United States Coast Guard Academy - Department of Athletics - Women's Basketball - Clark Wins, but Coast Guard Makes Tourney

WORCESTER, MASS.--(2/20/10)--Behind a balanced scoring attack that only one player reached double figures, Clark cruised to a season-ending 58-47 win over visiting Coast Guard in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) game, the regular season finale.

Clark and Coast Guard finished tied for eighth place with 4-14 conference records, but despite the loss today the Bears did qualify for the conference tournament thanks to a MIT win over Smith giving the Bears the tiebreaker over the Cougars for the eighth and final tournament spot.

Eighth-seeded Coast Guard will play at top-seeded Babson on Wednesday night, the Beavers went a perfect 18-0 in conference play during the regular season.

Clark came out firing, making 50 percent of their first half shots, including a 6-for-10 performance from behind the arc.

As the clock wound down in the first half, Clark led by as many as 19, as the defense held the Bears to 27 percent shooting and forced 11 turnovers in the opening stanza.

Things changed in the second half, as the Bears outscored the Cougars 24-18, with most of those points coming from senior Melissa Martinelli, who had 14 of her game-high 20 points and all 13 of her rebounds in the final 20 minutes after getting in foul trouble with three first half fouls.

Freshman Karli Collins added six points and 11 rebounds in the loss for the Bears.

Coast Guard got the Clark lead down to ten on a few occasions in the second half, but never got closer as Cougars picked up their fifth win of the season.

Ivori Aiken led the Cougars with 11 points off the bench in just 16 minutes.