Springfield, Mass. - January 18, 2020 - The Springfield College women's basketball team opened up New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play with a 80-69 victory over Coast Guard on Saturday afternoon at the Alumni Health and Living Center on the campus of Western New England University. 

The Pride secure their first conference win of the season and elevate their record to 10-6 on the season while Coast Guard drops to 11-5 and begin NEWMAC play with an 0-1 record. 

Springfield finished the contest with five players in double figures with Alex Goslin (South Windsor, Conn.) leading the way with a career-high 27 points on 7-of-16 shooting from the field and 12-of-14 from the free throw line to go along with five rebounds, four helpers, and a pair of steals. Fellow senior Lauren Rudolph (Franklin, Mass.) contributed a career-high of 16 points while shooting 3-of-4 from deep and hauled in a career-high eight rebounds. Stephanie Lyons (Boston, Mass.) pumped in 11 points with Taylor Hall (Tolland, Conn.) adding 10 points and seven boards. Springfield out rebounded the Bears, 48-37, and forced Coast Guard to turnover the ball 21 times. 

Coast Guard received a strong shooting performance from Emma Puddington, who scored 19 points on 7-of-12 from the field. Kyra Hartman added 15 points and five rebounds while Zoe Riis-Fallica finished with 13 points in the loss.

At 6:47 in the first quarter, Goslin knocked down a pull up jumper to cap off a 7-0 start for the Pride, which forced a Bears' timeout. Puddington would knock down a jumper on the left wing and draw contact to cut the deficit to 12-8 for the Bears, at the 4:37 mark. After another Goslin jumper with 4:16 remaining, Hartman would hit a pair of jumpers to make it a one-point game at 14-13 with 2:11 to go in the quarter. At the 1:16 mark, Grace Dzindolet (Holliston, Mass.) skipped the ball to Rudolph for the triple on the right wing to give the Pride a 17-13 advantage. The Bears would close the quarter with three free throws to close the gap back to a one-point game at 17-16. 

At 8:20 in the second quarter, Rudolph would steal the ball and race down the court for the layup and the foul to highlight a 7-0 run for the Pride which elevated their lead to 24-16. A Puddington three, at 5:21, would make the score 28-23, but on the next possession Rudolph would stick another three from a Lyons kick out to give the Pride a 31-23 lead with just over five minutes remaining in the quarter. At 2:16, Goslin would drive to the basket and draw contact to give Springfield a 36-27 lead after the three-point play. Out of a timeout, the Bears would get another bucket from Puddington to make it 36-30 with 34 seconds remaining, but the Pride would extend their lead to 39-30 as Lyons knocked down a three on the left wing off the swing from Rachel Vinton (Holden, Mass.) with just nine seconds remaining in the third period. 

The Bears opened up the third quarter with back-to-back threes the latter coming at the 7:30 mark from Breanna Wood, making the score 39-36. From there, the Pride ripped off a 7-0 run highlighted by Rudolph connecting with Goslin for the lay in at 6:07 to give Springfield a 46-36 lead. Off the hot shooting by Riis-Fallica and a pair of free throws from Hartman, the Bears brought the game to 50-47 with 3:54 remaining. At 2:24, Madeline Fay (Braintree, Mass.) would keep the possession alive for the Pride, which allowed Goslin to find Sam Hourihan (Bridgewater, Mass.) from the jumper at the top of the key to give the Pride a 54-47 cushion. With 1:33 remaining,  Dzinodolet forced a turnover and flicked it ahead to Goslin for the layup and the foul, giving the Pride a 60-50 lead. Coast Guard was able to close the gap with a short 6-0 run to make the score 60-56, heading into the fourth quarter. 

With 8:10 left in the game, a Riis-Fallica jumper made the score 62-60, forcing a Springfield timeout. Later, at 6:11, Hourihan hit Hall on a high-low pass and Hall was able to finish through the foul to give the Pride a 65-60 lead, then, at 5:01, Hourihan knocked down another jumper off the Goslin feed to make it 67-61. Over the next 2:30, Hourihan would be sent to the line three times and make a perfect 6-of-6 to give the Pride a 71-61 advantage with 2:50 remaining in the game. Starting at the 3:27 mark, Springfield shot 13-of-14 from the line and the Bears could not build their comeback, leading to a 80-69 victory for the Pride.  

Springfield will host Wheaton (Mass.) on Wednesday at 7 pm. 

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