New London, CT --- The WPI women's basketball team kept its spot in the top three of the NEWMAC league standings with a 64-54 road win at Coast Guard on Saturday afternoon. The win lifts the Engineers to 17-5 overall, 7-2 in conference play with the Bears dipping to 12-11 overall, 4-4 in the NEWMAC. 

In an evenly matched game, WPI outscored Coast Guard 14-11 in each of the first two quarters to build a 28-22 advantage at the break. After three, the Crimson and Gray increased the lead to nine points, before closing the game with a solid fourth quarter to cement the 10-point victory. For the game, WPI out-shot the Bears 43.9% (25-57) to 33.9% (20-59), with huge advantages in rebounding (45-29) and points in the paint (26-10). 

WPI had a balanced offensive attack, paced by eight players with five or more points. Lisa Cristiano (Valhalla, NY) and Adrianna Niles (Tewksbury, MA) tied for team-high honors with 11 points each with Niles' going for a season-high. Alex Scariati (Scotch Plains, NJ) was all over the floor with nine points, nine boards, and six assists, while Alice Kelly (Wethersfield, CT) added nine points and six rebounds. 

Also for the Boynton Hillers, Victoria Mirecki (Washingtonville, NY) chipped in eight points with Emily Raynowska (Simsbury, CT) adding six points and seven boards. Wrapping up the box score for the visitors, Melanie Presseau (Manchester, NH) and McKenna Finken (Simsbury, CT) each added five points. 

Coast Guard's Dorothy Stotts (Edina, MN) led all players with 14 points, coming off the bench. Glory Blethen (Boothbay, ME) notched a 10-point game, while Julia Mann (Central Square, NY) going for eight points and a team-best eight rebounds. Kira Wood (Seattle, WA) picked up seven points and Jacqueline Ward (Brant Beach, NJ) added six in the loss. 

WPI had the hot hand to open the game, leading 7-2 through the first seven minutes of play. Wood nailed a three as Coast Guard rallied to tie the game with 2:07 on the clock. After the teams traded buckets to settle on an 11-11 tie, a Kelly three at the buzzer gave the Engineers a 14-11 edge after one. 

Coast Guard closed the gap to 14-13, but baskets from Raynowska and Kelly pushed the advantage back to five points early in the second. Stotts went on a 5-0 run of her own over the next two minutes to spark an 8-2 surge for the Bears that gave them their first lead of the game at 21-20. From there, WPI took over, closing the frame on an 8-1 run to lead 28-22 at halftime. 

A Scariati three opened the scoring in the third, as WPI opened its largest lead of the game. Coast Guard got the advantage down to eight, before another extended Engineers run made it 40-27 on a Niles three with 4:25 left in the quarter. The Bears countered with an 8-0 surge make it a five-point game, but WPI recovered and scored five of the final six points of the third to lead 45-36. 

Coast Guard's Stotts got hot from long range early in the fourth quarter, closing the gap to 50-42 with eight minutes remaining. From there, one final WPI run, this one 13-6, put the Crimson and Gray up 15, with the visitors withstanding a late Coast Guard run to close out the 64-54 win. 

WPI's midweek non-conference game with Lesley on Tuesday has been cancelled due to the Lynx needing to play a rescheduled conference contest.  The Engineers wrap up the NEWMAC regular season on Saturday hosting Babson at 1pm, while Coast Guard has a midweek battle on Wednesday against Springfield at 7pm.