The Springfield College women's basketball team battled past Coast Guard, 76-60, in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship Quarterfinals on Wednesday night in Blake Arena. 

Springfield, the No. 3 seed in the tournament, is now 22-3 on the season and will head to No. 2 Babson for a semifinal showdown on Friday.  Coast Guard, seeded sixth, had its season come to a close with a 13-11 record.

The Pride, who is appearing in a pair of national polls and is ranked as high as  No. 18 in the latest Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division III National Coaches Poll, was paced by the tremendous play from the tandem of Sam Hourihan (Bridgewater, Mass.) and Angela Czeremcha (West Springfield, Mass.), who combined for 40 points and 28 boards.  Hourihan netted a game-high 24 points and Czeremcha poured in 16 off the bench as each grabbed 14 rebounds, with their combined total nearly matching Coast Guard's entire rebound mark of 34.   Rachel Vinton (Rutland, Mass.) added 11 points and Stephanie Lyons (Boston, Mass.) handed out six assists as Springfield totaled 23 helpers on 28 made baskets. 

Springfield shot 28-for-68 (41%) from the floor, but was 10-of-18 (56%) from beyond the arc, including 8-of-12 in the second half.  Coast Guard was 23-for-70 (33%) from the field in the game and only committed five turnovers.  For the Bears, Kira Wood registered a team-best 15 points, and both Emma Puddington and Krya Hartman added 11 points.  

A triple from Ward on the right wing gave the visitors a 7-3 advantage at the 6:45 mark of the opening quarter, but the Pride would take a 9-7 lead when Czeremcha finished inside with 4:02 on the clock. Czeremcha would score the final three points of the quarter to give the Pride an 16-13 advantage. 

After Puddington canned a trifecta for the visitors at 7:54 to make it an 18-18 contest, Springfield rattled off a 12-3 burst that was capped off by a pair of freebies from Vinton with 4:10 left in the half.  Springfield would later take its largest lead of the frame at 35-25 with Vinton cashed in on a triple from the corner at 1:09 and the Pride would later head into the halftime break leading 37-27 after Czeremcha knocked down a jumper at the horn.  The Pride controlled the paint in the opening 20 minutes of play, holding a 20-8 scoring advantage and held a 28-16 edge on the glass. 

A bucket from Sidney Wentland (Elk, River, Minn.) on Springfield's first possession of the third pushed the hosts lead to 39-27, but the visitors responded with a 10-3 surge to pull within 42-37 at 6:21 following a free throw by Hartman.  Hourihan answered right back with a deep triple for Springfield to stem the tide and the hosts would later get back-to-back three's from Grace Dzindolet (Holliston, Mass.) and Hourihan to force the Bears into a timeout trailing 57-43 with 2:39 on the clock. 

In the fourth, Dzindolet buried a triple from the top of the key to make it a 65-50 game with 8:44 left in regulation. The Bears would get no closer than 12 points as Czeremcha knocked down consecutive jumpers in the lane with 4:09 to push the lead to 71-55 as the visitors called for another timeout. Hourihan drilled another three-pointer inside the final minute to make it an 18-point game and Springfield would later advance to the semifinals with a 76-60 victory.