NEW LONDON, Conn.  -  Coast Guard women's basketball was defeated by visiting WPI, 44-65, in a in tale of two shooting performances for those involved. Coast Guard shot 16-for-55 (29.1%), their second-lowest percentage of the season, while the Engineers went 25-for-47 (45.6%), their second-highest rate in a NEWMAC game this year.

The Bears move to 15-8 (4-5 NEWMAC), while WPI improves to 10-13 (3-6 NEWMAC). The win moves the Engineers closer to the NEWMAC playoff picture, as they now find themselves in a four-way fight against Clark (Mass.), Wellesley, and Wheaton (Mass.) for the eighth and final seed of the conference tournament. WPI will face the Blue (8-14, 3-6 NEWMAC) on Wednesday, February 19th, as both teams look to further secure their place in the postseason.

It was a close one at halftime with Coast Guard trailing their guests, 25-30. WPI had shot 11-for-26 (42.3%) while the Bears were going 9-for-30 (30.0%), but despite the clear shooting differentials neither team had an upper hand up to that point. Coast Guard held advantages in rebounding (20-17) and points off of turnovers (12-7), while the Engineers were outperforming in paint scoring (14-10) and bench production (11-1).

The duo of senior captains Kelly Hagerty (Emerald Isle, N.C.) and Glory Blethen (Boothbay, Maine) led the home team through the first 20 minutes of play; Hagerty had eight points while Blethen had six. The pair outsized the majority of WPI's roster and utilized their respective heights to fuel the majority of Coast Guard's out-rebounding efforts in the half, with 6-foot-even Hagerty pulling down four and the 6-foot-2 Blethen grabbing a then-game-high of eight. WPI's scoring leader at the break was sophomore guard Ava Giansiracusa (Wethersfield, Conn.), who had contributed 11 points for the Engineers.

Coast Guard was unable to turn it around in the second half as WPI outscored their hosts by a 35-19 margin to put the game away. The Engineers shot a cool 15-for-31 (48.3%) while the Bears' struggles continued in the form of a 7-for-25 (28.0%) rate. The guests also overcame the height difference to finish with more rebounds (39-34) and points in the paint (34-18). WPI's bench scoring success also carried over to outplay Coast Guard's, 22-9.

Hagerty finished the game with 11 points, tying with junior guard Dorothy Stotts (Edina, Minn.) for the team lead in points; the senior also ended up with five rebounds and a block, while the junior added two steals to her line. Blethen's point total was eight, alongside a game-high ten rebounds and a team-high three assists. Fellow senior captain Julia Mann (Central Square, N.Y.) wasn't too far behind Blethen on the boards, pulling down eight rebounds herself, while freshman Olivia Wright (Midlothian, Va.) continued showing flashes with a bench-high seven points.

Giansiracusa led WPI with a game-high 22 points (9-15 FG, 1-3 3PT, 3-3 FT) off the bench. She tied graduate student forward Alice Kelly (Wethersfield, Conn.) with a team-high seven rebounds, while Kelly was second in scoring with 16. Junior forward Megan Stone (Hanson, Mass.) contributed 15 points while sophomore guard Emmy Allyn (Rutland, Mass.) had two steals and three blocks.

The Bears currently have sole possession of the NEWMAC's seventh seed, but they'll look to move a little higher on Wednesday as they travel to Salve Regina (12-10, 5-4 NEWMAC). The Seahawks are the current sixth-seed; a win for Coast Guard would give both teams the same in-conference record, but the Bears would earn seed priority due to a head-to-head victory. Coast Guard welcomed Salve to the NEWMAC last season with a 93-72 victory, in which Blethen posted 20 points and Stotts served up a career-high nine assists.