” Boucher said. “There’s very few teams we play that execute at the level they execute at the offensive end of the floor.

“I don’t care how good of defense you play, if you really want to play offense, if you run it the right way and you play it well, great offense will beat great defense,” he added.

The Owls made things difficult for the hosts for a good portion of the contest. Keene hit three 3-pointers while opening the second half with a 13-5 run.

Kristin Degou sank two foul shots, then buried a 3-pointer to put the Owls on top 39-38 with 15:41 remaining. That elicited a Bowdoin timeout.

“I think that was the “stop giving up open 3’s” timeout,” Pemper quipped.

Whatever she said, the Polar Bears took it to heart. Bowdoin ratcheted up the defense and capitalized on its efficient transition attack while scoring 15 unanswered points during a span of 3 minutes, 38 seconds.

Anelauskas (six rebounds), who averaged 16 points in two NCAA games after scoring eight points combined in her previous three contests, opened the surge with a 3-pointer.

Flaherty answered two missed free throws by Keene’s Sarah Begnoche (12 points, 8 rebounds) with a hoop off a strong move to the basket and then converted three of four from the foul line. Maria Noucas snipped a 10-footer off an inbounds play and Flaherty hit a 3-pointer to give Bowdoin a 51-39 lead with 12:02 left.

“I don’t think we were that worried, because we knew that that run was coming back at us,” Flaherty said. “It was good. It was a constructive timeout and I think we came out of there ready to reorganize, refocus, and we definitely did.”

The Owls wound up going 51/2 minutes without scoring and 6:20 without a field goal.

“We had some opportunities on offense and we missed some easy shots, we missed free throws,” Boucher said.

Bowdoin put the hammer down and won going away.

Sabrina Cote, a freshman guard from Dexter, contributed seven points for the winners, while Katie Cummings posted eight of the Polar Bears’ 23 assists.

“When you take good shots, you make good shots,” Flaherty said. “We did really execute well. People were really cutting hard, moving hard, looking for that extra pass and that’s what gave us a little bit of an edge.”

Bowdoin outrebounded Keene 41-27.

Bri Barnes netted 10 points and handed out five assists for Keene State.

POLAR BEARS 77, OWLS 52

Keene State (22-7) Bowdoin (28-1)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Begnoche 6 15 0 2 12 Flaherty 10 13 5 8 26

Barnes 3 8 2 2 10 Anelskas 7 14 2 2 18

Degou 2 6 3 4 9 Cote 3 4 7

Boudreau 2 6 0 0 5 Loonin 2 3 6

Simmler 2 5 0 0 5 Kaubris 2 7 6

Sapp 2 2 0 0 5 Noucas 2 7 0 5

Jamiel 1 4 2 2 4 Hynes 2 4 4

Kinney 1 3 0 3 2 Cummngs 1 9 3

Fohrenbch 0 0 0 0 0 Rubega 1 1 2

Shaw 0 0 0 0 0

Cleavelnd 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 19 49 7 13 52 Totals 30 62 10 14 77

Keene State 26 52

Bowdoin 33 77

3-pt. goals – Keene State (7-13): Degou 2-4, Barnes 2-4, Simmler 1-1, Sapp 1-1, Boudreau 1-3; Bowdoin (7-22): Anelauskas 2-3, Loonin 2-3, Flaherty 1-1, Cummings 1-5, Noucas 1-5, Hynes 0-1, Cote 0-1, Kaubris 0-3

Attendance: 1,830