Jan. 21, 2006

Box Score

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ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Army connected on eight of its first 11 shots from the field in quickly taking a double-digit lead and maintained that advantage through the majority of an 83-69 victory over the Navy women's basketball team, Saturday afternoon in Alumni Hall. The Black Knights improved to 4-1 in Patriot League games this year, while the Midshipmen fell to 2-2 in league play.

While the Black Knights began the game strong offensively, Navy struggled on its end during the early stages of the game, missing nine of its first 13 attempts from the field as Army took a 21-11 lead six minutes into the game. Army would take its largest lead of the first half at 38-20 with six minutes left in the half before the Mids sliced the 18-point deficit in half at 40-31 with 2:11 left before intermission. The teams would head to the locker rooms at halftime with Army holding a 45-33 lead.

"Army came out at the start of the game and really took it to us offensively," said Navy head coach Tom Marryott. "Our defensive intensity did not match their offensive intensity. We also missed some shots we normally make, which only made the hole we dug for ourselves even deeper. We spent the next 35 minutes climbing back into the game, and you can't do that against a team as good as Army is."

Army would lead by 16 points early in the second half before Navy cut the deficit down to eight points at 71-63 following a steal by Lauren Skrel (Sr., Walnut Creek, Calif.) and a layup from Margaret Knap (Jr., Chicago, Ill.) with just over four minutes remaining to play in the game.

Both teams would score a pair of points on their next respective possessions to keep the margin at eight points, then Army's Jen Hansen missed a three-point attempt with three minutes to play in the game. Navy hurried the ball down the floor and found Ashley Pelzek (Sr., East Longmeadow, Mass.) open, but her three-point attempt to cut the deficit down to five points was off and Army's Cara Enright grabbed the carom.

After an Army layup, Betsy Burnett (Jr., New Holstein, Wis.) found Kate Hobbs (Jr., Wexford, Pa.) on a backdoor cut and the resulting layup by Hobbs kept the margin at eight points with less than two minutes to play. Forced to foul, the Mids sent the Black Knights to the charity stripe on four occasions during the waning moments of the game, but Army converted all eight of its attempts to seal the victory.

Hobbs converted 11-of-17 shots from the field and 6-of-7 free throw attempts to tally a career-high 28 points and lead all players in scoring in the game. Skrel totaled 11 points and five assists, with Burnett adding four points and a career-high nine assists.

Megan Vrabel and Cara Enright each tallied 19 points in the game to lead Army, with Vrabel's total also being a new career best.

The Black Knights shot 50 percent from the field in both halves and totaled 42 rebounds in the game, while Navy shot 40 percent from the field in the game and hauled in 31 caroms. The Mids tied a season high with 11 steals and forced 20 Army turnovers, with Navy turning the ball over 16 times.

Navy will return to Alumni Hall Tuesday night for a 7:30 p.m. game against American.