Wellesley Basketball Wins Second Straight; Blue Down Coast Guard 53-42

WELLESLEY, Mass. – Wellesley basketball picked up their second straight NEWMAC win with a 53-42 victory over Coast Guard on Saturday afternoon at the Keohane Sports Center.  The win lifts the Blue to 7-4 overall with a 2-2 conference mark while the Bears fall to 1-11, 1-3 in the NEWMAC.

Coast Guard took an early 13-8 lead off of six points from Allison Majcher (Littleton, CO) and five from Jennifer Tamminen (Irvine, CA). However, Wellesley put together a 17-4 run that spanned the next ten minutes to give the Blue a 25-17 lead with 3:58 in the first half.  Jessica Duff (Milton, Abingdon, UK) led Wellesley with seven points during the run while Katie Martore (Great Falls, Va.), Courtney Richter (Sinking Springs, PA) and Lindsey Migliore (Allen Park, MI) each hit three point shots to pace the Blue. 

Coast Guard battled back with Tamminen and Majcher each hitting jumpers to help the Bears pull to within five as the first half ended with Wellesley leading, 27-22. 

To open the second half, a layup from Chanel Lee (Richmond, VA) and a jumper from Leslie Hunt (Poquoson, VA) cut the Wellesley lead to 27-26.  Once again, the Blue responded with a long scoring run, this time outscoring Coast Guard 26-5 to take a 22-point lead (53-31) with 7:06 to play.

Coast Guard's Tamminen scored nine points over the final seven minutes of play to cut into the Wellesley lead, but it wasn't enough as the Blue pulled out the 53-42 victory.

Tamminen lead all scorers with 17 points and also pulled down six rebounds for the Bears. Majcher chipped in 10 points and five boards while Carin Sweeney (Woodbury, MN) had a six-rebound effort.

For Wellesley, Duff finished one rebound shy of a double-double, recording 13 points and 9 boards.  Julia Thomas (Concord, CA) picked up eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds while Richter finished with seven points.  Rounding out the offense for the Blue, Martore was 2-2 from behind the three-point line, scoring 6 points while also adding a game-high four assists, and Katie Frett (Hallowell, ME) added 6 points. 

Both teams are back on action on Wednesday at 7:00pm against NEWMAC opponents.  Coast Guard will host Mount Holyoke in New London, CT while Wellesley travels to cross-town rival Babson.