BRUNSWICK — Late in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s New England Small College Athletic Conference women’s basketball championship game between top-seeded Bowdoin and second-seeded Colby, Bowdoin head coach Megan Phelps turned her attention away from the court and looked toward the scorer’s table.

“Best player in the country,” she said.

Phelps didn’t say who she was referring to, but for anyone watching inside Morrell Gymnasium, there was no need to clarify.

Senior guard Sydney Jones scored 15 fourth quarter points, including the go-ahead and one layup with 37 seconds left, to bring Bowdoin out of a double-digit deficit and beat Colby, 62-59, for the Polar Bears’ second-straight conference championship and 11th in program history.

Jones, who sat on the bench for most of the second quarter with two fouls, finished the game with 24 points (22 in the second half) and five rebounds. Freshman guard Grace Kinum added 13 points, eight rebounds and five steals for Bowdoin (27-0), as sophomore forward Abbie Quinn scored 10.

“Sydney Jones is a really special player,” Phelps said of the reigning NESCAC player of the year. “I mean, she has such humility and grace, she’s an amazing leader for our team, and it’s never about her. But when the game is on the line, she wants the ball in her hands. You know, Sydney’s missed game-winning shots in her career, she’s not performed as well, and I think those moments all lead to days like today, when she takes over a game like that.

“I mean, I do think she’s the best player in the country, for sure. Today, she certainly was.”

Bowdoin never trailed Colby (15-11) in either match-up during the regular season, but the Mules (averaging 95 points in the first two rounds of the NESCAC tournament) came into Sunday’s title game scorching hot. Colby made five of its first six attempts from beyond the arc (6-of-9 for the half, 63.6% FG) and went into the break with a 38-32 lead.

Bowdoin roared back with a 9-2 run to take a 41-40 lead, but spent the final 6:52 of the third quarter scoreless as Colby regained control.

Down by 10 with 10 minutes to go, Jones had no doubt in her teammates.

“We’ve got a lot of experience, a lot of really good players, and we know we’re a really fit, really composed, really energetic team that can close out big games and get the stops and the scores when we need to,” Jones said.

After making one of two attempts in the first half, Jones shot 9-of-16 in the second half. The rest of the Polar Bears went 2-of-14 from the field during this span. She also outscored the Mules, 22-21.

Jones’ three-point play in the final minute gave Bowdoin a 60-58 lead, its first since the third quarter, but Colby found themselves with two chances to tie or take the lead.

With 14.5 seconds left, Colby’s Amelia Hanscom (six points, four rebounds) made the second of two free throws to bring the game within one. The Mules then fouled Bowdoin’s Carly Davey (six points, four assists), who went one of two from the line, bringing the Polar Bears’ lead back to two.

After a Colby timeout, it was a wide-open Hanscom, who effortlessly swished a deep heave to beat the shot clock on the game’s opening possession, that gave the Mules one last look, but the 3-point attempt hit the front of the rim with 3.6 seconds remaining. Bowdoin’s Rachel Storey grabbed the rebound and stamped the final score, 62-59, at the free throw line.

“We talked about all options if we didn’t get the lob (on the final inbounds play) of what we would get into,” Colby head coach Chenel Harris-Smith said. “At the end, we got an open look, and it just didn’t fall. But the girls, they played their hearts out and executed all the way through.”

The Mules were led by junior guard Lydia Mordarski (19 points, two assists, two steals). Sophomores Kate Olenik (seven rebounds) and Ana Von Rumohr (six rebounds) each scored 11 points.