Feb. 25, 2006

Final Stats

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ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Kate Hobbs scored nine-straight points late in the game, while seniors Lauren Skrel and Ashley Pelzek combined for 30 points to spark the Navy women's basketball team record a 65-60 victory over Colgate in the regular season finale for the Mids, Saturday afternoon in Alumni Hall.

Navy ends the regular season in fourth place in the Patriot League with a 7-7 record, the highest placing by a Navy team and the first .500 league season since 1999. The loss drops Colgate to 6-8 in league play and fifth place in the final league standings. As a result, the Mids and the Raiders will face each other for the third time in 12 days Thursday when the Patriot League Tournament begins at Army.

"I thought we played very well defensively, and on offense we did have some big performances from individuals, but we also had very nice balance in our scoring," said Navy head coach Tom Marryott. "I also was very happy for our three seniors, Lauren, Ashley and Meredith Addington. All of them played very well when they were in the game. Playing on Senior Day can be very difficult, so it was nice to see them play well on their day."

"Senior Day was nice, but we stressed to everyone on the team how the main focus of today had to be the game itself," said Pelzek.

The teams entered halftime with Navy holding a 30-29 advantage, then the Mids opened the second half on a 12-5 run to take a 42-34 lead with 15 minutes remaining in the game. Colgate would quickly answer with a 14-2 run as the Raiders took a 48-44 lead with 8:27 remaining in the game. Melanie Cargle accounted for 10 of Colgate's points during the run, with Katherine McGarry tallying the remaining four points.

After Carly Meyer connected on a pair of free throws to pull the Mids to within two points, Pelzek drilled her fourth three-point field goal of the game to give Navy a 49-48 lead with eight minutes to play. Colgate's Caitlin Gillard made one of two free throws for the Raiders to tie the score, then Pelzek connected on her fifth triple of the game to give Navy a three-point lead. That advantage lasted all of one possession as Megan Ballard made a three-pointer of her own to tie the game at 52-52.

Hobbs scored on Navy's next possession, which was answered by a basket from Gretchen Polinski, then the Mids gave themselves some breathing room with a 5-0 run. The short sprint started with a jumper from Hobbs, then the junior post player made three of four free throws on Navy's next two possessions to give the Mids a 59-54 lead with 2:32 left to play. A jumper from Ballard cut the margin to three points, but Hobbs answered with a layup to boost the advantage back to five points with 1:24 left to play.

The teams turned the ball over on each of their next possessions, then Polinski scored on an inside shot to cut the lead back to three points with 42 seconds left. Shevorne Martin stole the Navy inbounds pass and was quickly fouled, but she missed the front end of the bonus free throw. It was then Skrel who was immediately fouled, but she made just one of two free throws to give Navy a 62-58 lead with 37 seconds left.

Cargle was fouled on a drive to the basket with 30 seconds to play, but she missed both of her free throw attempts. The long carom on her second errant shot was grabbed by both Skrel and a Colgate player resulting in a jump ball, with Navy gaining possession on the tie up.

As Navy was preparing to inbound the ball by the Colgate basket, Ballard fouled Burnett in front of the Navy bench on the other side of halfcourt. The officials ruled an intentional foul, sending Burnett to the line, where she made one of two free throws, and returning the ball back to Navy with 28 seconds to play and the Mids holding a 63-58 lead. Skrel was fouled after receiving the inbounds pass and made both free throws.

Hobbs totaled her second double-double in two weeks with 13 points and 11 rebounds against the Raiders, with nine of her points and seven of her caroms coming after halftime. Pelzek connected on five three-pointers and led all players in the game with 17 points, while Skrel totaled 11 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.

Both Polinski and Cargle scored 14 points for the Raiders, with Polinski adding 10 rebounds.

Neither team shot well from the free throw line, but the Mids had more attempts in the game. Navy finished just 14-of-24 from the charity stripe (58.3%), while Colgate converted only 3-of-10 attempts from the line (30%). The Mids gained the advantage at the line in part to totaling a 25-19 rebounding advantage after halftime.