NORTON, MA- The Wheaton College women's basketball team jumped out to an early 18-2 lead and coasted to a 63-44 victory over the United States Coast Guard Academy in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) contest Saturday afternoon in Emerson Gymnasium.
The Lyons climbed back to the .500 mark at 3-3 with the win while evening their conference mark at 1-1. Coast Guard, which lost its third straight outing, fell to 2-5 overall and 0-2 in league play.
Wheaton sophomore Jeana Trimboli (Norwalk, CT/Trinity Catholic) hit five threes to move into 10th place on the school's all-time list with 82 career treys. Trimboli scored 16 of her game-high 23 points in the first half. She finished shooting 9-of-12 from the floor and 5-of-6 from beyond the three-point arc to go alongside four assists.
Sophomore Gabby Barbera (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood) added nine points, while classmate Natasha Colon Ortiz (Holyoke, MA/Holyoke) notched team highs of eight boards and three steals. Junior Nicole Cullinane (Rindge, NH/New Hampton School) led Wheaton with five assists to go along with four caroms.
Coast Guard freshman Larla Brown (Kingwood, TX/Kingwood Park) recorded a team-high 16 points. Classmate Alexa Hunko (Glen Rock, NJ/Glenrock) posted a double-double with 14 points and 11 boards, while senior Allison Majcher (Littleton, CO/Chatfield) contributed six markers and seven rebounds.
Wheaton scored 13 unanswered points over a 4:45 span for an early 18-2 advantage. Barbera started the run with a pair of three-pointers before Trimboli followed with five consecutive markers. The hosts extended their lead to a game-high 26 points with 1:44 remaining in the opening half. Wheaton connected on eight of its season-high nine threes in the first stanza to build a 41-17 lead. Trimboli went 6-of-7 in the opening half, including 4-of-4 from deep. Barbera added nine first-half points on a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond the arc.
The Lyons stretched their margin back to 26 points at 43-17 less than two minutes into the second half. Brown and Hunko combined for five straight points as the visitors narrowed the gap to 56-41 with 4:57 left, but Wheaton answered with a 7-2 spurt for a 63-43 lead at 1:59. The hosts finished with a 41-38 rebounding edge while shooting 42.9 percent from three-point range.
The Lyons hit the road for the first time in three weeks on Tuesday, when they travel to Worcester to face NEWMAC foe Clark University at 7:00 p.m.