Nov. 22, 2008
Final Stats
NEW YORK, N.Y. - A furious late rally from a 10-point deficit with four minutes to play fell just short for the Navy women's basketball team in a 54-53 loss to Columbia, Saturday afternoon at Levien Gymnasium in New York City.
The contest served as the consolation game of the Tyler Ugolyn Columbia Classic.
The Mids (2-3) trailed the Lions (2-3) 49-38 with five minutes left and were still down 51-41 with four minutes to play. Whitney Davidson (Sr., New Oxford, Pa.) hit her third three-pointer of the game with 3:48 remaining to make it a seven-point game. Both teams came away empty on their next possessions, then Melissa Shafer scored on a layup to boost Columbia's lead back to 53-44 with 2:50 left on the clock.
Cassie Consedine (So., Bartlesville, Okla.) was fouled on Navy's next trip down the floor and went to the charity line with 2:33 left to play. She missed both free throws, but Angela Myers (So., San Antonio, Texas) hauled in the offensive carom for the Mids. She missed her first putback but grabbed her own board and converted her second attempt with 2:29 remaining.
Danielle Brown was fouled on Columbia's ensuing possession and made the second of two free throw attempts to give the Lions a 54-46 lead with just over two minutes left to play. The Mids again found Consedine underneath and she again went to the foul line with 1:50 to play. This time, however, she sank both attempts to pull Navy to within six points.
A missed shot by Shafer, a Columbia offensive rebound and a turnover gave the ball back to Navy with 1:25 showing on the clock. That miscue led to a Kalen Kropa (Sr., Reidsville, N.C.) layup to make the score 54-50 with 74 seconds left to play.
Columbia's Sara Yee missed a jumper 20 seconds later, with Myers gathering in the board for the Mids. Myers then found an open Consedine driving hard down the lane for an easy layup that pulled Navy to within two points at 54-52 with 29.1 seconds left in regulation.
Columbia ran half of the remaining time off of the clock before Danielle Browne was fouled with 14 seconds to play. She missed the front end of the bonus, however, and Consedine grabbed her game-high 12th rebound of the game.
Navy was unable to come up with a shot as the game clock was winding down and eventually the ball was poked loose with several seconds left. After Myers dove for the loose ball she was fouled by a diving Kathleen Barry with just one-tenth of a second remaining in the game.
After a Columbia 30-second timeout, Myers calmly stepped to the line and sank the first attempt. The Lions then called a 60-second timeout before her next attempt that would have forced overtime. Unlike her first attempt that hit the front of the rim before falling, this time her shot hit the right side of the rim and rolled off. The ball bounced off of the hands of two players to end the game.
"Tonight we rallied with Angela on the bench and that was the first time this year we did that, so that was a positive to take from today," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper. "It was that fighting spirit we had today. I think this team (Columbia) could have beaten us by 20, and I think we could have beaten them. The fact is we had a foul shot to tie it and I think we had great momentum heading into overtime."
Navy held the lead throughout the entire first half, with its largest lead being 25-15 with just over six minutes left in the half. The Mids would hold just a 30-27 advantage at halftime, though.
Columbia took its first lead of the game at 33-32 on a layup by Judie Lomax with 15:36 left in the game. In addition to the Lions taking over the lead with the field goal, making matters worse for the Mids was the fact that Myers was also whistled for her fourth foul of the game on the play, which sent her to the bench.
A Kropa field goal soon tied the game again at 38-38, but the Lions responded with an 11-0 run to build their 49-38 advantage.
Both teams made four three-point field goals and 21 field goals overall in the contest, with the Mids finishing 7-of-12 from the foul line and the Lions sinking 8-of-14 attempts from the charity stripe. Columbia held a 41-34 advantage over Navy in rebounding, while the Lions turned the ball over 18 times and forced the Mids into 22 turnovers.
"I think we can create some better shots in transition so that is something we have to work on," said Pemper. "We had some untimely turnovers that hurt us, but overall I liked our shot selection. I think we see the floor really well and are unselfish."
Davidson scored a game-high 17 points in the contest for the Mids and, with her career-high tying 18-point effort Friday against Texas State, was named to the Tyler Ugolyn Columbia Classic All-Tournament Team.
"Whitney had a really good preseason for us," said Pemper. "I'm happy for her and our team that she had the kind of weekend she had. She let the game come to her, made smart decisions with the ball, attacked with the ball and her defense is helping us, too. She can be disruptive, get deflections and double the post, so she can help us with her defense, too, and she did just that this weekend."
Consedine added 11 points to her one dozen caroms to tally her first double-double of the season, while also tallying three blocked shots. Myers, who was limited to just 24 minutes in the game due to her foul troubles, contributed eight points, six rebounds and six assists.
Lomax, with 12 points, and Chelsea Frazier, with 10 points, paced the Columbia offense.
Navy will open a three-game homestand Tuesday night when the Midshipmen play host to Dayton in a 5 p.m. game in Alumni Hall.
