Box Score NEW LONDON, Conn.--The Smith College basketball squad moved back over .500 with a 62-50 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference win over the United States Coast Guard Academy on Thursday night.

The win also evened up the Pioneers' record in NEWMAC play, as they improved to 5-4, 2-2 NEWMAC.  The Bears dipped to 2-7, and are still in search of their first NEWMAC win at 0-4.

The Bears and Pioneers went back and forth in the opening 10 minutes - Smith took a 10-8 lead when Lizzy BelBruno (Hanover, N.H./Hanover) set up Devon Quattrocchi (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) for a jumper at the 15:01 mark, but the Bears responded with a 6-2 run mini-run that was finished off by Larla Brown's basket with 11:16 left in the first half for a 14-12 advantage.

Smith countered with an even bigger run, outscoring Coast Guard 15-3 over the next nine minutes.  Rosa Drummond (Rye, N.H./Portsmouth) and BelBruno each hit threes over the critical burst, which featured baskets by five different Pioneers.  Coast Guard momentarily stopped the bleeding, thanks to three consecutive baskets by Alexa Hunko that cut Smith's lead to 29-23 at halftime.

BelBruno then opened the second half on a tear, scoring eight straight points to open up a 39-27 Smith lead, and when Amanda Zakoske (Jacksonville, Fla./The Bolles School) drained a jumper with 12:14 to play, Smith led 47-32 and never looked back.  Coast Guard never got closer than nine points the rest of the way, and Smith led by as many as 16 with a pair of foul shots by Marissa Munoz-Ruiz (Fairfield, Calif./Justin-Siena) with 1:44 left in the game.

Drummond was one point short of a double-double, as she pulled down 10 rebounds to go with nine points.  BelBruno paced all scorers with 19 points, connecting on 3-for-3 from behind the three point line.  Quattrocchi tossed in 11 points.  Hunko led Coast Guard with 13 pionts.

The Pioneers wiil wrap up the semester with a non-conference game against Trinity (Conn.) on Saturday, December 13, at 2 p.m.  Coast Guard will not resume play until after the New Year.