Polar express

BRUNSWICK, Maine -- The last place you'd expect to see a Polar Bear swimming in January would be the sparkling, turquoise blue, 80-degree Caribbean Sea. But there they were on a recent Friday afternoon, the women of the Bowdoin basketball team, splashing and sunning themselves after winning an exhibition game against the University of Puerto Rico-Bayamon.

But it was a fast break for coach Stefanie Pemper's team, which flew home in the middle of the night to put their 61-game home winning streak -- the longest in the nation -- on the line the next night against Colby, the last team to beat Bowdoin at Morrell Gymnasium. That was Feb. 10, 2001.

The Streak is nearly five years old, but mum's the word.

''We don't talk about it. We don't want to jinx it, " said tricaptain Justine Pouravelis.

''We definitely don't talk about it," said Pemper.

Other than that, the sleep-deprived Polar Bears are loose. Real loose.

''The sun only does good things for you," said Katie Cummings, a guard from Summit, N.J.

The Colby White Mules are tense. One player simply walks away when a reporter asks her about a possible win.

It is a half-hour before game time, and the Polar Bears, relaxing in the locker room, talk very little about basketball.

They joke about driving three vans up from Newark Airport themselves. They tease each other about wearing white so their new tans show up, and they chat about reggae music. Coach Pemper even brings in a name tag she purchased for a fictitious team member named ''Marta." Marta is whom they blame when things go wrong. Which isn't often. A possible secret to their success? For the last four years home locker No. 12 has been occupied by a Jesus statue that was purchased at the Salvation Army here for $3. It was used in a comedy film made by Pouravelis, an aspiring filmmaker. The Streak started with a 58-47 win over Middlebury Feb. 20, 2001. It is the longest current home winning streak in NCAA basketball (both men and women).

''It's definitely not hanging over our head," said Pemper, who has led her team to five consecutive New England Small College Athletic Conference championships. ''What's so neat about it is the classes that it spans, and the number of women that have contributed to it."

Pemper only mentions The Streak while recruiting.

''I just try to be cognizant of [not] putting pressure on [the players]," said Pemper. ''They already feel enough pressure. You walk around our campus and everybody already knows the women's basketball team is successful. I don't think it would be a motivator."

With a cumulative grade-point average of 3.35, the highest of any school to reach the Division 3 Elite Eight last season, these women know the score.

So what is the secret to their success? Home cooking?

''Definitely not home cooking," said Pemper, who is also a Senior Woman Administrator at the school and has little time to cook.

But forward Eileen Flaherty, a history and Spanish major from Fairfield, Conn., is not so sure. It might actually be the home cooking.

''We do have the No. 1 dining hall in the country, according to Princeton Review," said Flaherty, who leads the team in scoring, averaging 16.7 points. ''We have a pregame meal, all the time. A favorite among our teammates is chicken parm. I like to go lighter, cereal and banana."

Most players give credit to the fans they call Polar Bear Nation.

''Our fans, they're crazy, and they never give up on us," said Ashleigh Watson, a 5-foot-3-inch senior guard from San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Pouravelis, an economics major from Old Orchard Beach, Maine, agreed. ''We have a great student base but also a great community base," she said. ''The community follows us everywhere. The gym is packed with people from the town who just know us and respect us."

At the Big Top Deli in the heart of town, counterman Tony Sachs explained the popularity of the female Polar Bears, whose team routinely outdraws the men's squad.

''They're great," said Sachs. ''They play with a lot of heart. Personally, I enjoy the women's games more than the men's. They play great defense. From my standpoint they're just a little bit more graceful."

Justine Pouravelis loves Morrell Gymnasium, a 2,100-seat, two-tiered bandbox with spectators sitting just a hand-check away. ''It's the gym," said Pouravelis. ''It's got great lighting. I think it's the lighting and we know the rims. We know them and our shooters like them."

Opponents walking through the gym lobby are confronted by a big stuffed polar bear mascot under glass, shot by Donald B. MacMillan (Class of 1898) in North Greenland in 1915.

''We were meeting with the refs in our home gym and one of the refs said, 'Is there anything weird we should know about our gym?' " said Pouravelis, who leads the team in field goal percentage, rebounds, steals, and blocks. ''And one of our other captains mouthed under her breath we haven't lost in 60 games. So I mean, there must be something to it."

There have been several heart-stopping close calls during The Streak. Bowdoin won a double-overtime game against Southern Maine in 2002 and was taken to overtime twice in 2004 (Bates and Emmanuel).

''We've had some magical games that we've pulled out," said Cummings, who leads the team in assists.

