Feb. 7, 2006

Box Score

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ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Navy broke open a tie game with five minutes to play by scoring 12 of the next 14 points to post a 49-42 victory over Lehigh, Tuesday night in Alumni Hall. The victory improves Navy's record to 11-11 on the season and 4-5 in the Patriot League, while Lehigh fell to 7-15 on the year and 2-7 in league play.

"I have to hand it to our seniors for the way we played on defense tonight," said Navy head coach Tom Marryott. "We really came out with a purpose on defense and were as focused on that end of the court as we have been all year. We were really paying attention to what the matchups were on defense. Lehigh did miss some shots, but our defense was dog-gone good."

Lehigh began the game by missing its first 20 shots from the field, but Navy was able to muster only 13 points before the Mountain Hawks scored with 9:21 remaining in the first half. Navy would eventually take a 31-21 lead into halftime, thanks to Lehigh shooting 10 percent from the field (3-of-30) and the Mids connecting on 29.2 percent of their shots (7-of-24) during the first 20 minutes of play.

Both teams saw their offenses struggle again at the start of the second half. Navy began the half by misfiring on 10-of-12 shots from the field and 4-of-6 free throw attempts, while also turning the ball over five times. Lehigh was not much better offensively, scoring only one field goal in a span of seven minutes, but climbed back into the game thanks to 6-of-7 shooting from the foul line. The Mountain Hawks would soon take a 30-29 lead on a three-point field goal from Sara Ellis with 10:17 left in the game.

Navy took the lead back on its next possession when Betsy Burnett (Jr., New Holstein, Wis.) scored in a jumper in the paint, then extended its advantage to four points at 37-33 on a turnaround jumper from Margaret Knap (Jr., Chicago, Ill.) with 6:51 remaining.

Navy failed to score on its next three possessions (two turnovers, one missed field goal), a drought which allowed Lehigh to tie the game at 37-37 with 4:58 remaining on a free throw from Adrienne Blount.

Both teams failed to score on their next three possessions, then Kalen Kropa (Fr., Reidsville, N.C.) connected on a driving jumper to give Navy a 39-37 lead with 3:07 left to play. The Mids would soon take a four-point lead when Skrel scored with just over two minutes to play.

After Lehigh came away empty the next time down the floor, Navy started to work some time off the clock. Kropa was eventually fouled on a drive to the basket with two seconds left on the shot clock. She missed both free throws, but raced in and grabbed a share of the rebound after her second miss, resulting in a tied ball. The possession arrow pointed towards Navy, so the Mids retained possession, which quickly resulted in a field goal from Skrel and a six point Navy advantage.

Ellis missed a jumper with 36 seconds remaining, then the Mountain Hawks sent Knap to the foul line with 27 seconds left. She connected on both attempts to give Navy an eight-point lead. After a layup from Blount with 16 seconds left, Ashley Pelzek (Sr., East Longmeadow, Mass.) was fouled and sank both free throws return the margin to eight points and effectively ice the game.

Once the score was tied at 37-37, Navy connected on 3-of-7 shots from the field and 6-of-8 free throw attempts while not turning the ball over. Lehigh, meanwhile, was 2-of-8 from the field, 0-of-1 from the foul line and committed a pair of turnovers during the same span.

Navy entered the evening averaging over seven three-point field goals made a game during the league season, but connected on just 2-of-11 shots from behind the three-point stripe tonight. The Mids also struggled from the foul line, converting only 13-of-20 free throw attempts, and ended the game shooting 32.7 percent from the field.

"Even though we didn't score as much as we wanted to, I can't complain about the shots we were taking," said Marryott. "They were good, good shots that just didn't fall."

Lehigh ended the game shooting 20 percent from the field and made 3-of-12 three-point field goal attempts. The Mountain Hawks stayed in the game by converting 15-of-19 attempts from the free throw line.

"In the past when we would get frustrated on offense, we would let that effect us on the defensive end," said Marryott. "Tonight, that wasn't the case. I am very proud of our team for how they handled the struggles on offense."

Navy was led in scoring by 14 points from Burnett and 13 points from Skrel. Burnett also added a Navy-best eight rebounds, with Skrel dishing out a trio of assists.

Lehigh's Ellis paced all players with 16 points, but she was 4-of-19 from the field and made only 2-of-8 attempts from behind the three-point line. Teammate Jenny Callan added 12 points and hauled in a game-high 14 rebounds.

The victory allows Navy to match its win total for all of last year, while also defeating Lehigh twice in one season for the first time since 1998.

Navy will play host to Lafayette Saturday at 12 noon.