Women's Basketball at Coast Guard
NEWMAC Tournament Quarterfinal
Wednesday, February 21 | 7 p.m. 
Roland Hall | New London, Conn.

SERIES HISTORY
•    Babson is 39-10 all-time against Coast Guard in a series that dates back to the 1982-83 season.
•    The Beavers have won 10 straight games against the Bears since 2015.
•    The Green and White has been victorious in each of its last seven visits to Roland Hall and is 12-1 on the road against Coast Guard dating back to 2009, which includes a 66-63 triumph back in 2022.

POSTSEASON HISTORY
•    Babson and Coast Guard will meet for just the third time in the conference playoffs and first time since 2010 on Wednesday night. 
•    The Beavers downed the Bears 59-35 in the 2009 NEWMAC quarterfinals and were 75-26 in the 2010 quarterfinals on the way to winning first two of five consecutive conference championships. 

LAST MEETING
•    First-year Samantha Reale scored 15 points and junior Emily Flynn added a career-high 14 points as Babson rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit to defeat Coast Guard, 68-56, on January 24 in New London. 
•    Junior Katelyn Mollica added 11 points and classmates Abby Miller and Kiara Simone Davis chipped in with eight points apiece for the Beavers, who outscored the hosts 23-7 in the fourth qurater. 
•    Kira Wood poured in 29 points and Dorothy Stotts added 10 points for the Bears, who were just 7-of-30 shooting (23.3 percent) over the final two quarters after building a 40-31 lead at the break. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Fifth-seeded Babson (13-12) has won two straight games after closing the regular season with a 60-55 victory at Clark on Saturday. 
•    Mollica matched her career high with 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting and junior Camilla Silk added nine points and eight rebounds for the Beavers, who limited the Cougars to just six fourth-quarter points. 
•    Senior Kelly Walsh (16.9 pts, 4.3 reb, 3.8 ast) made her first appearance since December 5 following a 15-game absence in Saturday's win, Mollica (13.0 pts, 2.9 reb, 2.0 ast) is fifth in the conference with 62 three-pointers and Reale (9.0 pts, 3.7 reb, 1.8 steals) has scored in double figures in seven of 12 games against NEWMAC foes. 
•    The Green and White ranks first in conference play in field goal defense holding foes to 36.5 percent shooting and is third in rebounding margin (+4.9). 

SCOUTING THE BEARS
•    Coast Guard (19-6) has won its last four games after closing the regular season with a 60-21 rout of Mount Holyoke on Saturday. 
•    Kelly Hagerty scored 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting to go along with nine rebounds and Wood added 11 points for the Bears, who outscored the Lyons 41-10 over the final three quarters. 
•    Wood (15.0 pts, 4.0 ast, 3.5 reb) ranks sixth in the conference in scoring and fifth in assists, Stotts (14.2 pts, 3.5 ast) has scored in double figures in 12 of her last 13 outings and Hagerty (12.2 pts, 9.1 reb) has posted seven double-doubles and ranks sixth in the league in rebounding. 
•    Coast Guard is tied with Babson for fourth in scoring defense against NEWMAC foes allowing 58.4 points and ranks second ranks second in field goal defense holding its league opponents to 37 percent shooting. 

POSTSEASON PEDIGREE
•    Babson enters the 2024 NEWMAC Tournament coming off back-to-back championship game appearances in 2022 and 2023. 
•    The Beavers have captured 10 NEW 8/NEWMAC Tournament championships going back to 1991 (1991, 1993, 1999, 2009-13, 2015, 2017) and have made 14 straight appearances in the conference semifinals dating back to 2009.
•    The Green and White also has won its last seven NEWMAC quarterfinal matchups since 2009 and is 23-5 all-time in the quarterfinal round going back to the formation of the NEW 6 Conference in 1986. 
•    On the flip side, Coast Guard is seeking its first conference tournament win since 2016 when it defeated Wheaton, 68-61, in the quarterfinals.

BENCH PRODUCTION
•    The trio of Flynn, Davis and Miller combined to score 27 of Babson's final 31 points in the January 24 win at Coast Guard. 
•    Flynn scored all of her career-high 14 points during a nine-minute stretch that spanned the final two quarters, which includes a trio of three-pointers in the fourth that turned a 54-49 deficit into a six-point advantage. 
•    Davis, who was making just her second appearance of the season after missing more than a year due to injury, scored eight fourth-quarter points, while Miller hit a three-pointer late in the third period and went 2-of-2 at the free throw line in the final stanza. 

WALSH MAKES HER RETURN
•    After missing 15 consecutive games due to injury, Walsh made her first appearance since December 5 at Clark producing seven points on 3-of-6 shooting to go along with two rebounds and one steal in 18 minutes off the bench. 
•    Walsh, who became the 17th player in program history to surpass 1,000 points at Framingham State back in December, ranks fifth on Babson's career list with 95 three-pointers and is 10th averaging 1.95 steals in 76 career games. 
•    Walsh has reached double figures in scoring in 18 of her last 20 games going back to February 11 of last season. 

WINNING FORMULA
•    Since starting 0-2 in league play, Babson has won seven of its last nine games by limiting its foes to just 55.6 points per game on 36.1 percent shooting.
•    The Green and White has allowed just 0.82 points per possession while outscoring its opponents by 0.17 points per trip to go along with a +5.6 rebounding margin. 
•    On the offensive end, the Beavers are shooting 41.6 percent and turning the ball over on just 20 percent of its possessions. They also have gotten an average of 25.8 points per game off the bench over the last nine contests. 

TOURNAMENT TESTED
•    Walsh, Miller, seniors Rachel McMenemy and Madison Odam and junior Camilla Silk have each played in 12 postseason games over the last two seasons. 
•    Walsh is averaging 14.6 points 44.4 percent shooting to go along with 3.8 rebounds and 2.1 steals, Odam is averaging 5.8 points and 5.6 rebounds, McMenemy (5.0 pts, 4.0 reb) is shooting 52.6 percent, and Silk has contributed 3.8 points and 4.0 boards while shooting 54.5 percent. 
•    Mollica averaged 6.4 points in seven NEWMAC and NCAA Tournament games last winter, while Davis made five starts in the postseason as a first-year in 2022. 

BEAVER BITES
•    Silk is averaging 11.5 points on 52.8 percent shooting and 8.0 rebounds over her last four outings.
•    Mollica, who is the first player in program history to make at least 60 three-point field goals in a season, has knocked down at least one triple in nine straight games and 23 of 25 outings on the year.
•    Reale, who set a new career high with five pilfers at Clark, has two or more steals in six straight contests. 
•    Flynn, who matched her career high with nine rebounds on Saturday at Clark, has knocked down at least two three-pointers four times in conference play and the Beavers are unbeaten in those games.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    The Beavers are 12-2 when leading after the first quarter and 10-0 when leading at halftime this season.
•    Babson is 12-3 this winter when outrebounding its opponents.
•    The Green and White is 11-2 this year when holding its foes below 60 points. 
•    The Beavers are 9-3 on the year when shooting at least 40 percent from the field. 
•    Babson is 8-0 this season and has won 15 straight games dating back to last February when scoring at least 65 points. 

UP NEXT
•    The winner of Wednesday's contest will take on either top-seeded Springfield or eighth-seeded Salve Regina on Friday night.