Dec. 5, 2007

Final Stats

Complete Box Score in PDF Format

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- UMBC held off a late rally by the Navy women's basketball team to post a 59-51 victory over the Midshipmen Wednesday evening at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.

Navy (2-8) trailed by 17 points with 5:14 left to play, but sliced the deficit down to eight points and had two possessions to cut into it even more. The Mids misfired on a field goal attempt on their first chance to make it a six-point game with just over two minutes remaining, then, after forcing the Retrievers into a miss on their ensuing possession, had a fastbreak opportunity 30 seconds later. The ball was hurried down the court into the hands of K.C. Gordon (So., Vienna, Va.), but she was called for a charging foul on her drive to the basket with 1:29 remaining in the game. UMBC's Chrissy Robinson promptly connected on a field goal to push the margin back to double figures at 57-47 with 1:16 left to play.

The Retrievers (3-6) held Navy's offense in check for two long stretches in the first half. UMBC quickly jumped out to a 7-0 lead to start the game, then later held the Mids without a field goal for over seven minutes in building a 20-14 advantage. A Whitney Davidson (Jr., New Oxford, Pa.) three-point field goal cut the margin in half and ignited a 10-0 for the Mids to give Navy a 24-20 lead with just over one minute remaining before halftime. The Retrievers converted a pair of field goals over the final 60 seconds of the half to send the teams into halftime knotted at 24-24.

Gordon connected on a jumper on Navy's opening possession of the second half, but UMBC scored 15-straight and 20 of the next 23 points to jump in front of the Mids 44-29 with 11:40 left to play in the game. The Retrievers would hold their largest lead of the game at 55-38 just prior to the start of the late Navy rally.

"We need to continue becoming a more consistent team on both ends of the floor," said Navy head coach Tom Marryott. "We have to limit the number of and the length of the spans in which we struggle either on offense or defense. Additionally, when we do go several possessions without having success on one end, we have to step up our focus on the other end so as to not compound our problems. All of our games are coming down to just a few possessions, so each one is valuable to us."

Navy entered the game ranked 51st nationally with a free throw percentage of 74.2 percent on the season. With that in mind, the Mids shot an uncharacteristic 10-of-18 from the foul line (55.6%) this evening, which included a 3-of-10 effort (30.0%) after halftime. Conversely, UMBC finished the night sinking 12-of-14 attempts (85.7%) from the charity stripe.

UMBC connected on 35.6 percent of its field goal attempts in the game, with Navy sinking 30.9 percent of its shots from the floor. Navy also drilled seven three-pointers in the game, with Davidson sinking a career-best five on the night on her way to tallying a season-best 15 points for the Mids.

Joining Davidson in double figures were Angela Myers (Fr., San Antonio, Texas) and Cassie Consedine (Fr., Barltesville, Okla.), who both scored 10 points. Consedine added 10 rebounds to record her fifth double-double of the season and three blocked shots, while Myers also contributed five boards, three assists and a pair of steals.

Carlee Cassidy and Kristin Drabyn both scored 15 points to lead UMBC's offense.

Navy will now take a break in its season for final exams before resuming its campaign Dec. 16 at Marshall.