By Zach Perbeck

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Connecticut College women's basketball team fell to neighboring Coast Guard on Wednesday night by a score of 65-55. 
 
The first quarter saw the two teams exchanging blows as the Camels outshot their opponent by a tally of 25-16. Freshman Tiffani Bartee (Midlothian, Va.) contributed five of her career-high 12 points in the first period to keep Connecticut College close. Despite the overwhelming number of attempts, the Bears were able to shoot more efficiently and end the period ahead by one point.
 
Regardless of the slow shooting start, the Camels more than made up for it in the second quarter, shooting 6-of-12 from beyond the arc and fittingly capping off the period with a last-second three by sophomore Aislinn McMahon (Andover, Mass.) to put the Camels ahead by a score of 38-34 at the midway point. 
 
The red-hot shooting for Connecticut College could not continue after halftime, as the Camels shot just 1-of-6 from behind the arc while hitting on 5 of their 13 total shots from the field. With strong and gritty defense, the Camels maintained their lead by holding their opponents to only 11 points in the quarter, forcing Coast Guard to shoot just 15.8 percent from the field.
 
The fourth quarter was the deciding quarter of the game, as the Camels led 49-45 entering the period with all seven active players contributing valuable minutes. The Camels continued to struggle from the field, shooting just 1-of-17. While Coast Guard only shot 4-of-13, the Bears were a perfect 3-of-3 from the three-point line. Similarly, the Bears shot just 18-of-30 from the free-throw line, but compared to just eight attempts for the Camels, it was still too much ground to make up.
 
Juniors Jaycie Rojik (Scituate, Mass.) and Molly Cronin (Wellesley, Mass.) led the Camels in scoring with 16 and 13 points, respectively. Rojik added nine rebounds and Cronin came away with two steals.
 
For Coast Guard, Jacqueline Ward led the Bears with a game-high 25 points while shooting a perfect 4-of-4 from beyond the arc and converting on seven of her eight free-throw attempts.
 
Coast Guard led the Camels in shooting from both the field and the three-point line, converting on 32.8 percent of its total shots compared to only 28.8 percent for Connecticut College as well as shooting 41.2 percent from deep. The Camels shot just 22.2 percent overall despite the hot second quarter.
 
The Bears also led the Camels in rebounding by a 56-44 margin. Connecticut College did hold onto the ball better than their opponents, turning the ball over twelve times compared to 13 for Coast Guard. The Camels also led the Bears in assists by a tally of 11 to eight. Connecticut College led Coast Guard in free throw percentage 62.5 percent to 60 percent, but the Camels attempted just eight free throws in the game while their opponent totaled 30 attempts from the line. Both teams totaled six steals in the contest.
 
Connecticut College (2-12) will next travel to Middletown, Connecticut on Sunday, January 16th to take on NESCAC opponent Wesleyan at 2:00 p.m.