Coast Guard Academy Sports Roundup

The Coast Guard Academy dropped two basketball games on Saturday, but the men's tennis team opened its season with a win and the Bears had strong performances in indoor track and wrestling competitions. The following information was provided by Jason Southard, sports information director at the Coast Guard Academy:

Men's Basketball: Wheaton 67, Coast Guard 62

Senior Brendan Degnan led all scorers with 20 points as Wheaton College beat Coast Guard 67-62 in a New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) game, ending the Bears chances of qualifying for the conference tournament.

Wheaton improves to 11-11 overall and 4-6 in the NEWMAC while Coast Guard drops to 8-13 overall and 2-9 in conference play.

The Lyons did most of their damage from three-point range, making 11 of 24. Wheaton was just six of 23 from the floor in the second half, making five of ten from behind the arc and just one of 13 from two-point range in the final 20 minutes.

Junior Greg Marshall led Coast Guard with 17 points while sophomore Kevin Sowers added 11 points and a game-high six assists in the loss. Junior Jimmy Knudsen had nine points and a game-high 12 rebounds for the Bears.

Coast Guard started out fast leading 13-3 with 12:41 left in the first half and led 21-13 with 7:03 left in the first half, but the Bears would make just three field goals the rest of the half as Wheaton outscored the Bears 22-9 over the final seven minutes of the first half and led 35-30 at the break.

Wheaton took its largest lead of the game at 40-32 with 17:44 left in the game before Coast Guard responded with a seven straight to pull to within 40-39 with 14:30 left.

The Lyons scored five straight to push the led back to six at 45-39 before the Bears went on a 9-0 run and led 48-45 following a pair of free throws by sophomore John Benedict with 9:13 left in the game.

Wheaton regained the lead 53-51 on a pair of free throws by freshman Eddie Capstick with 5:57 left. Sophomore Kevin Sowers tied the game with 53-53 on a hoop with 5:24 left before the Lyons took the lead for good 54-53 on a free throw by Weeks with 5:08 left.

Knudsen pulled the Bears to within 64-62 on a three-pointer with 21 seconds left, but Degnan made a pair of free throws with 19 seconds left to put the game away.

Women's Basketball: Mount Holyoke 59, Coast Guard 57

Freshman forward Amber Legare exploded for a career-best 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the floor to lead Mount Holyoke College to a thrilling 59-57 triumph over the Coast Guard Academy.

Legare netted all five of her free throws and also piled up a career-high four blocked shots. She was joined in double figures by classmate Kate Karraker, who scored a career-best 11 points off the bench. The sharpshooter knocked down three-shots from beyond the arc and also netted a long jumper. Senior guard Christine Chancy recorded seven points and eight rebounds. Meanwhile, junior guard Jasmine Brown dished out five assists.

Mount Holyoke converted 35.6% (21-59) of its shots from the field and 84.6% (11-13) of its free throws. The Lyons also finished with a 37-35 edge on the glass thanks to seven boards apiece from junior guard Angelica Pascual and senior forward Tricia Chase.

Freshman guard Alexi Howland set the tone for Coast Guard with 14 points on 3-of-6 shooting from long range. Classmate Brittney Zimmerman collected 10 points and six assists, while sophomore forward Alexa Hunko added six points and 12 rebounds. The Bears also received a boost from freshman forward Dani Knox, who posted eight points and six assists. As a team, they shot 41.5% (22-53) from the field and 64.3% (9-14) from the charity stripe.

Coast Guard jumped out to a 7-0 advantage and led 18-10 following a pair of free throws by sophomore forward Larla Brown at the 7:09 mark of the first half. The Bears enjoyed a 26-20 edge after a jumper by senior forward Mary Mills, but Mount Holyoke answered with six straight points and eventually went in front 29-28 on a three-pointer by Karraker in the waning seconds of the opening period.

The teams jockeyed for position in the early stages of the second half, with neither side leading by more than five points over the first 12 minutes. After seeing its lead cut to 48-46 at the 7:56 mark, Mount Holyoke took control with an 8-3 run over the next four minutes. Chase's first career three-pointer capped off the rally and gave the Lyons a 56-49 cushion with 3:45 remaining in regulation.

