LEWISTON — Eight has been enough for the Bates women’s basketball team this week.

Playing shorthanded, the Bobcats have been down to just eight players but still managed to pull off wins. After a convincing victory at Husson on Tuesday, Bates made it back-to-back victories with a 63-39 win over the University of Maine at Farmington on Wednesday at Alumni Gym.

“Our defensive play the first half was really good,” Bates coach Jim Murphy said. “We did a good job controlling the boards. It was just a good team win.”

The Bobcats (2-3) were without Kristin Calvo, Karen Lockhart, Meredith Kelly, Molly Brown and Jacqui Veazey and likely won’t have them returning until after the semester break next month.

“We’re a little shorthanded, but the kids that played played pretty well,” said Murphy.

Taryn O’Connell led Bates with 18 points while Allie Beaulieu had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Allaina Murphy added 10 points.

UMF (0-4) got 10 from freshman Ayla Allen and six from Elizabeth Ferry. UMF shot 5-for-27 in the first half and 28 percent overall.

“I was definitely happy with our defensive effort,” said UMF coach Jamie Beaudoin. “I thought we played hard. We executed our game plan. Obviously it would have been nice to get a couple of open looks early and have them fall. It just didn’t happen.”

The limited numbers has put the onus on some newcomers that are stepping up for the Bobcats. Junior Julia Rafferty, a captain and starter on the soccer team, is playing her first season of basketball while freshman Chelsea Nason has contributed as well. She finished with nine Wednesday. The Bobcats are gaining some confidence as the season progresses.

“This is her first time out for basketball (in college),” Murphy said of Rafferty. “You can see her growing every single game and getting used to what we’re trying to do. She’s really been a God-send for us because of the injuries. You can see her improve. You can see Chelsea Nason, a freshman, improving. Once we get the other people healthy, we might be able to do some damage in the second semester.”

Neither team hit shots early on. UMF hit just one of its first 17 shots. Bates had only a pair of 3’s early. That was the only scoring for either team after six-plus minutes of action.

When Bates started hitting some shots and UMF couldn’t, the Bobcats pulled away. UMF got its first basket of the game with an Allen 3 with 13:40 left. Then Bates went on a 14-1 run.

A Beaulieu basket and 3 by Hillary Throckmorton doubled the lead. Then a Rafferty hoop, a 3 by Beaulieu and a basket by Brianna Hawkins made it 20-4. UMF got baskets from Kenni Norton and Rachel Clement, but the Beavers never got any closer.

Bates hit 11 3’s in the game,  four from O’Connell and three from Beaulieu. Those nixed many a rally attempt by UMF.

“Many times it felt like those were four or five point shots because you play such great defense and then all of a sudden it’s a 3-pointer, a challenged shot, and it’s really demoralizing to the team,” said Beaudoin.

Down 31-14 at the half, UMF looked energized to start the second and got back-to-back hoops from Kelsey Graffam to cut it to 31-18. Beaulieu drilled a 3. She and O’Connell each hit a pair of 3’s in the first 10 minutes to open the lead.

“We’re on them all the time to shoot,” said Murphy. “You can go 0-for-7 but if you’re open on the eighth shot, you’ve got to shoot it. They’ve started to get it.”

[email protected]