Sports

Coast Guard Academy Sports Roundup

Bears fail to pick up a win in Wednesday games

The Coast Guard Academy sports teams were down on their luck on Wednesday, losing a men's basketball game to Babson College, a women's basketball game to Wellesley College in women's basketball, and wrestling matches to Trinity College and Southern Maine

Men's Basketball: Babson 96, Coast Guard 81

unior Marcus McDermott had a game-high 21 points and junior Russell Braithwaite had 18 points including seven straight in the second half as Babson beat Coast Guard 96-81 in a New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) game.

Coast Guard had cut an 18-point deficit to just six at 66-60 with 10:24 left before Braithwaite had an old fashion 3-point play, a dunk and capped off his own seven point run with a steal and a layup with 9:06 left as the Beavers took a 73-60 lead and never looked back.

The Bears trailed 60-42 with 15:13 left, but used a 16-4 spurt cutting the lead to just six at 64-58 following a bucket by freshman David Anderson with 11:16 left.

Babson snapped three-game losing streak to improve to 9-8 overall and 2-3 in NEWMAC play while Coast Guard dropped its sixth straight to dip to 6-9 overall and 0-5 in conference play.

The Beavers shot 58.3 percent from the floor (35-60) while making eight of 18 from 3-point range while Coast Guard also shot well hitting 54.9 percent from the field (28-51) while connecting on five of 13 from behind the arc.

Sophomore Kevin Sowers had a season-high 20 points on six of seven shooting from the floor and eight of nine from the foul line to lead Coast Guard while Anderson had 19 points and junior Greg Marshall added 18 points in the loss. Sophomore John Benedict had a season-high 12 points and game-high eight rebounds for the Bears.

The Beavers scored the first nine points of the game and pushed the lead to 22-8 with 14:32 left as sophomore Matt Palazini hit three consecutive 3-point baskets in just 39 seconds in a 9-2 spurt.

Babson led 40-22 with 5:08 remaining in the half when the Bears showed signed of life using an 8-1 run to cut the deficit to 41-30 with 2:22 left in the half. The Beavers responded with seven straight and outscored Coast Guard 9-3 to end the half for a 50-33 lead at the break.

Rudolph was a perfect six for six from the floor in the first half leading all scorers with 14 points while Palazini had 12 points in the first half.

The Beavers shot a sizzling 61.3 percent (19-31) in the first half while connecting on seven of 12 from behind the arc in the opening stanza.

Rudolph finished with 18 points while Palazini and senior Matt Florio each added 14 points in the win for the Beavers.

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Women's Basketball: Wellesley 61, Coast Guard 39

Sophomore Leslie Leong and freshman Morgyne Weaver combined for 32 points as Wellesley College picked up a 61-39 victory over visiting Coast Guard in NEWMAC women’s basketball action on Wednesday night. The win evens Wellesley’s season mark to 7-7, 6-3 in conference play, while the Bears fall to 5-8, 1-8 in the NEWMAC.

Coming off a career night against WPI, Leong followed Saturday’s performance by recording game-highs of 18 points and eight rebounds in tonight’s contest. Weaver was impressive off the bench once again, pouring in 16 points and adding six boards. Meanwhile, the Blue held Coast Guard to just 30% shooting, while causing 27 Bears turnovers.

Wellesley held a slim lead midway through the first half, as the low-scoring affair saw three ties in the opening 10 minutes, with neither team taking more than a four point advantage. The Blue held an 11-10 edge with 10:22 on the clock, before putting together a 13-0 run in the next three minutes to open up a 24-10 lead. Senior Elisha Orama and junior Ashleigh Sargent each contributed five points during the Blue run.

Coast Guard battled back to get the game within 10, as sophomore Alexa Hunko recorded three points to set the score to 27-17 with 2:52 to play in the half. Wellesley, however, went into the break holding a 31-19 lead.

The Bears came out of the locker room with a 7-1 run, cutting the Wellesley lead to 32-26 at 16:04. Once again, though, the Blue responded with a 17-4 run, capped by a Leong lay-up to give Wellesley a 49-30 advantage with 6:55 to play. The closest Coast Guard would get over the final minutes was 14 points, as freshman Brittney Zimmerman hit a three to make it 52-38, but Wellesley again pulled away for the 61-39 victory.

Led by Leong and Weaver’s 32 points, the Blue also got a solid game from junior Malia Maier who recorded six points, six steals and five assists. Ashleigh Sargent added a seven point effort for Wellesley, while Orama and freshman Courtney Jackson each scored five.

Coast Guard sophomore Larla Brown led a balanced offense for the Bears, tallying a team-high eight points, as eight different Coast Guard players broke into the scoring column. Zimmerman contributed seven points on the night, while freshman Jamie Waterman scored six, while adding six boards. Freshman Victoria Gurtler rounded out the box score for the Bears with five points and a team-high seven rebounds.

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Wrestling

Coast Guard dropped a pair of matches in a tri-meet losing 28-12 to Trinity and 46-3 to host Southern Maine.

Anthony Signorello (141) and Michael Giorgio (149) won by forfeit for the Bears point in the loss to Trinity.

Mark Howard won 8-4 at 197 pounds for the only Coast Guard points against Southern Maine.


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