Feb. 18, 2007

Box Score

Complete Box Score in PDF Format

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy women's basketball team struggled offensively during the first half of its game against Army, scoring just 15 points, turning the ball over 15 times and trailing by 15 points at intermission of an eventual 58-43 loss to the Black Knights, Sunday afternoon at Alumni Hall.

"We said before the game it was important for us to set the tone at the start of the game," said Navy head coach Tom Marryott. "We wanted to come out and establish ourselves offensively with patience and making their defense move around, as well as play good defense. The exact opposite happened instead. We played hard, but were not as focused as Army and played without a purpose on offense. We then missed some shots and that only compounded everything."

The Black Knights (22-5, 9-3 Patriot League) scored the opening nine points of the game, but the Mids (10-16, 4-8) climbed back to within three points of Army at 9-6 following a three-pointer from Carly Meyer (Sr., Orlando, Fla.). Army proceeded to go on a 13-0 run to take a 22-6 lead before eventually taking its largest lead of 19 points at 30-11 with 2:13 left in the half.

The Mids were just 5-of-24 from the field (20.8%) during the opening 20 minutes of the game, while the Black Knights converted 12-of-28 attempts (42.9%) prior to the halftime break.

"I said to the players at halftime that this was not the team I know," said Marryott. "This was not the team I have seen practice all year. This is not the team I have seen in games. I said we had to return to playing like that team we all knew."

Navy could climb no closer than 10 points (49-39 with 6:43 left) over the remainder of the game, while Army's largest lead was 17 points at 58-41 with just under one minute to play.

"Once Army took their lead, they had us playing on our heels the remainder of the game," said Marryott.

The Mids ended the game shooting 28.8 percent from the field, made 5-of 14 three-point attempts and converted 8-of-11 free throw throw attempts. Meanwhile, the Black Knights shot 38.5 percent from the field, made 4-of-9 attempts from beyond the arc and sank 14-of-20 free throw attempts.

Army also held a 39-37 advantage on the boards and forced 19 Navy turnovers while committing 15 turnovers of its own.

Meyer drilled four of Navy's five three-pointers on the afternoon on her way to scoring a game-high 18 points. She also was one of five Mids to tally a team-high five rebounds, while adding a pair of blocked shots and recording four steals.

Navy will close the home portion of its regular season Wednesday night when the Mids play host to American in a 7 p.m. game in Alumni Hall.