NORTON, Mass. – The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's basketball team fell short in a comeback bid in a 57-53 loss to visiting United States Coast Guard Academy this afternoon to open the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference slate at Emerson Gymnasium on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons slip to 4-11 overall and 0-1 in NEWMAC play, while the Bears improve to 12-3 and 1-0.
Coast Guard shot 34.9% (22-63) from the floor, but limited Wheaton to just 28.8% (19-66) from the field. The Lyons rebounding effort kept them in the game with 17 offensive boards that translated into a 14-6 advantage in second chance points. The home team held a 45-44 edge on the glass for the game.
Junior forward Regan Keyter (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) led Wheaton with 11 points to go six rebounds, while junior forward Nasha Arnold (North Reading, Mass.) contributed with 10 points, eight rebounds, three steals and an assist. Sophomore guard Mary McClintock (Essex Junction, Vt.) pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds in addition to netting seven points, handing out two assists and coming up with a steal.
Junior guard Dorothy Stotts (Edina, Minn.) netted 17 points to lead the Bears and added four assists, while senior forward Glory Blethen (Boothbay, Maine) posted her third double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds to go with three assists and a steal.
Junior guard Kiki Walters (Fleetwood, Pa.) completed a three-point play with a free throw to pull the Lyons even at 42-42 with 8:42 to play in the game. Coast Guard put together a 12-5 stretch over the next three-plus minutes, paced by five points each from Stott and Blethen, to give the Bears enough cushion at 54-47 to stand up for the victory. Wheaton ripped off six straight points, including a layup from Minos to cut the deficit to 54-53 with 1:42 remaining in the fourth quarter. It was as close as the Lyons would get, despite owning the ball multiple times with a chance to tie or take the lead in the final 30 seconds of play. Coast Guard tallied the final three points of the game to secure the win.
Wheaton opened the game with an 8-2 advantage at the 5:58 mark, including four points from junior forward Regan Keyter (Highlands Ranch, Colo.). The Lyons maintained a 12-7 margin following a triple from Minos with 4:27 left in the first quarter. The Bears closed out the period with a 12-2 blitz, led by five points from first year guard Elliot Geer (Jay, Okla.), to take a 19-14 lead with 18 ticks remaining in the opening quarter.
Coast Guard increased its lead to 23-15 after a layup from senior forward Kelly Hagerty (Emerald Isle, N.C.) with 8:38 to go in the second quarter. Wheaton scored five unanswered points, capped by a three-pointer from McClintock, to close within 23-20 at the 7:05 mark of the quarter and Arnold later converted a three-point play with a free throw to keep the margin at one possession (26-23) with 5:40 remaining in the first half.
Blethen later made a layup to bump the Bears' advantage to 30-24 with four minutes left in the quarter and Stotts knocked down a jumper outside the paint to keep it a six-point Coast Guard lead at the intermission at 34-28.
The Bears netted the first four points of the third quarter to take their largest lead of the game at 38-28 with 7:37 showing on the third quarter clock. Junior guard Taylor Lynch (Madison, Ind.) later converted a layup to maintain a 40-30 cushion for the visitors with 6:51 to play in the quarter. The Lyons roared back with nine straight points, including back-to-back three-balls from sophomore forward Cheyenne Colbert (Brookline, N.H.), to cut the difference to just a point at 40-39 with 2:50 remaining in the third period of play. Senior guard Julia Mann (Central Square, N.Y.) ended the Wheaton flurry with a layup for Coast Guard for the final points of the quarter and a 42-39 lead for the Bears.
Coast Guard returns to play on January 22 when it hosts NEWMAC foe Springfield College at 7:00 p.m., while the Lyons head to South Hadley, Mass. on the same night to take on league rival Mount Holyoke College for a 7:00 p.m. tip.
