MONS, Belgium  -  Former Coast Guard Academy basketball standouts Noah Baldez '20 and Kira Wood '24 represented the United States in this year's SHAPE International Basketball Tournament, which tipped-off on November 29th and wrapped up last Saturday, December 7th.

The tournament is an annual event organized in conjunction with Supreme Headquarters Allied Power Europe (SHAPE), which serves as the military headquarters of NATO's Allied Command Operations. Competing teams are comprised of military members from qualifying NATO-affiliated nations. Baldez and Wood were selected for their respective teams after their strong showings at the Armed Forces Basketball Championships back in early October.

Baldez and the men's team won their first two games of the tournament by large margins, defeating the Netherlands, 73-39, and then Germany, 129-65. The two wins gave them automatic qualification to the semifinals, where they defeated Lithuania, 103-91. USA would then defeat France in the final, 98-87, their smallest margin of victory in the event.

Baldez was an excellent two-way player during his time at Coast Guard, where he was a NEWMAC Second Team All-Conference pick for the 2018-19 season. He helped lead the Bears to become three-time NEWMAC champions during the 2019-20 season, their first season at the top of the conference since 2007-08. Baldez averaged 19.3 points per game during the fifth-seeded Bears' tournament run, which culminated in an 89-86 overtime upset at second-seed WPI.

Wood and the women's team were also superb in their first games of the tournament, handling Germany (100-30), Lithuania (128-22), and France (85-29) to earn the auto-bid to the semifinal. They kept rolling, defeating Latvia by a score of 122-44, and defeated France again in the final, 85-52. Wood was tabbed MVP of the women's bracket for her efforts.

Wood, an offensive force for Coast Guard back in the day, was tabbed MVP of the women's bracket for her outstanding play. She was a NEWMAC Second Team All-Conference selection as a senior during the 2023-24 season and ended her collegiate career as ninth in program history in points (1,084), fourth in three-pointers made (198), and sixth in points-per-game (13.6).