Springfield, Mass. – January 13, 2011 – Kelly Slattery scored 14 points to lead her Springfield College women’s basketball team to a 58-32 victory over the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in a New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference game this evening at SC’s Blake Arena.
With the win, the Pride is now 5-9 overall, 5-2 in conference play. Coast Guard is 2-10 overall, 0-7 in the NEWMAC.
Of 11 Springfield College competitors who played tonight, 10 scored at least three points. The Pride forced 28 Coast Guard turnovers, and garnered 22 steals as a result.
Slattery, a junior forward from Somers, Conn., tallied 14 points. She was also credited with three rebounds and two steals, while shooting 6-of-10 from the floor. SC’s second-leading scorer was junior forward Sara Plocharsky (Bristol, Conn.) with seven points. She also had three rebounds, four steals, and two assists. She was 3-of-4 from the field, including 1-of-1 from 3-point range.
Others who played well for SC included junior guard Andrea Butler (Cohoes, N.Y.) and freshman forward Tamara Tribble (White Plains, N.Y.) with six points apiece. Butler also had a team-leading five steals and four assists. Tribble also had a team-leading seven rebounds, two steals, and one assist.
For Coast Guard, freshman guard Kaitlin Ward (Saline, Mich.) finished with a game-high 16 points. She also had four rebounds and four steals. Freshman forward Larla Brown (Kingwood, Tex.) followed with five points and six rebounds. Freshman forward Alexa Hunko (Glen Rock, N.J.) had two points and a team-best seven rebounds.
The Pride opened up an early nine-point advantage after Slattery converted inside to make it 15-6 in favor of the hosts with 12:34 on the clock. Over the next three minutes, the Bears responded with the game’s next five points, capped off by a Ward three-pointer, to make it a four-point game, 15-11. From there, Springfield closed out the opening half on an 11-3 run as it snagged a 24-16 advantage heading into the locker room. A fast-break bucket by senior guard Abby Connors (Douglas, Mass.) with 44 seconds remaining gave Springfield its largest lead of the half, a 12-point cushion.
Slattery netted 10 points in the first half, as did Ward. Coast Guard turned the ball over 13 times, which the Pride promptly turned into 10 points.
In the second half, Coast Guard cut the lead to 12 at 36-24 with 10:26 remaining on a bucket by Hunko. But Springfield over the next 2:09 scored 11 straight points to take a 47-24 advantage. The run began with a Plocharsky 3-pointer. It was followed by two free throws by senior guard Rachelle Walker (Lee, Mass.), a lay-up by Tribble, a steal and lay-up by junior guard Kelly Murphy (Mechanicville, N.Y.), and another jumper by Plocharsky.
The Pride eventually led by as many as 28 points (58-30) with just under a minute on a lay-up by sophomore guard Colleen Dignum (Albany, N.Y.).
Springfield shot .410 from the floor for the game, while Coast Guard shot .265. The Bears outrebounded SC, 41-37. Springfield finished with 15 assists in 25 baskets.
The Pride will hit the road for another conference clash on Saturday when it takes on Clark in Worcester at 1:00 pm.
