Bears Maul Mariners In Cross-Town Basketball Matchup

The maintained a perfect record in a pairing with opponents from across town on Monday, defeating to earn their third win of the season. The following information was provided by David Longolucco, sports information director at Mitchell College:

Sophomore Kaitlin Ward (Saline, Mich./Saline) had career-highs with 26 points and 15 rebounds to go with six assists as Coast Guard remained unbeaten with an 84-38 win at Mitchell College in a non-conference women’s basketball game between the two New London schools.

Coast Guard, which won just three games last season and finished 3-21 overall, improved to 3-0 on the season. Mitchell dropped to 1-3 on the young season.

The game was tied at 8-8 over the first six minutes before freshman Alexi Howland’s (Latham, N.Y./Central Catholic) three-pointer gave Coast Guard the lead for good at 11-8 with 13:27 left in the first half.

Mitchell freshman Sheanna James’ (Waterbury, Conn./Kaynor Tech) bucket with 8:45 left in the first half cut the deficit to 15-14, but that would be the final field goal of the half for the Mariners. Coast Guard scored 13 straight points and pumped its lead to 28-14 with 2:39 left. The Mariners would add a pair of free throws by senior Bianca Young (Bridgeport, Conn./Kolbe Cathedral) with 1:09 left and Coast Guard led 28-16 at the break.

Ward, who earlier in the day was named the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Player of the Week, scored Coast Guard’s first six points of the game. She also had six more in the 13-0 first half run as she recorded her third career double-double.

Coast Guard took control of the game fairly early in the second half behind an 11-2 run, turning a 37-22 lead with 17:06 left into a 48-24 bulge with 13:31 remaining.

Freshman Dani Knox (Centreville, Mass./Westfield), who had the first double-double of her career, finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds establishing career-highs in both.

Freshman Brittney Zimmerman (Lewiston, Pa./Delaware Valley College) was also in double figures for Coast Guard as she finished with 16 points to go with eight rebounds and a game-high nine assists while classmate Alexi Howland (Latham, N.Y./Central Catholic) finished with a career-high 11 points to go with six assists. Coast Guard shot 46.7 percent from the floor and made eight of 24 from three-point range.

The Mariners finished the game 12-for-54 from the floor (22.2 percent) while missing all 11 attempts from behind the arc. Young led the team with 14 points and was a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line while James finished with 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds.

Mitchell will next play at Saint Joseph College on Thursday, December 1 at 7 p.m. Coast Guard returns to action at home against Curry College on Monday, November 28 at 7 p.m.