Box Score NORTHAMPTON, Mass.--The Smith College basketball team gave head coach Lynn Hersey the perfect birthday present in the form of a 73-51 win over the United States Coast Guard Academy on Saturday afternoon.  Rosa Drummond (Rye, N.H./Portsmouth), Paulina Solis (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill), and Maddie Page (Arvada, Colo./Jefferson Acad.) each scored 12 points for Smith.

The win improves Smith's overall record to 16-4, with an 11-3 NEWMAC record.  Coast Guard falls to 5-14, and 1-3 NEWMAC with their ninth straight loss.

Drummond got things going by draining a three on the first possesion of the game, and Amanda Zakoske (Jacksonville, Fla./The Bolles School) fed Lizzy BelBruno (Hanover, N.H./Hanover) for a hoop and a quick 5-0 lead.  A pair of baskets from the Bears' Alexa Hunko trimmed the deficit to one, but Smith pulled out to a 13-6 advantage on Solis' fast break layup. 

Solis and classmate Alyssa Barrett (Berlin, Conn./Berlin) sandwiched three pointers around a layup from Sydney Parkmond (Waterbury, Conn./Chase Collegiate) to up the lead to 21-9, and the Pioneers continued to pull away as Solis fed Ellie Giles (Charlottesville, Va./St. Annes Belfield) for a jumper and a 37-16 lead.  Brittany Purington (Weare, N.H./John Stark)'s fast break layup with 47 seconds left in the half gave the Pioneers their biggest advantage at 41-17.

Drummond knocked down two more threes early in the first half to push the advantage to 49-22, and Smith never looked back, leading by as many as 31 on Ellie Giles (Charlottesville, Va./St. Annes Belfield)' free throws with 3:46 to go.  The Bears finished the game on an 11-2 run to set the final score.

Every Smith player got in the game for at least 10 minutes, and all Pioneers scored but one.  Brittney Zimmerman led all scorers with 14 points for Coast Guard.

Smith will hit the road for two critical games next week - first up is a trip to Clark University on February 8 at 7 p.m.  Coast Guard will host Springfield for a 5:30 tip-off on February 8.