SOUTH HADLEY, MASS. – Coast Guard Academy knocked down 11 three-pointers to lift the Bears to an 87-41 victory over the Mount Holyoke College basketball team in the regular season finale on Saturday. The Bears improve to 10-14 overall and 7-8 in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC), while MHC drops to 2-21 overall and 0-15 in the conference.
For the Bears, four starters and two bench players scored in double-figures, led by junior forward Gill Gerton (Lorton, Va./Bishop Dennis J. O'Connell), who had a near triple-double with 15 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists. Classmate Jill Bray (Glastonbury, Conn./East Catholic) notched 12 points and eight assists, while sophomore guard Micaela Martineli (Vero Beach, Fla./Vero Beach) posted 10 points and seven boards. Senior Amanda Roy (Stonington, Conn./Stonington) came off the bench for 14 points, while first year Laura Irish (Boise, Idaho/Boise) had 12.
For MHC, senior captain Xajaah Williams-Flores (The Bronx, N.Y./Holderness School) led the team with a near double-double, scoring eight points and 10 rebounds. Williams-Flores averaged 10.2 rebounds for the regular season. First year guard Kathryn Violette (Yokosuka City, Japan/Yokohama International School) also had a strong game with nine points, while sophomore Leah Hodges (New Haven, Conn./Kolbe Cathedral) and junior Genisis DiCarlo (Sullivan, Maine/Sumner Memorial) each had eight.
The Bears started the game on a 7-0 run, ignited by a three-pointer from Martinelli on the first possession of the game. Hodges (New Haven, Conn./Kolbe Cathedral) stopped the run with a jumper, but two back-to-back treys from Coast Guard gave the Bears a 13-2 advantage. The Lyons came to within eight points after Violette hit a jumper, but five points from Roy in the last 2:29 helped CGA to a 24-11 lead after one.
To open the second, the Bears went on a 10-0 run highlighted by Roy's second three of the game. With 3:03 on the clock, Hodges stole the ball and fed senior forward Julia McConnel (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) for the three to cut the deficit to 34-14. CGA countered with six straight points from Bray to bump the lead back up to 40-16. Williams-Flores connected on a layup after a beautiful pass from Viollete with 1:18 to go, but Roy hit another three to push it to 43-18 going into the half.
The Bears continued its momentum in the second half, getting out on a 10-0 run, but Violette knocked down a jumper off of a Hodges feed to make it 55-22. The Bears went on to score 16 points in the last five minutes of the stanza to take a 69-26 lead heading into the fourth.
MHC came out with four straight points to begin the quarter after DiCarlo and Hodges connected on back-to-back buckets in the first minute. The Lyons capitalized on its momentum with a 10-4 run, powered by a steal and six points from DiCarlo to make it 75-36. Sophomore forward Michaela Butin (Beverly, Mass./The Waring School) hit a jumper with 2:07 to go, but five late points from Irish completed the victory for the Bears.
