KINGS POINT, N.Y. (Nov. 16, 2022) – The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy women's basketball team opened the 2022-23 season with a dominant defensive effort versus the Baruch College on Wednesday night. USMMA took down the Bearcats by a score of 61-30 at Liebertz Gymnasium in front of an energized crowd. Head coach Matt Dempsey's Mariners started the season 1-0 while the Bearcats suffered their first loss of the year to fall to 3-1.
 
Game Links

• Box Score
• WATCH: Postgame Interview With Madison Demos 

From the opening tip, the Mariners controlled the game on both ends of the floor. Fast-paced offense combined with swarming defense had Baruch on the ropes throughout the opening ten minutes. Eight Bearcats turnovers helped Merchant Marine open up an 18-2 lead at the end of the first quarter. Four of the five Mariners starters registered at least two points as the basketball was well-shared. After one frame, it was sophomore Kaira Winston (Chesterfield, Va.) who led all scorers by accounting for a third of her team's points with six.
 
Quarter number two was nearly a carbon copy of quarter number one as the Mariners kept their foot on the gas. Seniors Lauren Hunter (Tinley Park, Ill.) and Madison Demos (Downers Grove, Ill.) made their presence felt on the glass by combining for 11 points and 11 rebounds in the first half. Five of the 11 rebounds were of the offensive variety as Merchant Marine often saw themselves getting second and third-chance opportunities.
 
"Attack-the-basket" mentalities from Hunter and Winston were rewarded as the senior and sophomore accounted for 19 of the Mariners' 32 points.
 
For a Mariners team that allowed an average of only 50 points per game last season, tonight was an example of why. USMMA held Baruch without a point for a remarkable stretch of 14:41 spanning the first and second quarters. That and seven more Baruch turnovers in the second quarter led USMMA to a 32-5 halftime lead. The Bearcats were held to 2-for-27 from the field and 0-for-11 from downtown in the first 20 minutes. This is the same Baruch team that came into the night averaging 69 points per game on the young season.
 
As the third quarter began, Mia Castillo, who registered all five Baruch points in the opening half caught fire. Castillo appeared unconscious as she went 3-for-5 from the field and 3-for-4 from three-point land and totaled 17 points. Baruch's problem? The Mariners shut every other Bearcat down. At the end of the third quarter, it was the Mariners leading 49-22 with Castillo accounting for all 22 Bearcats points.
 
The fourth and final frame saw Demos put a bow on her final Opening Night. As she so often does, Demos finished with a double-double thanks to notching 13 points and 17 rebounds. After averaging 11 rebounds per game a year ago, Demos is certainly picking up right where she left off and then some. Hunter tag-teamed with Demos to tie for the team-high with 13 points as Hunter secured eight rebounds of her own.
 
After the win, Demos stated how it is a goal of her and Hunter to grab ten rebounds apiece each game this season. They might not have registered ten each tonight, but 25 between the two of them will certainly fit the bill for coach Dempsey and co.
 
USMMA now looks ahead to a meeting with arch-rival Coast Guard in their "142 Game" on Saturday afternoon at 12-noon. The Liebertz Gymnasium will be the site of this highly-anticipated game as the Mariners look to secure bragging rights and a 2-0 start to their season. Live stats and a live video feed of the rivalry game will be available with links on the USMMA Women's Basketball Schedule Page.
 
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