KINGS POINT, N.Y. – Sophomore Sarah Milafsky came off the bench and had all 17 of her team-high 17 points in the second quarter leading Merchant Marine to a 59-43 win over Coast Guard in a non-conference game.

Coast Guard was playing without its leading scorer senior Meghan Fornaro, who leads the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) with 19.5 points per game, who was out with an illness.

Merchant Marine improves to 7-9 on the season while the Bears drop to 8-7 overall. With the win the Mariners now trail the Bears 7-5 in the Superintendent's Trophy standings for the year.

Milafsky's previous career-high was 13 points before she scored the team's first 17 points of the quarter and knocked down five 3-pointers in the second quarter as the Mariners took control of the game.

Senior Torie Sutherland had 16 of her game-high 18 points in the second half, to go with seven rebounds while sophomore Jill Bray added seven points. Sophomore Gill Gerton had a team-high nine rebounds.

Sutherland had all 11 of the Bears points in the fourth quarter before fouling out with 2:32 left.

Sophomore Tichina Carmon had a double-double for Merchant Marine finishing with 11 points and 13 rebounds.

Coast Guard made just one of its first eight field goals as the Mariners raced to an 11-2 lead with 3:24 left in the first quarter. Merchant Marine led 15-6 after one as the Bears were just 3 of 15 from the floor and turned it over eight times.

Bray would hit a 3-pointer in the first minute of the second quarter cutting the deficit to 15-9 before Milafsky took the quarter over scoring the first 17 Mariner points of the quarter.

Milafsky would hit her fifth trey of the quarter as the Mariners pushed the lead to 29-16 with 3:17 left. Merchant Marine shot 53.6 percent (15-28) in the first half including 6 of 10 from behind the arc and led 36-18 at the break.

The Mariners led 43-23 with 3:13 left in the third quarter before the Bears scored nine straight capped on a steal and layup by freshman Kristina Bynum cutting the deficit to 43-32 with 41 seconds left in the third quarter. Merchant Marine would score the final five points in the third quarter, all from the foul line, to lead 48-32 after three.

Coast Guard shot just 27 percent from the field (17-63) including 2 of 13 from 3-point range while the Mariners shot 42.6 percent from the floor (20-47) making 6 of 13 from behind the arc.

Merchant Marine held a 45-32 edge on the boards in the win.

The Bears are back in action on Saturday at Babson in a NEWMAC game beginning at 3:00.