Jan. 21, 2009

Final Stats

Box Score in PDF Format

WORCESTER, Mass. - The Navy women's basketball team shot 60 percent from the floor and scored 44 points in the second half in rallying to post a 59-50 victory over Holy Cross, Wednesday night at the Hart Center in Worcester, Mass.

"This was our biggest win of the year," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper. "If we had defeated Lehigh last week (a 66-63 overtime loss) that would have been a big win, but this one came on the road. The team believed they could win and I happy for them that their hard work and focus paid off."

Both teams struggled from the floor during the first half with the Mids (9-10, 2-2 Patriot League) connecting on 17.1 percent of their shots and the Crusaders (8-11, 3-1) sinking 28.6 percent of their attempts from the field. Holy Cross would close the first half on a 12-2 run to take a 22-15 lead at intermission. Then the Crusaders built double-digit leads over the Mids early in the second half at both 29-18 (16:33) and 31-21 (15:39).

"We didn't get discouraged when we easily could have," said Pemper.

Navy proceeded to score on nine of its next 11 possessions to put together a 24-4 run that gave the Mids a 45-35 lead with 8:10 left to play.

The Mids drilled 9-of-12 attempts from the field and were 4-of-4 from beyond the three-point arc during this run. Additionally, Navy gathered in each of its three missed shots during this stretch and came away with points following each initial miss. The 24 points were scored by five different Mids: Angela Myers (So., San Antonio, Texas), eight points; Kristin Bowen (Jr., Monroesville, N.J.), six points; Morgan Hill (Jr., Portales, N.M.), four points; Whitney Davidson (Jr., New Oxford, Pa.), two points; Kalen Kropa (Sr., Reidsville, N.C.), two points.

Holy Cross, in turn made just 2-of-7 attempts from the field over this seven-minute span.

"We executed very effectively during this time," said Pemper. "It was one of contagious stretched where everyone was feeling it and every shot seemed to be going in.

"I thought Kalen gave us great energy during the run. The play was almost non-stop and it seemed like it was a real battle of wills. Kalen showed great leadership and her teammates really followed her."

Navy still held a double-digit lead at 52-42 with 5:27 left to play in the game when the Crusaders started to make a run at the Mids. A 6-0 run by the Crusaders made it a four-point game with 2:51 remaining, but Hill sank a pair of free throw attempts for the Mids on the next Navy possession to push the margin back to six points. Both teams proceeded to turn the ball over on their ensuing trips down the floor, then a layup by Christie Cushine cut the Navy advantage to 54-50 with just under two minutes left to play.

One of the biggest buckets of the game came on Navy's next time down the court when Davidson drilled her fifth three-point field goal to give Navy a 57-50 lead with less than 90 seconds to play.

"Not too far before Whitney hit that three pointer, she had just passed one upand we turned the ball over on a shot clock violation," said Pemper. "She then came right back and had the confidence to knock it down.

"I thought at halftime that Whitney being able to step up and hit the outside shots when she was open would be a big difference in the second half."

Holy Cross would miss its final five shots from the floor before the buzzer sounded to end the game.

As part of its 60-percent effort from the field in the second half, Navy converted 7-of-14 three-point attempts after halftime. Overall, the Mids would finish the game 10-of-26 from beyond the arc while Holy Cross made five triples and shot 33.9 percent from the field in the contest.

Navy held a 19-7 advantage on the glass in the second half and posted a 46-29 rebounding advantage in the game.

Davidson led Navy with 17 points in the game, Bowen scored all 13 of her points after halftime and Myers totaled 10 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Cassie Consedine (So., Bartlesville, Okla.) and K.C. Gordon (Jr., Vienna, Va.) both grabbed eight rebounds for the Mids, with Kropa recording seven assists, five rebounds and four points.

"It was a great team effort," said Pemper. "I thought Morgan and Kristin were huge for us off of the bench. Kristin is instant offense and Morgan gave us some great toughness out there.

Whitney Fremeau and Briana McFadden both scored 12 points for Holy Cross.

Navy will next play Saturday at Army in a 12 Noon game that will be carried live on ESPNU.