Jan. 17, 2009

Final Stats

Complete Box Score in PDF Format

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Angela Myers (So., San Antonio, Texas) neared a school record for steals and Cassie Consedine (So., Bartlesville, Okla.) scored 10 of Navy's final 11 points of Navy's 53-48 victory over Lafayette, Saturday night at Alumni Hall in Annapolis. The win was the first in three attempts during the Patriot League season for the Navy women's basketball team, while the Leopards saw their record fall to 1-2 in league play with the loss.

"I liked our defense tonight," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper. "There were some breakdowns, but giving up 48 points is not a lot to give up."

Neither offense was able to get on track in the first half. The Mids shot just 30.8 percent from the floor and the Leopards connected on 26.9 percent of their shots as Navy took a 23-20 lead at halftime. Lafayette promptly started the second half with a 6-0 run to record the first of three lead changes over the opening five minutes of the second half.

Later, the Leopards took a 41-39 lead with 6:22 left to play, but the Mids went on a quick 5-0 run and took a 44-41 lead on a jumper from Consedine with 4:25 left on the clock. The basket was the first of the game for the Navy center. Both teams missed jump shots on their respective ensuing possessions, then Emily Garner made 1-of-2 free throw attempts for Lafayette with 3:32 remaining to make it a two-point game.

Consedine then connected on a short field goal attempt to give the Mids a 46-42 advantage, its largest lead of the game to that point, but a three-point field goal by Jessica Spicer pulled the Leopards to within one point with just under three minutes remaining. After Consedine turned the ball over on the next Navy possession, Lafayette misfired on a pair of jump shots on its next time down that court.

From there, Navy would score on each of its remaining five possessions of the game, a stretch that started with a free throw by Whitney Davidson (Sr., New Oxford, Pa.). Spicer would go to the free throw line for Lafayette with 1:38 left to play, but she missed the front end of the bonus. Garner grabbed the offensive carom for Lafayette and the Leopards quickly found Spicer open for a three-point field goal attempt that she drained to give them a 48-47 lead with 91 seconds left on the clock.

Navy put the ball into the hands of Consedine on its next trip down the court and she would be fouled with 1:10 left to play. She made both free throws to record the sixth lead change of the second half. Lafayette took its time on its ensuing possession and eventually Garner missed a 15-foot right-side jumper with eight seconds remaining on the shot clock. Davidson grabbed the rebound for the Mids with 47 seconds left in the game. The Mids again looked to Consedine and she shook free of her defender with an up-and-under move and banked in a short jumper from the right side of the lane to give Navy a 51-48 advantage with 21.8 seconds showing on the clock.

After a Lafayette timeout with 19.8 seconds left, the Leopards finally were able to get a shot off with eight seconds left when LaKeisha Wright drove down the left side of the foul lane. She would miss her running attempt and Consedine was there for the rebound. The Leopards quickly fouled her with 6.7 seconds remaining in the game, and she sank both free throws to seal the Navy victory.

"I think we would have been pretty devastated if we had not ended up coming away with the win tonight," said Pemper. "But we can definitely play better. We can shoot the ball better, we can make better decisions and we can be more competitive. We didn't compete for 40 full minutes."

The two teams tallied field goal percentages of within a few tenths of a point of each other in the game (Navy: 34.0%, Lafayette: 33.3%), the Mids made 18 field goals to 17 for the Leopards and both teams converted nine free throw attempts. The Mids, however, made eight three-point field goals to five for the Leopards. Lafayette held a slim lead on the glass, grabbing 39 caroms to Navy's 35, but the Leopards also turned the ball over 22 times and forced the Mids into just 18 miscues with the ball. In the second half alone, Lafayette committed 14 turnovers to Navy's eight.

Myers had a starring role in forcing Lafayette into its miscues as she totaled seven steals in the game. Her tally was just two thefts away from the Navy record of nine, which has been accomplished four times in Navy history but not since Becky Dowling 13 years ago. Myers would post a box score line of nine points, five rebounds, four assists, seven steals and just two turnovers in 38 minutes of playing time.

"This game would not have gone our way had Angela not really turned it up a notch on defense," said Pemper. "In addition to her steals, she came away with a lot of deflections tonight."

Consedine struggled to shake free of the Lafayette double team for much of the night and managed to get off just nine shots in the game. In addition to her 10 points over the last 4:25 of the game, she also recorded six rebounds, three blocks, two blocks and two steals in the game.

Leading the Navy offense in the game was Davidson, who drilled 3-of-5 attempts from behind the three-point arc on her way to recording a 14-point night. Joining Davidson and Consedine in double figures was K.C. Gordon (Jr., Vienna, Va.) with 10 points.

Wright scored 13 points to lead the Lafayette offense.

Navy will take to the road for its next three games, a stretch that begins Wednesday night with a 7 p.m. game at Holy Cross.