New London, CT --- Junior Gill Gerton (Lorton, VA) led all scorers with 15 points while sophomore Micaela Martinelli (Vero Beach, FL) added 14 points and eight rebounds as Coast Guard won its fourth straight and snapped WPI's seven-game winning streak upsetting the Engineers 54-50 in a NEWMAC.
Gerton and Martinelli did most of their damage in the second half as the duo had 21 of their 29 points after halftime. Martinelli had 11 second half points while Gerton added ten.
Coast Guard improves to 7-13 overall and 5-7 in conference play while WPI is now 18-3 overall and 10-2 in the NEWMAC.
Martinelli was 5 for 6 from the floor including 3 of 4 from 3-point range as the Bears shot 39.3 percent (22-56) including 6 of 21 behind the arc. Freshman Breanna Wood (Somerset, MA) added eight points and 11 rebounds in the win for Coast Guard.
Junior Madison Beck (Syracuse, NY) had a team-high 14 points and eight rebounds off the bench for WPI while junior Ama Biney (Worcester, MA) added 11 points and senior Priscilla Dunphy (Barrington, RI) also had a team-high eight rebounds for the Engineers.
The Bears jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the first five minutes of play before WPI used a 11-2 run to take a 13-9 lead with 1:04 left in the opening quarter. WPI led 13-12 after the first quarter.
Coast Guard led by as many as four twice in the second quarter and the Bears led 24-23 at halftime.
Senior Sarah Rogers (Colchester, CT) scored the first hoop of the second half for WPI before the Bears ran off eight straight, the last five by Gerton, to take a 32-25 lead with 5:52 left in the third quarter following a 3-pointer by Gerton.
WPI would respond with 12 straight points, six of those by Beck, as the Engineers took their largest lead of the game 37-32 with 15 seconds left in the third quarter
Coast Guard would pull even on a 3-pointer by freshman Zoe Riis-Fallica (Patchogue, NY) to tie the game 41-41 with 5:38 left.
WPI led 44-41 before and old fashion 3-point play by Martinelli pulled the Bears even 44-44 with 4:37 remaining in the game. Martinelli would give the Bears the lead 46-44 with 3:53 left before Biney tied it 46-46 on a layup with 3:45 left.
The Bears took the lead for good 49-46 on a 3-pointer by Martinelli with 2:59 left before Rogers bucket made it 49-48 with 2:47 left.
Wood's layup with 1:27 left pushed the Coast Guard lead to 51-48. Junior Jill Bray (Glastonbury, CT) made a pair of free throws with 51 second left before Gerton made one of two free throws with 18 seconds left to ice the game.
WPI shot 35.2 percent from the floor (19-54) while making 2 of 8 from 3-point range. Coast Guard held a 42-33 advantage on the glass.
The Bears are back in action at Wheaton on Wednesday night in a NEWMAC game at 7:00. WPI heads to Springfield at the same time Wednesday.
Release Courtesy Coast Guard Sports Information