Last year the Polar Bears were down by 19 points in the second half against Williams. But the Polar Bears started to heat up, and Pouravelis put her team up by 1 with a layup with 46 seconds left. ''And they had a shot at the buzzer and they missed it," she said. ''It was a good shot and it rimmed out."

In what Pemper calls the ''biggest game in Bowdoin history," the 2004 NCAA regionals against Southern Maine, Bowdoin overcame an 11-point deficit and led Southern Maine by 2 points with just 32 seconds to play. Southern Maine put on a full-court press. But Lora Trenkle caught a long pass from Pouravelis and laid it in to put Bowdoin up by 4 and save The Streak.

''The game wasn't actually over but it might as well have been, it was such a big play," said Pemper. The 2003-04 team finished 30-1, losing only a road game to Wilmington in the NCAA Division 3 final.

Trenkle said she never worried about The Streak.

''We don't go into a game thinking we can't lose this streak," said Trenkle, a three-time All-American who graduated last year but comes back to watch her former team. ''You must stay focused on the five people on the court and the seven people on the bench. That's what's important. It's the team that got us through. If you have distractions, that's when you get disconnected."

Pemper has a pregame ritual. ''I always stand in the same place during the introductions," she said. ''I don't ever touch them. But I do that on the road, too."

As a player at Idaho State University (Class of '92), Pemper led the Big Sky Conference in assists her junior and senior years. She coached at the University of Alaska-Anchorage for a year before returning to her alma mater, where she was an assistant coach for two years and received her master's in athletic administration.

Pemper then took a position as an assistant coach at Harvard from 1995-98, and during her tenure the Crimson won three Ivy League titles.

''Steph has probably some of the greatest knowledge of the game," said former Harvard point guard Jessica Gelman. ''She has confidence in each one of her players. Her role is as psychiatrist, and you need to learn it on your own."

Bowdoin assistant coach Julie Veilleux agrees. ''She focuses on players as people first," she said.

Pemper said she learned a lot at Harvard. ''Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith told me the first thing she did was get a big couch and a box of tissues. So that's what I did when I arrived. It's not all X's and O's."

Pemper said The Streak secret is no secret at all.

''The strength comes from one another," she said. ''They're super close. Freshmen are respected the same as juniors. Yeah, I play freshmen. I started freshmen, so with our team we never graduate a ton and that helps chemistry."

Pemper rarely calls timeouts. When they're trailing at halftime, there are no Knute Rockne speeches.

''She's not really a yeller," said Pouravelis. ''She wants players to figure things out on their own. There wasn't too much yelling, we all knew what we had to do. When we play at home, we're not like, 'Oh my God, we're going to break our home-court winning streak.' It's like, we're not losing no matter what, and we come back."

Said Pemper, ''These kids want to win and to come in at halftime and say, 'You're in danger of losing the streak,' and to use that as a motivator. I just think that might backfire."

In fact, she doesn't go in the locker room until after her team has a chance to decide for itself what's working and what isn't working. ''The team contributes as much to the halftime speech as I do," said Pemper.

''The last three years we played Bates in the NESCAC final. Two years ago we were up 19 at the half and they came back to tie it at the last second and send it into OT. Then our two forwards fouled out in overtime, and we're finishing that game with kids that had not been finishing close games with us. We won it and that was incredible."

Maria Noucas, a freshman guard from Portsmouth, N.H., said she was surprised how she was treated when she arrived here. ''As soon as we got on campus they take us under their wing," she said. ''They totally make time for us. It makes us feel more comfortable on the court."

Back in the locker room, now minutes before game time against Colby, the lighthearted banter dies down and it's time to get to work.

Several players remind their teammates to stay focused and reach their goals.

Pemper hands them a scouting report.

''They have some good shooters, a good low post," she warns. ''Look for the double screen at the top of key shot, the forward has to be ready to pop out."

The coaches leave. The Polar Bears shut off the lights, wrap their arms around each other, sway low in a circle, and sing the one-verse Polar Bear fight song 10 times, starting softly and building to a threshold of pain crescendo.

''Polar Bears, what time is it?

''It's time to get loud.

''It's time to represent."

Then they dash on the court. Every Polar Bear gets to play as the White Mules, despite some good hustle, receive an old-fashioned whooping. Midway through the first half, the Polar Bears went on a 21-1 tear en route to a 72-40 win for victory No. 62.

The Polar Bears are looking forward to a home-court rematch against archrival Bates Jan. 31. The Bobcats beat them earlier this season in Lewiston, snapping a 31-game NESCAC win streak.

Pouravelis is still steaming about that game.

''It was like about 105 degrees in there," she said. ''We couldn't get any shots to fall. I don't think it will happen in our gym."

Coach Pemper isn't worried about a possible end to The Streak.

''If it happens, it happens."