Blue Basketball Handles Coast Guard, 66-55

NEW LONDON, CONN. -- Sophomore Becca Kimball led four Wellesley players in double figures with 20 points as the Blue beat Coast Guard 66-55 in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference game.

First-year Leslie Leong and sophomore Malia Maier each added 16 points while junior Elisha Orama added ten points as Wellesley improved to 11-9 overall and 8-6 in conference play. Maier led the Blue with seven steals and six assists while Leong had a team-high six rebounds to go with five assists.

The Blue used an 11-2 run in the first half turning a 17-15 lead into a 28-17 edge with 5:18 left and Wellesley led 34-24 at halftime.

Wellesley maintained its lead and the Blue were up 40-29 with 15:07 left before Bears used a 14-3 spurt and tied the game 43-43 on a bucket by sophomore Karli Collins with 9:30 left in the game.

The Blue responded with six straight and led 49-43 following a hoop by Orama with 7:32 remaining.

The Bears cut the deficit to 53-51 on a pair of free throws by Collins with 3:01 left before Kimball's jumper and a trey by Maier pushed the lead back to 58-51 with 2:26 left.

Larla Brown led Coast Guard with 20 points while Collins had her second double-double of the season with ten points and a career-high 13 rebounds. Freshman Kaitlin Ward added 11 points and six rebounds in the loss.

Wellesley shot 45.5 percent from the floor (25-55) while making five of 12 from behind the arc while Coast Guard shot 40 percent (22-55) while making three of ten from 3-point range.

Coast Guard outrebounded Wellesley 35-30.

The Bears drop to 2-18 overall and 0-14 in NEWMAC action, and will next play Springfield at home at 7:00pm on Wednesday.  Wellesley next plays NEWMAC-leader Babson on Wednesday at home, also at 7:00pm.