Jan. 31, 2006

Box Score

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ANNAPOLIS, Md. - After trailing by 10 points with five minutes left to play in the game, the Navy women's basketball team had three possessions to tie or take the lead in the closing minutes, but came up empty each time in an eventual 59-55 loss to Holy Cross, Tuesday evening in Alumni Hall.

The Crusaders (10-10, 6-1 Patriot League), who held a 31-24 lead at halftime, began the second half with an early 7-0 run to take a 38-27 advantage with 15:17 remaining in the game. The Mids (10-10, 3-4 Patriot League) slowly worked the deficit down to three points at 44-41, but the Crusaders answered with another quick 7-0 run to take a 51-41 lead with 5:36 left on the clock.

Navy responded with an 8-0 run to cut the margin down to two points at 51-49 with 3:33 left in the game. The Mids then forced a turnover on the next Holy Cross possession, but Navy gave the ball right back when Lauren Skrel's (Sr., Walnut Creek, Calif.) entry pass to Kate Hobbs (Jr., Wexford, Pa.) was picked off by Kaitlin Foley. The Crusaders would convert on the following possession to take a four-point lead. Navy would cut the margin in half when Betsy Burnett (Jr., New Holstein, Wis.) scored with just over two minutes to play, then Hobbs again intercepted a Crusader pass to give Navy the ball back. However, Ashley Pelzek (Sr., East Longmeadow, Mass.) would misfire on a three-pointer with 1:33 left in the game to give the ball back to Holy Cross.

After both teams converted a pair of free throws on their next possessions, Shannon Bush scored on a layup for the Crusaders with 44 seconds left to increase the margin back to four points, but Skrel followed with a jumper of her own with 37 seconds remaining to again make it a two-point game. Navy quickly fouled Laura Aloisi, who made just one of two free throws to keep the advantage at three points with 27 seconds remaining in the game.

Following a Navy timeout, the Mids put the ball in the hands of Kalen Kropa (Fr., Reidsville, N.C.) who saw her high arcing eight-foot shot from the middle of the lane bounce off the back of the rim and into the hands of Holy Cross' Keil with 20 seconds left. Keil was soon fouled and converted one of two free throws to end the scoring.

Navy outrebounded the Crusaders 39-29 in the game, but turned the ball over 22 times while forcing only 13 turnovers. Holy Cross had a big advantage at the foul line, converting 12-of-20 attempts from the stripe while Navy was just 7-of-9 from the free throw line in the game. Navy did tally eight three-point field goals in the game, shooting 33.3 percent from behind the arc, while holding Holy Cross to just 5-of-21 shooting in three-point attempts.

"I thought we did a very good job defensively against a very good offensive team," said Navy head coach Tom Marryott. "On our end of the floor, we went up against a very aggressive defense which forced us into turnovers or out of any rhythm. Their perimeter pressure really kept the ball out of the hands of our post people."

Skrel knocked down four three-point field goals and totaled 20 points to lead all players, with Kropa adding a career-high 11 points in the contest. Holy Cross was led by 19 points from Bush and 17 points from Keil.

Navy will next be in action Saturday when the Mids play at Army in the Star Game. The game can be seen live on ESPNU starting at 11:30 a.m. and heard starting at 11:15 a.m. both locally at WNAV-AM 1430 and over the internet at www.wnav.com(.)