Navy Effort Falls Short

Jan. 30, 2008

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Navy made more field goals than American did in the women's basketball game played between the two teams Wednesday night in Alumni Hall, but the Eagles forced the Mids into more turnovers, grabbed more offensive rebounds and attempted 34 more free throws than Navy did to record a 59-52 victory.

Navy (4-17, 0-6 Patriot League) put together one of its best starts to a game in several weeks by scoring the opening 10 points of the game.

"The Brigade was great tonight," said Navy head coach Tom Marryott of the crowd that included well over 1,000 Midshipmen. "Their enthusiasm from the opening tip really helped us get off to a great start."

The Mids still held a 21-12 lead with nine minutes left in the half, but American (9-12, 3-3) eventually took its first lead of the game at 25-24 with one minute remaining before halftime. Navy would go into halftime with a 26-25 lead thanks to a jumper by Emily Cordle (Jr., Rome, Ga.) just before the halftime horn.

After taking the nine point lead, the Mids closed the half by connecting on just 2-of-9 shots from the field and turning the ball over nine times.

The start of the season half saw two ties and a pair of lead changes until American went on a 6-0 run to take a 35-30 lead with just over 14 minutes left to play. The Eagles would stretch their advantage to as many as nine points at 49-40, but Navy managed to slice the margin down to four points at 50-46 with 2:13 left to play on a layup from Angela Myers (Fr., San Antonio, Texas).

The ball was returned to Navy with 1:41 remaining after American misfired on a pair of jumpers and committed a shot clock violation. The Mids were unable to get a shot off, however, as Myers had the ball stripped away from her by Talicia Jackson early in the possession. Ten seconds later, Navy's Kalen Kropa (Jr., Reidsville, N.C.) took the ball away from Maggie Smith-Davidson to give Navy a second chance to cut into the deficit. That led to Cassie Consedine (Fr., Bartlesville, Okla.) missing a three-point attempt, with Jackson grabbing the carom with just over one minute remaining.

A Navy foul with 51 seconds left sent Pam Stanfield to the line. She made the first attempt and missed the second, but American's Stephanie N'Garsanet grabbed the offensive rebound and was immediately fouled. She made both free throws to make the score 53-46 with 48 seconds left to play.

A basket by Kropa, a pair of free throws by Stanfield and a bucket by Navy's Ali Currier (Sr., Columbia, S.C.) made the score 55-50 with 22 seconds left when Jackson was fouled and went to the free throw line. She made the first and missed the second, but N'Garsanet was there again for the offensive carom. She was quickly fouled and missed both free throws with 19 seconds remaining, but the loose ball following her second errant attempt was knocked out of bounds by the Mids to give the Eagles another possession with 19 seconds left. Stanfield was fouled following the inbounds play and made 1-of-2 attempts to give the Eagles a seven-point cushion.

The game closed with a layup by Navy's Kelly Altschul (So., Highland Village, Texas) and two more free throws by American's Liz Hayes.

American attempted 43 free throws on the night -- with 14 coming over the final 51 seconds of play -- to Navy's nine. The difference of 34 attempts ties the Navy record for the largest advantage in free throw attempts by an opponent over the Mids in Navy history. Additionally, the 43 attempts is the second-highest number of attempts by an opponent against the Mids in Navy's 17-year Patriot League history and ranks sixth overall among all foes in school history.

The Eagles also grabbed 19 offensive rebounds to Navy's eight on the night, but American held just an 11-8 advantage in second chance points. American also forced Navy into 25 turnovers while turning the ball over 20 times itself. Again, like the difference in offensive rebounds, the Mids were able to limit some of the damage the disparity in turnovers had the potential to cause. American scored only 15 points after Navy turnovers, while the Mids tallied 17 points following the turnovers by the Eagles.

"We did not manage American's quickness as well as we needed to throughout the game," said Marryott. "Whether it was their disrupting our offense, being able to grab the loose ball to extend a possession or beating us to a position on the floor which led us to foul, we didn't accomplish what we needed to in order to balance that out."

Navy connected on 21 field goals to American's 15, with the Mids connecting on 43.8 percent of their shots from the field and the Eagles converting 32.6 percent of their attempts from the floor. Both teams made five three-point field goals in the game and shot a near identical percentage from beyond the arc.

The post players for the two teams, Consedine for Navy and N'Garsanet for American, both ended the game with 18 points and nine rebounds to lead their respective teams.

"The effort was there for us tonight," said Marryott. "We need to bring that same intensity while executing better in order to win."

Navy will close the first half of the Patriot League season Saturday afternoon when the Mids play at Colgate in a 2 p.m. game in Hamilton, N.Y.

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