LEWISTON, Maine -- Held to its lowest shooting percentage in 11 years Saturday, the 16th-ranked Amherst College women's basketball team fell to conference rival Bates, 59-41, in the Bobcats' Alumni Gymnasium.

The Mammoths fell to 13-2 overall, 2-2 in conference play. Bates improved to 14-2, 3-0 in the NESCAC. Amherst travels to take on rival Williams Wednesday in Williamstown. Tip-off is 7 p.m.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

* Amherst never led by hung around for the first 26 minutes of the game. Two free throws from Reeya Patel made it 12-10 with 3:46 left in the first quarter, but the Bobcats closed with a 6-0 run and led 18-10 after quarter number one. 

* Down 22-12, a three-pointer by Kori Barach, her only field goal of the game, made it 22-15. The Mammoths went into halftime down 27-21 after a lay-up from Laura Mendell was followed by a Mendell steal which led to two Barach free throws with one second on the clock. 

* In the third quarter, Maya Cwalina grabbed a rebound off her own miss and scored the putback to cut the Mammoths' deficit to four at 29-25 with 7:11 remaining. Bates would expand that to eight but the Mammoths would rally again behind a Mendell three-pointer and a Sylvia Liddle lay-up off an assist from Anna Tranum that made it 35-32 Bates with just 3:08 to go in the third stanza. 

* Bates would respond with an 8-1 run over the final three minutes to go up by 10, 43-33, heading into the fourth quarter. The Bobcats would outscore Amherst 16-8 over the final 10 minutes, going up by as mch as 23 points. 

BY THE NUMBERS:

* Amherst shot just 23.1 percent (12 for 52) from the floor and only 51.9 percent (14 of 27) from the free throw line. 

* Tranum had 8 points and 7 rebounds in the loss. Mendell had 8 points. Barach had 5 points, 10 rebounds and 3 steals. Cwalina had 6 points and 5 rebounds.