NEW LONDON, Conn. – Senior Giovanna Pickering had 18 of her game-high 29 points in the second half and Babson used a pair of fourth quarter runs to hold off upset minded Coast Guard 68-56 in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) game.

The Beavers improve to 12-2 overall and a perfect 6-0 in the NEWMAC while the Bears drop to 2-11 overall and 0-5 in conference play.

Coast Guard took a 45-44 lead on a layup by junior Gill Gerton with 8:50 left before Babson scored 12 straight taking a 56-45 lead capped on a 3-pointer by Pickering with 5:06 left in the game.

The Bears would  not go away just yet responding with a 10-2 spurt cutting the deficit to 58-55 following a 3-pointer by Zoe Riis-Fallica with 2:32 left.

Pickering made a pair of free throws with 1:09 left pushing the lead to 62-56 and added two more with 44 seconds left for a 64-56 lead as the Beavers used a 10-1 run to ice the game.

Senior Jennifer Narlee added 11 points to with team-highs of nine rebounds, six steals and five assists in the win while classmate Taylor Russell added ten points for the Beavers.

Sophomore Micalea Martinelli had a career-high 16 points and a team-high six rebounds as she hit 5 of 8 from 3-point range while junior Jill Bray finished with 15 points.  Riis-Fallica was 3 of 5 from behind the arc for nine points to go with a career-high eight assists for Coast Guard.

The Bears had their best shooting night of the season hitting 21 of 44 from the field (47.7 percent) while making a season-high 50 percent from 3-point range (9-18). Coast Guard did however turn the ball over a season-high 36 times and the Beavers scored 37 points off of the turnovers.

Babson shot 39.7 percent (23-58) while making 6 of 13 from 3-point range.

The Beavers jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the first four minutes of the game before Coast Guard outscored Babson 7-2 the rest of the quarter to trail 11-7 after one.

Babson took its largest lead of the half 25-14 on a 3-pointer by Russell with 2:37 left in the half, but the Bears used and 8-3 spurt to end the half and trailed 30-25 at halftime.

Coast Guard is back in action on Saturday at Smith with tip set for 2:00.