Jan. 10, 2009

Box Score in PDF Format

LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bucknell went on a 14-0 run in the first half and held the lead over the remainder of the game in recording a 66-50 victory over the Navy women's basketball team Saturday night at Sojka Pavilion in Lewisburg, Pa. The win was the fifth in a row for the Mids, while the Mids have dropped two of their last three outings.

Navy (7-9, 0-1 Patriot League) held an early 8-7 lead until Bucknell (9-5, 1-0) went on a 14-0 run over the next seven minutes. The Mids were able to slice the deficit down to six points at 32-26 with just over one minute to play in the half, but the Bison scored the last five points of the half to head into the locker rooms holding a 37-26 advantage.

Bucknell dominated the glass during the opening 20 minutes of play, grabbing 13 offensive caroms and 29 total boards while Navy tallied 14 rebounds overall in the half. Additionally, the Mids, who entered the game averaging 15.3 personal fouls for an entire game this season, were whistled for 11 fouls in the first half alone. That led to Bucknell connecting on 11-of-15 attempts from the foul line while Navy converted 4-of-7 shots from the charity stripe.

Individually, leading scorer Cassie Consedine was held to 1-of-10 shooting from the floor in the first half as Navy shot just 29 percent from the field as a team to Bucknell's 40-percent effort.

Navy was able to close to within six points early in the second half as the Mids cut a 42-29 deficit down to 42-36, but Bucknell responded with a 7-0 run of its own to take a 49-36 lead with 12:35 left to play in the game. The Mids were only able to pull to within as few as 10 points (49-39) over the remainder of the contest.

"We struggled to score tonight," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper. "I give Bucknell a lot of credit for that. They took away a lot of the things we wanted to do on offense. You can't score 50 points and expect to beat a good team on the road."

Though the Mids were outscored by just five points in the second half, Bucknell increased its shooting percentage in the frame to nearly 48 percent, with Navy connecting on the same number of field goals in the second half as it did in the first half (nine). The Bison also held a 16-12 advantage in rebounding during the final 20 minutes of play and finished the game with 45 rebounds to Navy's 26.

"We did a much better job of keeping Bucknell out of the lane in the second half," said Pemper. "We were outscored by just five points and held them to just three offensive rebounds after halftime, and a lot of that was our ability to keep them out of the lane. We needed to do that earlier."

The two teams combined for just seven fouls in the second half, with Navy being whistled for three of them.

Kristin Bowen played just 14 minutes in the game for Navy, but ended the contest with a team-best 11 points. She was joined in double figures by Whitney Davidson and Kalen Kropa who scored 10 points apiece. Consedine would finish the game shooting 2-of-14 from the floor and tallying five points and three rebounds in 27 minutes of playing time.

Bucknell's offense was paced by Cosima Higham and Amanda Brown who scored 17 and 16 points, respectively.

Navy will open the home portion of its Patriot League season Wednesday night when the Mids play host to Lehigh in a 7 p.m. game in Alumni Hall.