Coast Guard Academy Sports Roundup

The Coast Guard Academy ended its basketball season on Saturday as the Bears dropped games against Babson College and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The Coast Guard also placed 15th in an indoor track championship. The following information was provided by Jason Southard, sports information director at the Coast Guard Academy:

Men's Basketball: Babson 78, Coast Guard 68

Junior Russell Braithwaite had 18 points while classmate Alex Rudolph added 15 points and eight rebounds leading Babson to a 78-68 win over Coast Guard in a New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) game, the final game of the season for the Bears.

Babson (13-12, 6-6) clinched the fourth seed with the win and will host a first round game in the NEWMAC tournament on Wednesday night. Coast Guard finishes the season 8-14 overall and 2-10 in league play.

Coast Guard led by as many as six in the first half, the last being a 26-20 lead with 7:11 left in the first half before the Beavers used a 12-2 run to take a 32-28 lead with 2:53 left in the half. Babson led 38-34 at halftime.

The Beavers never gave up the lead in the second half. Babson led 51-49 with 11:52 left before scoring six straight for a 57-49 edge with 9:26 remaining in game.

The Bears would only get as close as four at 59-55 with 7:01 left, but the Beavers used a three-pointer by sophomore Connor Boyen and layup by Braithwaite to push the lead to 64-55 with 5:35 left and they never looked back.

Freshman David Mack had nine points and a game-high 15 rebounds off the bench for Babson, which shot 43.1 percent from the floor (25-58) while making just three of 14 from three-point range.

Junior Greg Marshall had a game-high 19 points to lead Coast Guard while sophomore Kevin Sowers added 13 points and five rebounds. Trip Fernandes, Coast Guard’s only senior, had 11 points and a team-high six rebounds on Senior Day, the final game of his career.

The Bears shot 41.1 percent from the field (23-56) while making seven of 18 from behind the arc.

Babson outrebounded the Bears 40-28 in the win.

Women's Basketball: WPI 79, Coast Guard 44

Dani Davis scored 16 points while dishing out five assists and adding four steals as WPI punched its ticket to the NEWMAC conference playoffs by defeating Coast Guard 79-44 on Saturday afternoon in NEWMAC women’s basketball action at Harrington Auditorium.

WPI climbs to a 10-15 record, with an 8-10 mark in the NEWMAC conference standings. Coast Guard closes out its season with a 5-19 overall mark and 1-17 in conference.

The Engineers, who won six of their final seven games to tie Springfield for fifth in the 10-team loop, will be the sixth seed in next week’s tournament and will travel to third-seeded Clark in a quarterfinal contest on Wednesday at a time to be announced. The semifinals and championship games are slated for next Saturday and Sunday at Babson.

WPI’s defense was stellar in the opening minutes of the game, as Coast Guard shot 0-for-2 with six turnovers on its first eight possessions. The Engineers jumped out to a 14-3 lead including seven straight points from Davis. The Bears never threatened as the Engineer led by as much as 25 after a layup from Kelly Morgan with 3:16 remaining in the period put the hosts up 36-11. Coast Guard finished on a 7-2 run capped off by a layup by Kaitlin Ward. Going into halftime, WPI led 38-18.

Early in the second half, WPI’s Lauren Hannmann showed off her passing skills when she pulled down a defensive rebound and found a streaking Cindy Chelius for a fast break layup. The Crimson and Gray took a 57-25 lead when Baillie McNally hit a 3-pointer with 13:40 left in the game, capping an 11 point run. Later in the period, a pair of back-to-back layups from Sam Meyerhoff helped WPI to a 12-2 run, taking a 40-point advantage at 69-29, its largest lead of the game.

Playing in the final home game of her collegiate career, Hannmann poured in 11 points for the Engineers to go along with a game-high seven rebounds and five assists. Fellow senior McNally was perfect from the field and the line, finishing with 10 points and pulling down three boards.

Larla Brown was the bright spot for the Bears, scoring 10 points and pulling down a team-high five rebounds. Ward and Brittney Zimmerman each finished with 10 points with Zimmerman adding four assists and three steals.

Indoor Track

Sophomore Adam Scalesse broke his own facility record and won the 60 meter hurdles in 8.32 at the Division III New England Championships at Springfield College.

Sophomore Clay Kosack placed sixth in the heptathlon with 3,828 points to earn All-New England honors. In the heptathlon, he was second in the 1,000 meters (2:50.09), third in the pole vault (10 feet, 11.75 inches, fourth in the shot put throwing 35 feet, 3.75 inches, fifth in long jump (19 feet, 6.75 inches), and sixth in the 60 meters (7.59).

The Bears 4x400 relay team of freshmen Kelcey Smith, Ben Hannon, Joe Hill and Scalesse earned All-New England honors with a seventh place finish posting a time of 3:28.44.

Coast Guard finished 15th of the 24 teams.