Coast Guard Academy Sports Roundup

The Coast Guard Academy had a strong showing in athletic competitions on Saturday, earning two wins each in basketball and swimming and diving. The following information was provided by Jason Southard, sports information director at the Coast Guard Academy:

Men's Basketball: Coast Guard 77, Swarthmore 74

Freshman Ricky Rodriguez sank five 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 20 points off the bench leading Coast Guard to a 77-74 win over Swarthmore College at the 20th Annual Equinox Classic.

The Bears were the only team to win both games over the weekend improving to 2-1 on the season.

Rodriguez hit five of nine from behind the arc while freshman David Anderson had 16 points and a team-high eight rebounds and earned a spot on the All-tournament team.

Sophomore Devonte Weems added 12 points to go with four steals and junior Jimmy Knudsen finished with ten points for the Bears. Junior Greg Marshall, who had a career-high 28 points in the win over Haverford on Friday, was held to just five points and earned a spot on the All-tournament team.

Coast Guard shot 43.5 percent from the field (27-62) while making six of 15 from 3-point range and the Bears outrebounded Swarthmore 37-31.

The Bears trailed by as many as eight (37-29) in the first half and were behind 41-35 at the break.

Coast Guard used an 11-0 run early in the second half, with seven of those points coming from Rodriguez, taking a 46-43 lead with 17:13 left in the game.

The game was tied 68-68 with 1:50 before Anderson’s layup with 1:30 left gave the Bears the lead for good 70-68. Weem’s layup with 1:11 left pushed the lead go 72-68.

Swarthmore cut the deficit to 74-73 with 16 seconds left on a trey by Jordan Federer before Marshall made one of two free throws for a 75-73 lead.

The Garnet had a chance to tie the game with three seconds left, but Federer made just one of two free throws, Marshall got the rebound and knocked down a pair of free throws to give the Bears the win.

Women's Basketball: Coast Guard 78, Johnson & Wales 58

Freshman Brittney Zimmerman led five players in double figures with 18 points while sophomore Kaitlin Ward had 15 points, eight rebounds, six assists and five steals leading Coast Guard to a 78-58 win over Johnson & Wales in a non-conference game.

Coast Guard, which won just three games last season, improves to 2-0 on the season for the first time in four years. Johnson & Wales drops to 1-1 on the season.

Freshman Victoria Gurtler registered her second straight double-double of the season with 11 points and a career-high 14 rebounds while freshman Dani Knox had 12 points and eight rebounds. Freshman Jamie Waterman finished with ten points while classmate Alexi Howland had a game-high seven assists.

The Bears jumped out to a quick 16-7 start in the first six minutes before Johnson & Wales cut the deficit to 18-15 with 12:37 left in the first half.

Coast Guard led 26-21 with ten minutes left in the half before using a 12-2 spurt to take its largest lead of the half 38-23 with 4:52 left. The Bears led 43-33 at the break.

The Bears put the game away in the first five minutes of the second half as they started the half with a 12-2 run for a 55-35 edge with 15:27 left in the game.

The closed the Wildcats would get would be 72-58 with two minutes left.

Freshman Natalie DiCocco led the Wildcats with 13 points off the bench while classmate Kaitlin Kenney came off the bench and also had double figures with 11 points and a team-high six rebounds.

The Bears shot 38.4 percent from the floor (28-73) while making eight of 24 from 3-poinnt range while the Wildcats were 22 of 70 (31.4 percent) and made four of 15 from behind the arc.

Coast Guard dominated the boards outrebounding the Wildcats 59-37 including 22 offensive rebounds.

Swimming and Diving

Senior diver Jeff Mistrick won both boards while junior Kevin Smit won a pair of events leading Coast Guard to a 127-82 win over Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Coast Guard improves to 4-1 on the season with its second home victory in as many days.

Mistrick won the 1-meter diving with 220.25 points and the 3-meter event with 227.70 points while Smit won the 200 freestyle (1:50.23) and the 200 butterfly (1:57.91).

Also for Coast Guard, sophomore Jacob Kramb won the 1,000 freestyle (10:28.50), freshman Christian Brindamour won the 50 freestyle (21.75), freshman Tim Early won the 400 IM (4:26.31) and senior Johnson Knox won the 100 freestyle (47.58).

The Bears 200 medley relay team of Brindamour and seniors Brett Gayman, Preston Strobel and Dan Beshoar also won with a time of 1:39.68.

In the women's competition, sophomore Chantel Ferguson broke the pool record in the 400 IM and also won the 200 butterfly while senior Heidi Gayman and freshman Sara Cantrell each won a pair of events leading Coast Guard to a 137-97 win over WPI.

Ferguson broke the pool record in the 400 IM (4:51.11) and also won the 200 butterfly (2:21.75), while Gayman won both the 100 freestyle (56.02) and the 200 freestyle (2:01.03) and Cantrell won the 1-meter diving with 205.05 points and the 3-meter diving with 210 points for the Bears.

Also winning for Coast Guard were senior Sarah Jane Otey in the 1,000 freestyle with a time of 11:22.42, freshman Caitlin Gever in the 50 freestyle (25.86) while freshman Carolyn Slife won the 200 backstroke (2:20.03).

The Bears 200 medley relay team of Slife, junior Terri Jozsa, senior Jordan Mestemaker and freshman Darlene Sao won with a time of 1:59.61 as the Bears improved to 2-3 on the season.