Wellesley Basketball Falls to Coast Guard in NEWMAC Matchup

WELLESLEY, Mass. – Coast Guard Academy grabbed an 11-0 lead in the first quarter of its NEWMAC game against Wellesley College basketball and never looked back. The Bears (15-4 Overall, 4-1 NEWMAC) earned a decisive 71-41 victory over the Blue (7-10 Overall, 0-5 NEWMAC) on Saturday at Dorothy Towne Fieldhouse.

Senior Kira Wood (Seattle, Wash.) led all scorers with 20 points, including six made threes, for the Bears. Classmates Glory Blethen (Boothbay, Maine) and Kelly Hagerty (Emerald Isle, N.C.) added 15 and 14 points respectively. Blethen tied for a game-high with nine rebounds. Junior Julia Mann (Central Square, N.Y.) and sophomore Taylor Lynch (Madison, Ind.) both contributed six assists.

Sophomore Yitzel Serna (Palmdale, Calif.) picked up 12 points with four three pointers for the Blue. Senior Jiyun Chae (Chantilly, Va.) added 10 points and three steals while junior Caitlin Windross (Eastvale, Calif.) tied for a game-high nine rebounds. 

After trailing 11-0 five minutes into the first quarter, Wellesley responded with a 7-5 run to get the game back under 10 points with three minutes left in the first quarter. A last second three from Wood gave Coast Guard a 23-9 lead after one quarter of action.

In the second quarter, the Bears outscored the Blue 18-13. Wood had a trio of threes and helped Coast Guard take a 41-22 lead at the end of the first half.

Coast Guard's lead hovered around 20 for the early portion of the third quarter, before going up 61-30 with a Hagerty layup with 1:31 remaining in the third quarter. Wellesley trailed 61-32 after three frames.

The Bears outscored Wellesley 10-9 in the final quarter to close out a 71-41 victory. Senior Natasha Lange (Quinton, Va.) had a pair of late threes for Coast Guard.

Coast Guard shot 30-for-75 (40%) percent for the game and went 11-of-28 (39.3%) from behind the arc. The Bears pulled down 60 rebounds while limiting Wellesley to 30. 

Both teams compete on Wednesday, January 31. The Blue play a 6:00 PM game at Babson and the Bears host Smith at 7:30 PM.