Large Navy Lead Holds Up in Win Over American

Jan. 28, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- After letting all but a few points of a 21-point second-half advantage slip away, the Navy women's basketball team made nine free throws over the closing stretch of the game to hold off a late charge from American and come away with a 68-61 victory over the Eagles Wednesday night at Bender Arena in Washington, D.C.

The game could not have started better for Navy (11-10, 4-2 Patriot League) as the Mids quickly jumped out to a 17-0 lead over American (14-7, 4-2) after the first seven minutes of play. Navy connected on five of its opening seven shots from the field and converted 4-of-4 attempts from the foul line during this game-opening run. Conversely, the Eagles misfired on their opening 11 shots from the floor.

"Our defense was very good at the start of the game," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper. "We switched on American's players a lot and really forced them into some difficult shots. Then we started to hit some shots of our own on the other end of the floor."

The Mids would take a 32-6 advantage over the Eagles before heading into the locker room at halftime holding a 38-19 lead.

Navy's largest lead of the second half came when the Mids went ahead 52-31 with just over 12 minutes remaining in the game, and the Mids still held a 19-point cushion (57-38) with seven minutes to play. The Eagles then went on a 13-0 run to pull to within 57-51 with 2:13 left in the game. Navy's Whitney Davidson (Sr., New Oxford, Pa.) missed an ensuing three-point shot, but American's Talicia Jackson missed a three-point attempt and Michelle Kirk missed an attempt from inside of the paint on its next possession. The Mids obtained possession of the ball when the loose carom was knocked out of bounds, then Kristin Bowen (Jr., Monroesville, N.J.) threw a long inbounds pass to Angela Myers (So., San Antonio, Texas) who scored on a layup to give the Mids an eight-point lead with 1:50 left on the clock.

The Eagles hurried the ball down the court and soon Jackson was fouled by Bowen. She went to the foul line and sank both attempts to again make it just a six-point spread between the teams. Both teams came away without scoring a point on their ensuing possession, then the Mids turned the ball over again on their next time down the court. Kirk would again head to the foul line for the Eagles, and she sank 1-of-2 attempts to pull American to within 59-54 with 1:14 left to play.

Both teams would total six possessions over the remainder of the game, with the Mids being fouled by the Eagles each time down the court. First Myers made a pair of free throws to give Navy a 61-54 lead (1:12 left) then, after an American missed shot, Kalen Kropa (Sr., Reidsville, N.C.) made 1-of-2 attempts for the Mids to make the score 62-54 (1:05). Kirk then scored a layup while being fouled, but she missed the free throw attempt that would have made it a five-point came. The Eagles quickly fouled Kropa again and she sank both attempts to give Navy a 64-56 lead (0:56).

Nicole Ryan was fouled while attempting a three-point shot on the next American possession and she sank all three attempts to pull the Eagles to within 64-59 (0:30), but Myers went back to the line for the Mids and she made both free throws to boost the Navy cushion back to seven points at 66-59 (0:29). After the Eagles missed a layup they fouled Bowen, who made the first but missed the second of her shots from the line to give the Mids a 67-59 lead (0:22). Kirk hit a layup for American, but that was answered by Davidson making 1-of-2 free throw attempts with 13 seconds left that would close out the scoring for the night.

In all, Navy converted 9-of-12 attempts over the last 74 seconds of the game.

"I think we kept our composure by making the free throws," said Pemper. "American was chipping away at the lead and we did need to make some stops in there, but we knew we also had to score points. Connecting on those free throws gave us the points we needed."

The Mids shot a blistering 52.2 percent from the floor and made 6-of-10 three-point attempts in the first half and finished the game shooting 45.8 percent from the field and totaling a 7-of-15 night from beyond the arc. Additionally, Navy converted 17-of-21 free throw attempts in the game. American would tally shooting percentages of 34.2 percent from the field and 16.7 percent (3-of-18) from three-point land. The Eagles also were 8-of-10 from the charity stripe in the game.

Navy won the game despite turning the ball over 25 times and forcing American into just 13 turnovers.

Davidson scored 16 points and grabbed five rebounds, K.C. Gordon (Jr., Vienna, Va.) finished with 12 points and five boards, Myers tallied 11 points and six rebounds and Cassie Consedine (So., Bartlesville, Okla.) recorded 11 points and 12 caroms. Kropa and Myers also contributed eight and four assists, respectively.

Kirk tallied 27 points and 11 boards in the game, with Liz Leer adding 18 points and six rebounds. The duo accounted for 20 of the 25 field goals made by the American team.

Navy will return home Saturday night when the Midshipmen play host to Colgate in a 7 p.m. game in Alumni Hall.

Print Friendly Version