Dec. 20, 2006
CHARLESTON, S.C. - After opening up a 21-point second half lead, the Navy women's basketball team went on to record a 65-55 victory over Charleston Southern, Wednesday evening at the CSU Field House in Charleston, S.C.
Navy improves to 4-7 on the year with the win, while Charleston Southern falls to 3-6 with the loss.
"I am very happy for the players," said Navy head coach Tom Marryott. "They played very smart and hard the entire game on both ends of the floor. They were patient out there and didn't force things, which allowed us to execute very well. We knew Charleston Southern was going to make a run at us, but we had a good lead going into their run and were able to withstand their pressure."
The Mids, who never trailed in the game, quickly jumped out to an 11-3 lead six minutes into the contest and went into halftime holding a 35-22 lead.
Margaret Knap (Sr., Chicago, Ill.) tallied 12 points and Lindi Conner (Jr., Kingman, Kan.) added eight points and five rebounds before intermission.
Navy started the second half strong, as well, scoring 11 of the first 15 points in the half and eventually taking a 49-28 lead on a three-point field goal from Whitney Davidson (So., New Oxford, Pa.) with 14:15 left in the game.
The Mids were never able to feel comfortable as the Lady Bucs began to hit their shots and score from the foul line, which allowed Charleston Southern to slice a 16-point margin with four minutes to down to just seven points at 62-55 with 23 seconds left to play. Navy connected on three of four free throws in the remaining seconds to close out the road victory.
Navy forced 19 Charleston Southern turnovers in the game, while committing 15 turnovers of its own. The Mids also held a 34-30 advantage on the glass and connected on 6-of-12 three-point field goal attempts and held the Lady Bucs to just 1-of-9 shooting from behind the three-point stripe.
Knap would finish with a game-high 18 points, while Conner set career-highs with 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Mids. Rounding out the trio of Mids who reached double figures in scoring was Davidson with 10 points. Also playing well statistically was point guard Kalen Kropa (So., Reidsville, N.C.), who finished with seven points, five assists, four steals and just four turnovers against the challenging press defense.
Navy will close out a busy week of three games in five days Friday when Navy plays host to Air Force at 2 p.m. in Alumni Hall.
