NORTHAMPTON, Mass.  -  In tonight's first-round NEWMAC Tournament match-up, Coast Guard women's basketball did something many teams have been unable to do to top-seed no. 9/9 Smith College: make them sweat.

Despite a season-ending 62-70 loss, the eight-seed Bears dared to make the top-seed Pioneers, who outscore their opponents by 26.9 points on average, and their fans in Ainsworth Gymnasium think the New England powerhouse would be handed just their third loss of the 2024-25 campaign. Tonight's eight-point win for Smith was the third-smallest margin of victory this season for last year's national runners-up.

Smith moves on to the conference semifinals on Friday, in which they'll host Salve Regina (15-10, 7-4 NEWMAC). Salve pulled off the classic five-seed over four-seed upset against Emerson College in a 93-87 comeback victory tonight. The Seahawks have been firing on all cylinders as of late with a 5-1 record in their last six games; Smith blew out the upset hopefuls in the regular season, 88-33.

The Pioneers were off to a hot start with a game-opening 6-0 run, but Coast Guard would respond with a three-pointer by senior co-captain Julia Mann (Central Square N.Y.) and a floater by Taylor Lynch (Madison, Ind.) to make it a 6-5 game. The hosts would take it back, outscoring the Bears by a 12-6 margin to head into the next period with an 18-11 lead.

The second quarter saw Coast Guard get the Pioneer lead down to 26-21, but Smith would go on another run to outscore their guests, 10-2, to close out the half and enter the break ahead, 36-23. The Pioneers shot 16-for-32 (50.0%), while the Bears went 11-30 (36.7%); the hosts also held a 19-13 rebounding advantage and had just six turnovers to the Coast Guard's eight.

In the third quarter, the Bears were able to stay in step with the hosts by outscoring the Pioneers 16-15. Now down 39-51 at the start of the fourth, Coast Guard went on a 13-1 run to lead off the final session and make the home team and their fans clutch their pearls for seemingly the first time all night. The Bears tied it at 52, but Smith would regain control and clinch their advancement with an 18-10 closing run.

Dorothy Stotts (Edina, Minn.) led the effort with 20 points; the next-best was Mann, who nearly closed out her collegiate career with one more double-double on a 15-point, eight-rebound night alongside two blocks and a steal. Also in double-digits for Coast Guard was senior co-captain Kelly Hagerty (Emerald Isle, N.C.), who also had a near double-double with a ten-point, eight-board outing while also recording a block.

Ella Sylvester (Everett, Wash.) led Smith with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Another big supporter was Jane Loo (Saratoga, Calif.) with 16 points and two steals. Hannah Martin (North Andover, Mass.) also scored ten to hit double-digits.

A historic season for the Bears women's basketball program has come to an end. The team's 16 wins tie them with a few other historic teams for the third-most in a single season; among those wins was a defeat of Babson College, breaking an 11-game losing streak against the Beavers for their first win over the green-and-white since 2015.

In individual milestones, senior co-captain Glory Blethen (Boothbay, Maine) was crowned the program's all-time blocks leader, a record that is sure to stand for a long time following her graduation, while the junior Stotts joined the Bears' 1,000-point list as the 22nd woman to accomplish the feat.