Both teams kept the score close at the outset of the game, trading baskets for the first five minutes. Coast Guard’s Laura Hutchinson ’08 (Waynesboro, Va.) drained a three-pointer to give the Bears a five-point lead (15:10). Quickly the Lyons retaliated to narrow their deficit to just one-point, 12-13, at the 12:05 mark. Coast Guard mounted a second attack, engineering an 8-2 run over the next two minutes to drive their lead up to seven. Mount Holyoke would knot the game up twice more before half, including a 27-27 tie with 3:17 left in the frame. Junior Corinne McCormack (Springfield, Pa.) netted two free throws as time dwindled to give the Bears a 32-29 lead going into the half.
The teams traded baskets over the first 11 minutes of the second half until Mount Holyoke begin to build some steam off of a made-jumper by first year Michelle Kowalski (Springfield, Mass.) at the 9:04 mark. With 5:15 left in the game, junior center Marisa Barone (Ludlow, Mass.) finished a lay-up that would give the Lyons the 44-43 lead, which they would not relinquish for the remainder of the game. The Lyons scored the final 13 points en route to the 55-43 victory.
Barone notched her second-straight double-digit scoring performance with 10 points on the day. Barone and Kowalski led the Lyons on the boards, totaling seven rebounds apiece. Defensively, MHC forced 16 Coast Guard turnovers and held the Bears to just 11 second half points. The Lyons also totaled seven blocks, led by Kowalski who tallied three.
Junior Natalie Moyer (Oklahoma City, Okla.) led the Bears with 14 points. McCormack finished the game with eight points, a team-high eight rebounds, three assists, and two steals. The Bears shot 24.6% from field goal range and hit eight-of-25 from behind the arc.
The Lyons return to action on Thursday, January 25th, when they host non-conference opponent WNEC at 7:00 p.m. The Bears host the Clark University Cougars on Wednesday, January 24th, also at 7:00 p.m.