NEW LONDON, Conn. –
With a nine game winning streak on the line, Coast Guard secured a 69-58 victory over Baruch for their 9th straight. With the loss, the Baruch Bearcats fell to 3-8 on the season. They will next travel to Brooklyn College on January 8th at 5:00 PM.
In the first half, CGA and Baruch traded blows in a back and forth affair. Despite holding leads for stretches of time in both the 1st and 2nd quarters, CGA trailed at the half 27-31. Late in the third quarter, Baruch appeared on the verge of pulling ahead out of Coast Guard's reach. The Bearcats led by as many as 10 but CGA chipped away and held the deficit to seven going into the final quarter.
In the 4th, the Bears came out firing on all cylinders. After going 1/15 as a team in the first three quarters, Farrah Peterein(Crofton, MD) started out the 4th by draining a three pointer to turn around their fortunes. Just over one minute later, trailing by six, freshman guard Elliot Geer(Grove, OK) made a gutsy play to get her own rebound in a crowd of Baruch defenders. Geer then found an open Peterein who cut the Bearcat lead to just three with her second clutch three pointer early in the quarter. After a stop on defense the Bears would tie the score for the first time since the 2nd quarter on a three from Taylor Lynch(Madison, IN).
With the defense finally clicking, Coast Guard stopped the Baruch offense on their next two possessions and with 5:30 remaining on the clock, Julia Mann(Central Square, NY) found fellow senior Kelly Hagerty(Emerald Isle, NC) under the hoop who made a layup to take the lead for the Bears, their first of the half.
With four minutes left in the game, Glory Blethen(Boothbay, ME) put on a defensive clinic to keep the Bears in the lead. On back to back possessions the standout senior forward drew an offensive foul and blocked a Baruch shot. The block for Blethen, the 135th of her career, has tied her for the most in Coast Guard history. Glory would leave her mark on offense as well with a clutch driving layup with 2:20 remaining. With time running down, Julia Mann and Taylor Lynch each sunk all of their free throws to seal the game for the Bears.
On the game, CGA was led by their veterans. Julia Mann was dominant on the boards with a career high 19 rebounds. Kelly Hagerty was just behind her with 12. Mann led the way to a dominant team performance on the glass, outrebounding Baruch 58-32. All three seniors were in double figures, Glory Blethen led the team with 19, followed by Julia Mann(13), Kelly Hagerty(12), and junior Taylor Lynch(11). Lynch led the way in assists with nine, falling just short of a double-double.
Coast Guard will open up 2025 looking for their 10th win in a row with a home game vs Albright on January 4th at 1:00 PM.
