Springfield, Mass. – February 11, 2010 – The Springfield College women’s basketball team rattled off its fifth-straight victory as it took down Coast Guard, 75-56, in a New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) contest on Wednesday evening. Amelia Sapowsky notched a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds in the win for the Pride.
With the win, Springfield ups its overall record to 13-9, and 11-4 in league play. Coast Guard falls to 5-15 overall, and 3-12 in the conference. The Pride has now won nine of its last 10 games, and is in second place in the NEWMAC.
Sapowsky, a junior center from Ware, Mass., had a fine game for SC. Besides her 12 points and 10 rebounds, she also had three assists, three blocks, and three steals, and was 6-of-12 from the floor. She was, however, just one of four Springfield players who scored in double figures. The others were junior guard Abby Connors (Douglas, Mass.) with a team-high 15 points, freshman guard Meghan Biondolillo (Levittown, N.Y.) with 12 points (including 4-of-6 from the floor and 4-of-5 from 3-point range), and sophomore guard Kelly Murphy (Mechanicville, N.Y.) with 10 points. Sophomore forward Kelly Slattery (Somers, Conn.) had seven points, and was 3-of-4 from the floor.
Coast Guard, as usual, was led by senior forward Melissa Martinelli (Vero Beach, Fla.) with a game-high 24 points. The league’s leading scorer, Martinelli was the only Bears’ player in double figures. Scoring nine points was senior guard Sabrina Taylor (Lake Worth, Fla.). Scoring six each were freshman guard Karli Collins (Delavan, Wisc.) and junior guard Jessica Anderson (Schoolcraft, Mich.).
The Pride shot an even .500 from the field (31-of-62), while Coast Guard shot .388 (19-of-49). The Bears outrebounded the Pride, 36-28. But a big difference came in the turnover category. SC had just 11, while forcing 22. SC also had 13 steals to just four for Coast Guard.
Springfield never trailed in this game. Biondolillo, who hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to win a game at Wheaton (59-56) last Saturday, began this game right where she left off, draining a three to give SC a lead 16 seconds into the contest. Coast Guard would get as close as one point (9-8) on a Martinelli lay-up with 14:08 remaining. But Springfield outscored the Bears, 21-13, the rest of the half to take a 30-21 lead at the intermission. A lay-up by Slattery with six seconds left upped the margin to nine.
In the second half, Coast Guard twice cut the lead to seven points, the last (35-28) on a lay-by Martinelli with 17:00 to go. But in the next 3:47, SC outscored Coast Guard, 16-4, to make it a more comfortable advantage. Biondolillo and Connors each had 3-pointers in that run, and SC led 51-32 with 13:13 left. SC would eventually lead by as many as 25 points (72-47) on a 3-pointer by freshman reserve guard Colleen Dignum (Albany, N.Y.) with 3:50 to go.
The Pride will play its final regular-season home game of the campaign when it hosts Clark on Saturday (Feb. 13) at 1:00 pm. It will be Breast Cancer Awareness Day, as well as National Girls and Women in Sports Day on the SC campus.
