NEW LONDON, Conn.—Sophomore Brenna LeGacy (Attleboro, Mass.) scored a career-high 17 points and senior Kristen Ferola (Amherst, Mass.) added 16 points as visiting Babson College defeated the Coast Guard Academy, 81-61, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's basketball action on Saturday afternoon at Roland Hall.
Babson, which extended its winning streak to eight games, is now 16-5 overall and 12-1 in league play, while Coast Guard drops to 11-9 overall and 8-4 in the NEWMAC.
LeGacy finished 6-of-8 from the floor and added five rebounds, while Ferola went 6-of-12 on the afternoon and also grabbed five boards. Junior Giovanna Pickering (Hull, Mass.) contributed 15 points to go along with a career-high 14 rebounds, three assists and three steals for the Beavers.
Senior Meghan Fornaro (Charlton, Mass.) scored 17 points, while classmate Torie Sutherland (Houston, Texas) chipped in with 14 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Bears.
Coast Guard jumped out to a 12-6 lead midway through the first quarter, but Babson scored on six of its next nine possessions and closed the stanza with a 12-5 spurt to take an 18-17 lead on a layup by LeGacy. Back-to-back hoops by Ferola and LeGacy extended the advantage to 31-25 midway through the second quarter, and the Beavers closed the half with an 8-3 run, including four points from Pickering, to take a 42-35 lead into the locker room.
The Bears cut their deficit to five a little more than two minutes into the third quarter, but the Green and White followed with a 15-4 run to take a 59-43 edge on two free throws by LeGacy with 2:43 to go in the period. The Beavers went 11-of-11 at the free throw line and saw seven different players score in the frame, pushing the lead to 66-49 entering the fourth quarter on a three-point play by junior Ashley Snyder (Foxboro, Mass.).
Pickering made it a 21-point game with a layup at the 6:11 mark of the fourth, and LeGacy converted back-to-back hoops around a three-pointer from senior Marissa Cicchetti (Mansfield, Mass.) to give Babson its biggest lead of the contest at 81-59 with 1:06 to play.
Despite shooting just 38.7 percent (29-of-75), the Green and White went 20-of-22 at the free throw line and finished with a 53-34 edge on the glass. The Beavers scored 24 second-chance points off of 23 offensive boards and turned 19 Coast Guard turnovers into 24 points.
The Bears shot 40 percent (26-of-65) overall, but were just 5-of-26 (19.2 percent) from beyond the arc and connected on just 2-of-19 from downtown over the final three quarters.
Both teams return to action on Wednesday as Babson travels to WPI for a first-place showdown at 7 p.m., while Coast Guard visits Springfield for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff.
GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are now 31-10 all-time against Coast Guard.
• Babson, which clinched a NEWMAC Tournament berth last Saturday, can finish with no worse than the fourth seed in the championship, which begins on February 24.
• Ferola, who scored 23 points in Wednesday victory at Wheaton, has averaged 16.0 points and 5.8 rebounds over the last four games.
• The Beavers, who lead the conference in rebounding margin, are now 16-1 on the year when outrebounding their opponents.
• Babson is 12-2 this season when forcing 18 or more turnovers, and 12-1 when outscoring its foes at the free throw line.