Nov. 15, 2009

Final Stats

ELON, N.C. -- The Navy women's basketball team overcame a 23-point first-half deficit to post a 68-61 victory over Elon, Saturday night at Alumni Gym in Elon, N.C. The win was Navy's second in as many nights at the Phoenix Classic, while the tournament-host Phoenix saw their record fall to 1-1 after the opening weekend of play.

Navy held an early 7-3 advantage over Elon, but the Phoenix tallied the ensuing 27 points to take a 30-7 lead with just over nine minutes left to play in the first half. The Mids were just 3-of-18 (16.7%) from the floor during this time, while the Phoenix connected on 11-of-20 shots from the field (55%). Elon would eventually take a 42-26 lead into the locker room at halftime.

"In the first half we fouled too much and just couldn't hit a shot," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper. "From the time we walked off the floor at halftime, you could see the players believing that they could win. We told them that if we had kept them off the line and made some shots it would have been a four-point game. We said if we could hold them under 70 points we had a real chance at winning."

The Mids quickly started to chip away at the 16-point deficit right at the start of the second half. The margin was whittled down to single digits for the first time when the Mids closed to within 46-38 less than four minutes into the second half, and Navy soon tied the score at 54-54 on a pair of free throws from K.C. Gordon (Sr., Vienna, Va.) with 8:26 left to play in the game.

Navy took its first lead of the second half when Chey Arvin (Fr., Noblesville, Ind.) connected on her only field goal of the game to make the score 58-57 with just under five minutes showing on the clock. Elon missed a jumper on its next possession, with Jasmine Pitts (Fr., Long Beach, N.Y.) connecting on a three-point field goal for the Mids on their ensuing time down the floor to increase the Navy lead to 61-57.

Elon sliced the margin in half on a jumper with 3:26 remaining, but the Mids pushed their lead back to four points when Angela Myers (Jr., San Antonio, Texas) converted a pair of free throws with two minutes left to play. Both teams came away empty on their respective next possession, then Lei Lei Hairston made a jumper for the Phoenix to make it a two-point game with 80 seconds left on the clock.

Navy turned the ball over on its next trip down the floor, but a Megan Matheny (Fr., Lexington Park, Md.) block gave the ball back to the Mids with under one minute to play. Pitts would be sent to the free throw line with 42 seconds left to on the clock and she converted both of her attempts from the charity stripe to increase Navy's lead to 65-61. Pitts then stole the ball and was fouled again with 24 seconds showing on the clock. She again made both free throw attempts to give Navy a 67-61 lead.

Elon missed a three-point shot on its ensuing possession and fouled Kristin Bowen (Sr., Monroesville, N.J.) with 12 seconds remaining. She sank 1-of-2 free throws to close out the scoring.

"Elon is a less experienced team than we are," said Pemper. "They have two terrific freshmen, but I think the inexperience on the team hurt them a little. At times they weren't sure who should be taking the shot. We also defended them very well."

After Elon's 11-of-20 effort from the field to start the game, the Navy defense harassed the Phoenix into 11-of-41 shooting (26.8%) from the floor over the final 29 minutes of play. Conversely, Navy's offense sank 21-of-50 shots (42%) from the field over the same time frame.

Navy also held a 49-40 advantage over Elon in rebounding and forced the Phoenix into 22 turnovers while committing 18 turnovers of its own.

"A huge statistic was our 20 offensive rebounds and beating them on the boards overall," sad Pemper. "We limited them to one shot a lot. We went with a very small lineup out there because of Elon's athleticism. Kristin Bowen and K.C. Gordon did a great job out there with such a small lineup. Kristin was terrific tonight."

Pitts was one of four Mids to score in double figures in the game. In addition to her Navy-best 18 points, Gordon scored 14 points, Bowen scored 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and Cassie Consedine (Jr., Bartlesville, Okla.) added 10 points in 20 minutes of playing time. Additionally for the Mids, Angela Myers (Jr., San Antonio, Texas) hauled in 12 caroms and was named to the all-tournament team.

Navy will remain on the road for a game Monday night at Ohio.