HomeBasketball (W) Women's Basketball - Bears Secure Playoff Spot With OT Win
Women's Basketball - Bears Secure Playoff Spot With OT Win
Sabrina Taylor had a career-high 16 points in the overtime win.
SOUTH HADLEY, MASS.--(2/18/09)--Junior Melissa Martinelli had a game-high 26 points and Coast Guard shot a season-high 53.3 percent from the floor and made nine of 12 from 3-point range to beat Mount Holyoke 73-66 in overtime in a New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) game.
Coast Guard (5-19, 4-8) clinched a spot in the NEWMAC Tournament and snapped a four-game losing streak with the win.
Junior Sabrina Taylor had a career-high 16 points and team-high five assist, as she connected on four of five from behind the arc while classmate Leslie Hunt finished with 10 points. Senior Chanel Lee had a team-high nine rebounds.
Mount Holyoke junior Katie Shafir hit a 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime. Mount Holyoke was just one of 15 from 3-point range before Shafir’s game tying hoop.
The Bears had taken a six point lead at 60-54 with 2:25 left in regulation on a pair of free throws by Martinelli.
Sophomore Allison Majcher scored the first bucket of the extra period with 3:58 left, the Bears never looked back. Martinelli's 3-point play just 27 seconds later after a steal by Taylor made it 65-60.
Lee knocked down a pair of free throws with 50 seconds left for a 69-63 lead before Taylor made one of two from the line with 33 seconds left to ice the game.
Coast Guard came out on fire hitting its first six shots from the floor, including four from 3-point range to build a 16-10 lead with 11:40 left in the first half. Taylor knocked down three 3-pointers in that stretch and she was four-for-four from 3-point range in the first half to lead the way with 13 points in the first 20 minutes.
Mount Holyoke used an 11-0 first half run turning a 20-16 deficit with 9:24 left into a 27-20 lead with 5:43 left in the half.
The Bears shot 55.6 percent in the first half 10 of 18 while making all five from 3-point range while Mount Holyoke shot and equally impressive 53.3 percent from the field (16 of 30) while connecting on one of four from behind the arc.
Shafir led the Lyons (7-17, 4-8) with 20 points while senior Katie Austen added 17 points and five assists.