Refusing to go away, Coast Guard scored the next five points and sliced the deficit to 58-57 on a free throw by Howland with 1:14 to go. After forcing a shot clock violation at the other end, the Bears turned the ball over on their ensuing possession and sent Chase to the free throw line with 11 seconds remaining.

The senior made her first free throw to give Mount Holyoke a 59-57 advantage. After her second attempt rimmed out, the Bears grabbed the rebound and raced up the floor with a chance to tie or take the lead. They ball made its way to Knox in the corner, but Legare swatted away her long jumper as time expired.

Men's Tennis: Coast Guard 7, Holy Cross 2

Coast Guard opened up the spring portion of the 2011-12 season with a 7-2 win over Division I College of the Holy Cross.

The Bears won four of six singles matches and swept the doubles to improve to 4-1 on the season.

Greg Mitchell won at #1 singles, 6-4, 6-2, Josh Fischer won 6-4, 6-1 at #3 singles, Nick Martin won 6-4, 6-2 at #4 singles while David Blystone registered a 6-0, 6-3 win at #5 singles.

Martin and Mitchell won 6-3 at #1 doubles, Fischer and Blystone won 9-8 at #2 doubles while Blake Maurer and Wes Figaro won 9-7 at #3 doubles for Coast Guard.

Wrestling

Sophomore Luke Taylor won all three matches at 165 pounds convincingly as Coast Guard won one of three matches in a quad-meet at Bridgewater State College, the final dual meets of the season.

Coast Guard beat Trinity 22-14 before losing to Rhode Island College 37-5 and Bridgewater State 33-15.

Taylor won a pair of tech falls 17-2 against Trinity and 17-1 against RIC before pinning his opponent in 2:51 vs. Bridgewater State.

In the win over Trinity, freshman Mike Giorgio won 12-4 at 157 pounds, classmate Nolan Salyer won 13-3 at 184 pounds, freshman Mark Howard won a 3-2 decision at heavyweight and Coast Guard’s only senior Anthony Signorello pinned his opponent in 5:01.

Taylor accounted for the Bears only points in the loss to RIC while Taylor and Giorgio won a 4-2 decision at 157 and Salyer picked up a forfeit win at 184 pounds in the loss to Bridgewater State.

Coast Guard’s top wrestler, Nate Giorgio, the top ranked wrestler in New England at 125 pounds did not compete. The Bears finish 5-16 in dual meets.

The New England Championships are Feb. 25-26 at Wesleyan University.

Indoor Track

Sophomore Adam Scalesse broke the school record in the 60 meter hurdles as the Bears posted several season-best performances and championship qualifying marks at the Boston University Valentines Invitational featuring athletes from Divisions I, II and III.

Scalesse broke the school record in the 60 meter hurdles and finished fifth with a time of 8.30. Also in the sprints, Joe Kelly ran the 400 meters in 50.86, Ben Hannon and Kelcey Smith posted a 23.01 and a 23.21 in the 200 meters. Smith, Hannon, and Kelly all qualified for the Division III New England Championships.

Later on in the day, Smith, Hannon, Kelly, and Scalesse ran the 4x400 relay finishing in 3:23.24, an ECAC and All-New England qualifier.

Coast Guard had an outstanding day in the distance events with several championship qualifiers. Trevor Siperek posted an ECAC qualifying time in the 3000 meter of 8:33.45. Both Jordan Lee and Ryan Hubb ran 1:58.37 and a 1:59.95 respectively in the 800 meters. Trevor Auth, another Div. III New England qualifier ran the 1000 meters in 2:36.78.

In the throwing events, Kemron Beache posted a seventh place finish throwing 14.38.

In the women's competition, freshman Beth Gollin ran a personal best time in the mile. Gollin finished 75th overall with her time of 5:13.57 which qualified her for both the ECAC and Division III New England Championship.

Also for the Bears, Gina Caylor finished 22nd jumping 9 feet, 6.25 inches in the pole vault matching her personal best mark. Hannah Seeland was the top CGA finisher in the weight throw with throw of 13.15 meters.

Emily Trudeau was the top CGA finisher in the shot put with a best mark of 10.83 placing 19th while Meghan Kalinowski posted her best finish of the season in the 3000 meters with a time of 10:56.81.