Dec. 5, 2008

Final Stats

Box Score in PDF Format

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- Sarah Bucar scored all 16 of her points in the second half, including a layup with 19 seconds left to play that broke a tie game, to help lead the Penn women's basketball team to a 61-58 victory over Navy, Friday afternoon at The Palestra in Philadelphia.

The game was reminiscent of many Navy (4-6) contests this year, with a late rally by the Mids falling just short. Penn (1-6) took a 55-48 lead on a three-pointer by Bucar with 3:48 left to play. Navy slowly erased the deficit at the free throw line, with Kalen Kropa, K.C. Gordon and Emily Cordle combining to shoot 5-of-6 from the foul line over the next 80 seconds to pull the Mids to within two points at 55-53 with 2:34 left on the clock.

The Quakers quickly increased their lead to five points on their ensuing possession when Bucar fed Carrie Biemer for a layup while being fouled. She converted the three-point play opportunity to give the Quakers a 58-53 advantage with 2:11 left to play. Navy wasted little time on its next trip down the floor when Cassie Consedine drilled a three-point field goal to cut the deficit down to two points with two minutes remaining.

After Penn's Katarina Lackner missed a shot inside the paint, Angela Myers hauled in the carom and fouled Consedine open again from beyond the arc. Her attempt fell halfway inside the cylinder and spun out, but Cordle forced a jump ball when she and Bucar both grabbed the errant rebound. The possession arrow favored Navy, so the Mids inbounded the ball underneath their own basket with 1:14 left in the game.

Cordle would miss a three-point attempt with just under one minute remaining, but Myers grabbed her 13th rebound of the night to allow Navy a third chance to tie the game or take the lead. Kropa soon drive the baseline and though her shot was off, she was fouled with 31.6 seconds remaining. She made the first attempt to slice the margin in half, then missed the second. The Quakers were called for a lane violation on the play, though, giving Kropa another opportunity to shoot her second attempt. Her shot was true this time to make the score 58-58.

Bucar would drive the left side of the lane and bank in the aforementioned layup to give Penn he 60-58 lead.

After a Navy timeout, Kropa had the ball in her hands and again she drove to the hoop. Her attempt with less than four seconds left hit the backboard and bounced off of the rim and to the floor. Bucar dove to the floor to grab the ball and Kropa fouled her while diving for it herself with 0.1 seconds remaining on the clock. Bucar walked to the other end of the court and sank the first free throw, then intentionally missed the second. The ball fell into the hands of Gordon and time expired to end the contest.

Navy hauled in 40 rebounds to Penn's 33 caroms, forced Penn into three more turnovers than the Mids tallied and converted 18-of-26 free throws on the afternoon to a 7-of-12 effort by the Quakers. Penn, however, shot 51.9 percent from the floor in the second half to Navy's mark of 30.8 percent after halftime.

"We needed to defend Penn better," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper "They shot a fantastic percentage in scoring 39 second-half points."

Gordon scored a season-high 13 points in the game to lead Navy, while Myers recorded the first double-double of her career with 12 points and her career-best 13 rebounds. Also scoring in double figures was Consedine with 10 points.

"I was really pleased with Angela's play tonight," said Pemper. "I thought she competed really well and was able to put a tough night for her against UMBC behind her. She showed great leadership and really wanted to win the game.

While Bucar scored all of her points after intermission, teammate Carrie Biemer led all players in the game with 23 points.

Navy will return to action Tuesday evening when the Mids play at Towson in a 5 p.m. game.