United States Coast Guard Academy - Department of Athletics - Women's Basketball - Bears Set Single-Season Record with 17th Win

NEW LONDON, CONN.--(2/9/08)--Senior Natalie Moyer had 23 points while sophomore Melissa Martinelli added 21 points as Coast Guard set the single-season school record for wins and handed Wheaton its first conference loss of the season, pulling into a first place tie in the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) with the Lyons as the Bears posted a 76-61 win.

Coast Guard, which made a season-high 11 three-point field goals and shot a season-high 44 percent (11-25) from 3-point range, and Wheaton are now tied for first in the conference with 8-1 records. The Bears, who won their third straight and now hold the tiebreaker over the Lyons, are now 17-3 overall while Wheaton, had its four-game winning streak snapped and drops to 15-6.

The Bears totally dominated the first half as they shot 50 percent from the field and 3-point range, knocking down 14 of 28 overall and eight of 16 from 3-point range. Wheaton was 9 for 25 (36 %) in the first half.

Wheaton junior Krystin Hickey hit a 3-pointer with 10:32 left in the first half to cut the Bears lead to 21-13, but Coast Guard responded with a 14-2 spurt to take a commanding 35-15 lead with 6:05 left.

Freshman Jennifer Tamminen had half of the 14 points in the run while senior Corinne McCormack had five points in the spurt. Coast Guard led 45-25 at halftime.

Coast Guard was never challenged in the second half as the Bears used a 7-0 run, the final four by Martinelli to take a 52-27 lead with 18:04 left. Wheaton would get as close at 12 at 71-59 on a basket by Hickey with 2:16 left.

McCormack tied her season-high with 15 points to go with a game-high six assists while Tamminen added 12 points for Coast Guard.

Junior Bri Smith and classmate Krystin Hickey led the Lyons with 13 points each while sophomore Jenny Champney added 11 points in the loss.

The Bears shot 46.2 percent from the floor (24-52) while the Lyons finished at 37.7 percent (20-53).

The Coast Guard single-season school record of 16 wins was held by both the 2001-’02 team and the 2002-’03 team.