Blue Basketball Tops Coast Guard for Fourth Straight

NEW LONDON, CONN. -- Senior Ashleigh Sargent had team-highs with 15 points and eight rebounds leading Wellesley to a 59-45 win over Coast Guard in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) game.

Wellesley ran its season-high win streak to four improving to 7-6 overall and 6-3 in conference play while Coast Guard drops to 6-8 overall and 4-5 in NEWMAC play.

The Blue, who never trailed in game, jumped out to a 14-4 lead with 11:43 left in the opening half pushed the lead to as many as 15 twice and led 33-21 at the break.

Coast Guard dominated the boards in the first half outrebounding Wellesley 26-10, but the Bears had 16 first half turnovers and finished the game with 26 turnovers.

Wellesley took its largest lead of the game 48-28 with 8:39 left before the Bears used a 12-2 spurt to cut the deficit to 50-40 with 5:44 left, but six straight by Wellesley, four by first-year Chelsi Scott put the game away.

Scott, sophomore Natalie Anderson and senior Malia Maier each added eight points in the win while Maier had a game-high four assists and four steals.

Rookies Meghan Fornaro and Victoria Sutherland each had eight points to lead the Bears while junior Larla Brown and sophomore Dani Knox each finished with seven points. Sophomore Leigha Steinbeck added a career-high six point for Coast Guard.

Knox tied her season-high with a game-high ten rebounds while Sutherland and Brown each added six rebounds in the loss.

Wellesley shot 37.3 percent from the floor (19 of 51) while making five of 12 from 3-point range while Coast Guard shot 31.4 percent from the field (16-51) and made just three of 17 from behind the arc.