March 1, 2008

Box Score

Box Score in PDF Format

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy women's basketball team overcame an eight-point deficit with eight minutes remaining in the game to post a 56-54 victory over Colgate Saturday evening in Alumni Hall

The Mids started the game fast as team captain Ali Currier (Sr., Columbia, S.C.), who was playing the last game of her career in Alumni Hall, scored the opening five points of the game on a three-pointer -- just her second of the season and the 10th of her 71-game career -- and a jumper.

Currier has missed the last five games with an injury and departed the game for good three minutes into the contest.

"I've seen a lot of senior nights and I have never seen one like this," said Navy head coach Tom Marryott. "Ali has not been able to pick up a basketball for two weeks, and to have her come out and score our first five points is a testament to her work ethic and determination. She showed what a great leader the Marine Corps will be receiving in a few months."

"It was nice to get a couple of baskets before I left," said Currier.

The Mids tried to pull away from the Raiders midway through the first half as Navy built up a 10-point lead at 22-12, but Colgate quickly pulled to within one point at 27-26 with 1:45 left in the half. Navy would eventually hold a 30-26 advantage at intermission.

Navy scored the first basket of the second half to take a six-point lead and soon held a 34-29 lead with just under 16 minutes left to play. The Raiders proceeded to go on a 12-1 run in less than five minutes to take a 41-35 lead. Colgate was 6-of-9 from the field during this span, while Navy was 0-of-4 and was outrebounded 6-2 by the Raiders.

The Raiders would eventually take their largest lead of the game at 46-38 with 8:09 minutes remaining in the game, but 69 seconds later the score was tied.

Emily Cordle (Jr., Rome, Ga.) drilled a three-pointer for the Mids to cut the margin down to five points, then Navy used the free throw line on its next two possessions to tie the game at 46-46. Kelly Altschul (So., Highland Village, Texas) was fouled after grabbing a defensive rebound and made both free throw attempts to make it a three-point game, then Whitney Davidson (Jr., New Oxford, Pa.) was fouled while attempting a three-point shot. She made all three free throws to knot the game with exactly seven minutes remaining.

Both teams would miss field goal attempts on their next ensuing possessions, then Sami Kozlowski drilled a triple to give Colgate a 49-46 advantage with six minutes left on the clock. A jumper from Cassie Consedine (Fr., Bartlesville, Okla.) cut two points off of the Navy deficit, then Consedine made the first of two free throws to tie the game at 49-49 with 3:23 left to play.

Colgate would take a 51-49 lead on its next time down the floor when Georgia Gier made a jumper. Both teams came away empty on each of their next two respective possessions, then Cordle drilled her career-best third three-pointer of the game with 1:25 left to give the Mids a 52-51 lead.

Colgate ran the game clock down to 1:02 and the shot clock down to 14 seconds before calling a timeout. After the inbounds pass started play again, Navy's defense didn't allow the Raiders to get close to attempting a shot before the shot clock expired giving the ball back to the Mids with 48 seconds left to play.

Navy worked time off of the clock itself before Cordle tried a three-pointer from the left baseline with 33 seconds left. Her shot caromed off the far side of the rim and went long towards the Navy sideline and right into the hands of Consedine who quickly hauled it in with 31 seconds showing on the clock. Marryott called a timeout with 28.6 seconds left in the game and 27 seconds remaining on the shot clock.

After the timeout, the Mids inbounded the ball to K.C. Gordon (So., Vienna, Va.) who was immediately fouled. She sank both free throws to give the Mids a 54-51 lead. The Raiders hurried the ball down the court and soon put it in the hands of Katie Garman who drove down the left side of the lane. She was met by Consedine who not only swatted away the running field goal attempt, she also tracked down the ball before it went out of bounds and made an off-balance pass to Cordle to keep the ball in the hands of the Mids. Cordle was immediately fouled and made both free throw attempts to give Navy a 56-51 lead with six seconds left. Kozlowski made a three-pointer at the buzzer for Colgate to make the final score 56-54.

"We had a lot of people make big plays down the stretch," said Marryott. "Emily with her three-pointer to give us the late lead, K.C. making those free throws, Cassie grabbing the offensive rebound and then getting a nice block and defensive rebound on the other end; that's what you want to see heading into the postseason."

Colgate held sizeable shooting percentage advantages over the Mids in both the second half (40.7-25.0%) and for the game (38.9-30.8%). The Raiders made 21 field goals to Navy's 16 and both teams made seven three-pointers on the night, though Colgate shot 53.8 percent from beyond the arc (7-of-13) while Navy converted just 28 percent of its three-point attempts (17-of-23). Both teams were whistled for 16 fouls in the game, but Navy made 17-of-23 free throw attempts to Colgate's 5-of-10 effort to make up for the deficit in field goals.

Both teams did a good job of holding onto the ball as the Raiders tallied 12 turnovers on the night and the Mids turning the ball over just eight times. The latter total by the Mids is the second-lowest number of turnovers committed by the program in a Patriot League game.

Cordle's trio of three-pointers allowed her to score a career-high 13 points in the game to lead the Navy offense for the first time in her career. She was joined in double figures by Consedine who scored 10 points and hauled in an equal number of rebounds to post her 12th double-double of the season. Angela Myers (Fr., San Antonio, Texas) played just 27 minutes due to foul trouble, but made the most of her time as she tallied eight points, five assists and three steals.

Colgate (1-28, 0-14 Patriot League) was led in scoring by 18 points from Kozlowski.

"Colgate played great offensively in the second half," said Marryott. "We were able to absorb a blow, but we kept our composure and were able to come back. Being able to do so says a lot about the character of this team."

Navy (7-22, 3-11 Patriot League) will now travel to West Point, N.Y., for the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the Patriot League Tournament. The seventh-seeded Mids will face No. 2 Holy Cross Sat., March 8 in the quarterfinal round, with the winner slated to play whomever emerges from the #3 Lehigh vs. #6 Lafayette game the following day in the semifinal round. All of Navy's postseason games can be heard live locally on WNAV-AM 1430, with subscribers to Navy All-Access being able to view a video stream of the game.