Box Score NEW LONDON, Conn. – Senior Meghan Fornaro had a career high 32 points and the Bears used a 27-2 run in the third quarter to break open a close game and beat Clark 75-61 in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action.
With the win Coast Guard improves to 13-9 overall and 9-4 in conference play. The Cougars fall to 5-18 on the season and 3-12 in the NEWMAC.
Fornaro had four rebounds, five assists and six steals to go with her 32 points. She recorded her 205th steal and 502nd making her the first player in school history with at least 500 field goals, 200 steals and 200 assists.
Sophomore Jill Bray had a career high 12 rebounds to go with nine points while senior Torie Sutherland recorded her 18th career double double and seventh of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Clark was led by sophomore Haley Wilder who had 12 points. Freshman Ogechi Ezemma just missed a double double with 10 points and nine rebounds.
The Bears jumped out to a five point lead in the first quarter at 20-15 with Fornaro scoring 11 of her 32 points in the period.
The Cougars climbed right back into the game, taking a three point lead at the 4:17 mark as freshman Kacey Legare took a pass from Sam O'Gara making the score 26-23.
Coast Guard however took a one point lead into the locker room at half with the score 32-31. Fornaro had 14 points at the half while Bray had seven.
The third quarter was dominated by the Bears as they used a 27-2 run to put the game out of reach with a 29 point lead going into the fourth at 59-33.
Clark out scored Coast Guard by 12 in the fourth quarter (28-12) but was not enough as the Bears closed out their tenth conference win of the season, 75-61. For the first time in school history Coast Guard has won at least ten conference games three seasons in a row. The only other team to win at least ten conference games one time was the 2007-08 team that went 25-5 overall and were Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) New England Champions.
The Bears were 27-68 (39.7%) from the floor and shot 18.8% (3-16) from three. Coast Guard dominated down low as they outscored the Cougars 40-24 in the paint and outrebounded them 52-43.
Clark shot 32.4% (22-68) overall and 6-24 (25%) from beyond the arc. The Cougars bench was able to outscore the Bear's reserves 17-10 but could not overcome a 27-12 difference in points off turnovers.
Coast Guard is back in action on Monday, February 15th when they travel to New Haven, Connecticut for a nonconference game against Albertus Magnus. Opening tip is 1:00 pm.
