Feb. 16, 2008

Box Score

Box Score in PDF Format

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Emily Cordle (Jr., Rome, Ga.) posted career highs in both points and rebounds and the Navy women's basketball team never trailed in recording a 53-44 victory over Lafayette, Saturday evening at Alumni Hall.

Navy (6-19, 2-8 Patriot League) scored the opening five points of the game and quickly jumped in front of the Leopards by the score of 12-6. A Lafayette (13-12, 5-5) basket cut the margin down to 12-8 with 12 minutes left to play in the first half, but the Mids went on a 14-2 run over the next seven minutes to take a 26-10 lead with a little more than five minutes remaining in the half. The Navy advantage would grow to 17 points before the teams went into the locker room with Navy holding a 32-17 advantage.

Navy shot 46.7 percent from the field over the first 20 minutes while Lafayette shot just 28.6 percent from the floor. Additionally, the Mids held a 21-14 advantage on the glass and forced the Leopards into 13 turnovers while committing nine of their own.

The 32 points was the second-highest point total for the Mids in the first half this season (34 vs. Howard), the 17 points by Lafayette was the fewest allowed by the Mids in the first half this year (20 by Rider) and the 15-point lead was the largest halftime advantage for Navy this campaign (12 in two games).

As Navy started the game with a 5-0 run, Lafayette opened the second half in the same fashion to make it a 10-point game with just over 18 minutes remaining. The Leopards soon made the margin single digits at 36-28 and pulled to within five points at 38-33 with 12 minutes showing on the clock to cap a 16-6 run.

Cordle hit a jumper to return the Navy advantage to seven points before Lafayette eventually made it a six-point game at 42-36 with 5:45 left to play. Cassie Consedine (Fr., Bartlesville, Okla.) proceeded to score five-straight points for the Mids, with her three-point field goal giving Navy a 47-36 lead with 3:45 remaining in the game.

Lafayette answered right back, however, and scored the next seven points to pull to within 47-44 with 1:45 left to play as the Mids failed to get a shot off on either of their next two possessions. The Leopards, who to that point had only been whistled for four fouls in the second half, committed three fouls over the next 13 seconds, the latter of which put Lafayette over the limit and sent Kalen Kropa (Jr., Reidsville, N.C.) to the charity stripe. She made both attempts -- Navy's first foul shots of the second half -- to give the Mids a 49-43 lead.

Lafayette missed a three-point attempt on its next possession, with Consedine grabbing the rebound with 1:10 left to play. Cordle was soon fouled and made one free throw to give Navy a 50-43 advantage. The Leopards missed their remaining four shots from the field while Navy made three of its four free throw attempts over the last 50 seconds of play to seal the victory for the Mids.

Navy made 21 field goals in the game to 13 for Lafayette, with the Mids also holding a shooting percentage advantage of 39.6-31.0 percent. The Mids also held a 39-29 advantage on the glass and finished with 14 offensive rebounds to seven for the Leopards. Navy recorded a season-high 15 steals and forced a season-best 22 turnovers. Conversely, Lafayette posted seven steals and forced the Mids into 20 turnovers.

"Our defense played very well," said Navy head coach Tom Marryott. "We also found some success on the offensive end, which gave us confidence when we went on defense."

After recording seven points and five rebounds in the first half, Cordle finished the game with 12 points and eight rebounds. Both final tallies topped her previous career-best efforts of nine points and four rebounds (both set over the last three games). Also reaching double figures in the game for Navy were Consedine with 14 points (and seven boards, four assists, two steals and one blocked shot), and K.C. Gordon (So., Vienna, Va.) with 10 points. Angela Myers (Fr., San Antonio, Texas) also had a strong all-around game, recording only four points but adding six offensive rebounds and eight boards overall to go along with five assists and three steals.

"We all promised ourselves that we were going to come ready to play today and leave everything we had on the court," said Cordle. "We were thinking about the game from the moment we woke up. We promised each other there would not be any lulls tonight."

Vanessa Van De Venter led all players in the game with 20 points, but she was the lone Lafayette player to score in double figures.

Navy will take to the road for the next three games, with its next contest coming Wednesday night at Holy Cross.