February 6, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Carole Grills
(413) 585-2703

Coast Guard Defeats Smith, 52-34

Northampton, MA: The Bears of the Coast Guard Academy defeated the Smith Pioneers this evening 52-34 in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic (NEWMAC)contest. With the victory, Coast Guard improved to 16-3 overall and 7-1 in conference competition. The victory tied Coast Guard's single season school record of 16 wins that it set in both 2001-02 and 2002-03. The loss dropped the Pioneers to 4-14 overall and 2-7 in the NEWMAC.

Both teams struggled offensively in the opening minutes of play and it wasn't until the 17:31 mark that Coast Guard's Melissa Martinelli (Vero Beach, FL) converted a free throw that put the first points on the board. Smith's Meredith Murelli (Litchfield, CT) answered with a hoop but Martinelli scored the next three points for the Bears to go ahead 4-2. First year Laura Miller (Minneapolis, MN) tied it for Smith at 4-4 but the Bears again took the lead on a three pointer by Laura Hutchinson (Waynesboro, VA).   Smith closed to 6-7 on a shot by Courtney Parker (Ocean City, MD) but Corinne McCormack (Havertown, PA) quickly gave the Bears a 9-6 lead.  The Pioneers then went on a 9-0 run to go ahead 15-9 but Coast Guard put together its own 7-0 run to retake the lead 16-15. Talia Williams (Montpelier, VT) put the Pioneers up 17-16 with 4:14 remaining. Both teams had a shooting dry spell for the next two minutes but with 2:13 left, senior Natalie Moyer (Oklahoma City, OK) became Coast Guard's all-time leading scorer with 1,445 points as she sank the first of two good free throws. Miller tallied the last hoop of the half with 31 seconds left to give Smith a 19-18 haltime lead.

The Pioneers maintained their lead for the first three minutes of the second half. With the score 23-22, McCormack and Moyer hit back-to-back three pointers. Moyer then sank two free throws and Martinelli scored to give the Bears a 32-23 advantage. Lisa Marie Vuono (Lyndhurst, NJ) and Murelli answered for Smith to close the gap but over the next nine minutes the Bears outscored Smith 14-7 which was enough for the victory. 

Vuono had a team high 15 rebounds with two steals for Smith and Miller tallied a team high 8 points. Martinelli led the Bears with 13 points and 15 rebounds while Moyer added a dozen points and McCormack 10.

Smith will host NEWMAC opponent WPI on Saturday at 2 pm while the Bears host Wheaton at 1 pm.