January 10, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Carole Grills
(413) 585-2703

Smith Basketball Falls to Coast Guard

Northampton, MA: In a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) contest this afternoon in Northampton, Coast Guard's Melissa Martinelli (Vero Beach, FL) led all scorers with 18 points en route to the Bears 57-39 defeat of Smith College. Today's victory was the first of the season for the Bears who improved to 1-9 overall and 1-1 in NEWMAC play while Smith fell to 6-5 overall and 1-1 in the conference.

The Bears  built an early 14-6 lead in the opening eight minutes of the first half on five baskets by Martinelli and a three pointer by junior Sabrina Taylor (Lake Worth, FL). The Pioneers then went on a 13-2 run over the next seven minutes to take the lead 19-16. Lisa Marie Vuono (Lyndhurst, NJ) and Courtney Parker (Ocean City, MD) each tallied four points in that run while Anna Veltri (West Milford, NJ) added three and Megan Kiefer (Oak Park, IL) two. Sophomore guard Jennifer Tamminen (Irvine, CA) converted a three-pointer to tie the game at 19.  The Bears outscored the Pioneers 8-to-2 in the final three minutes to take a 27-21 lead into the half.

The Pioneers closed within four (26-30) in the first six minutes of the second period, but Coast Guard slowly increased its lead over the remainder of the half as poor shooting and turnovers plagued the Pioneers.

Tamminen tallied 16 points and picked off 5 steals in the victory for the Bears while Martinelli had a team high 7 rebounds.  Veltri was the Pioneers leading scorer with 9 points and 9 rebounds.  Parker also pulled down 9 rebounds for Smith and had three blocked shots.

The Pioneers travel to Thomas College  for a 5 pm non-conference game tomorrow night while Coast Guard's next contest is Wednesday, January 14 when the Bears host NEWMAC rival Springfield College at 7:30 pm