BOX SCORE

BABSON PARK, Mass. - The second-seeded Babson College Beavers allowed just 10 first-half points en route to a 59-35 victory over the seventh-seeded United States Coast Guard Academy Bears in the quarterfinal round of the 2009 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Women's Basketball Tournament at Babson's Staake Gymnasium on Wednesday night. With the win, the Beavers (18-8) advance to Saturday's semifinal round at WPI, where they will face third-seeded Springfield at a time to be determined. Meanwhile, Coast Guard (5-21) sees its season come to a close.

First-year Kathleen King (Framingham, Mass.) paced Babson with her ninth double-double of the season, as she amassed 14 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 6-for-11 from the field. Fellow rookie standout Nicki Wurdeman (Rowley, Mass.) matched King's game-high with 14 points to go with eight boards and two blocked shots, and first-year Michelle Kenel (Rockaway Beach, N.Y.) chipped in with five points while matching her career-high with seven rebounds. Sophomores Becky Bowman (Melrose, Mass.) and Kristy Benoit (Shrewsbury, Mass.) combined for 15 points and six steals in the victory, and sophomore Renay Hamilton (Lynn, Mass.) contributed four assists and four steals. The Beavers recorded 17 steals as a team while forcing 26 turnovers that led to 21 points.

Coast Guard was led by nine points and seven rebounds from junior Melissa Martinelli (Vero Beach, Fla.) and five points, eight rebounds, and six steals from senior captain Chanel Lee (Richmond, Va.). Junior Sabrina Taylor (Lake Worth, Fla.) also scored nine points for the Bears, junior Leslie Hunt (Poquoson, Va.) netted six points, and sophomore Allison Majcher (Littleton, Colo.) collected five rebounds and a blocked shot.

Babson used suffocating defensive pressure to hold Coast Guard to just 10 points on 3-of-17 shooting in the first half, as the Beavers grabbed a 25-10 lead at the break. Wurdeman and Bowman each scored six points to lead the hosts in the opening stanza, while Martinelli accounted for half of her team's output with five.

Unable to get much going inside against King and Wurdeman, Coast Guard switched gears in the second half, firing a total of 21 three-point attempts as a team. The strategy was effective early on, as the Bears connected on three trifectas in the first 3:14 of the period to pull to within 13, 32-19. After a 6-0 Babson run over the next two and a half minutes pushed the Beavers lead to 19, Coast Guard got back to within 13, 39-26, with a 6-0 run of its own that was capped by a Hunt three-pointer with 12 minutes remaining. The Bears still trailed by the same margin, 43-30, with 7:19 left, but Babson closed the game with a 16-5 spurt to clinch the 59-35 victory.