Feb. 14, 2009

Final Stats

Box Score in PDF Format

EASTON, Pa. -- The Navy women's basketball team rallied from a nine-point deficit with 10 minutes to play to record a 60-57 victory over Lafayette, Saturday afternoon at the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, Pa.

"It was one of those games where the team that had the last run of the game would win," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper.

After a back-and-forth first half that saw four ties and five lead changes, Lafayette (8-17, 2-8 Patriot League) took a 24-22 lead over Navy (13-12, 6-4) at intermission. The Leopards quickly extended their lead to seven points at 33-26 early in the second half, then pulled out to a nine-point lead at 44-35 with just over 10 minutes remaining in the game.

"At that point in the second half, we had to decide if we had another run in us or not," said Pemper. "Things hadn't been going our way for awhile. But we came out and said we were not going to leave without giving one last good effort."

The Mids responded with a 13-3 run to take a 48-47 lead with 4:27 left to play.

Navy scored the next seven points of the game, with five of the points coming at the free throw line, and narrowed its deficit down to two points at 44-42 when Kristin Bowen (Jr., Monroesville, N.J.) sank a pair of free throws with 7:21 showing on the clock.

Cristin Zavocki drilled a three-point field goal on Lafayette's next time down the court, but Navy scored on three of its next four possessions to take its first lead of the half. Kalen Kropa (Sr., Reidsville, N.C.) started the Navy run with a driving layup then, after a steal by K.C. Gordon (Jr., Vienna, Va.), Bowen was fouled again. She made both attempts from the charity stripe with 5:43 left to pull the Mids to within one point.

Each team turned the ball over on their next respective possession, then Bowen drilled a 12-foot turnaround jumper to give the Mids the lead.

Both teams came away without points on their next time down the floor, then Amanda Smith was fouled and made both free throws to give Lafayette a 49-48 lead with 3:23 left in the game. Bowen promptly connected on a three-point field goal to give the lead back to Navy at 51-49 with just over three minutes remaining.

The teams traded field goals on each of their ensuing two possessions, then a pair of free throws by Lafayette's Angela Smith made the score 55-55 with 1:12 showing on the clock.

With the shot clock under 10 seconds on Navy's next trip down the court, Whitney Davidson's (Sr., New Oxford, Pa.) three-point attempt was long. However, Angela Myers (So., San Antonio, Texas) snuck between a pair of Lafayette players to grab the offensive rebound. After landing on her feet she immediately went back up into the air to attempt a shot. She was fouled as she went up and, despite being horizontal to the ground, managed to get the shot off. The ball banked off the backboard and through the hoop for two points. She then made the free throw to give the Mids a 58-55 lead with 46.0 seconds left in the game.

Smith missed a jumper for Lafayette, but Emily Garner was there to grab the offensive rebound for the Leopards. She was fouled while going up for a shot and converted both free throw attempts to pull Lafayette to within one point with 25.0 seconds remaining.

After a Navy timeout, Gordon threw a halfcourt inbounds pass to Myers who beat the Leopards down the court and scored a layup to give the Mids a three-point lead with 19 seconds left.

Lafayette hurried the ball down the floor and Garner quickly attempted a jumper for the Leopards that was no good. Gordon was there to grab the rebound for the Mids and she was immediately fouled with 14.6 seconds left. After walking to the other end of the floor, Gordon missed both free throw attempts and the Leopards grabbed the errant carom. Lafayette would call timeout with 10.6 left in the game.

The Leopards inbounded the ball at halfcourt, but Lafayette struggled to attempt a shot against the Navy defense. Finally, with three seconds left, Jessica Spicer launched a three-point shot that was long. Myers would grab the loose ball as the buzzer sounded to end the game.

"We had a lot of people make plays for us down the stretch, plays that show up in the box score and plays that don't," said Pemper. "Kristin hitting a very tough turnaround jumper, K.C. making the touchdown pass, Morgan Hill (Jr., Portales, N.M.) making a reverse layup with 90 seconds left and Angela's offensive rebound and putback. Then there were solid screens being set and touches that kept the ball alive for us by a number of players."

After shooting 27 percent from the field in the first half, Navy converted 50 percent of its shots from the floor in the second half. The Mids also were 10-of-13 from the foul line after halftime and ended the game converting 14-of-18 attempts from the line in the game. Lafayette, meanwhile, shot 52 percent from the floor after halftime and made 50 percent of its field goal attempts in the game. The Leopards also made all nine of their free throw attempts in the game.

Navy turned the ball over just five times in the game, the fourth-lowest turnover total in school history, while forcing Lafayette into 14 turnovers on the afternoon.

Both teams had three players score in double figures in the game. Davidson scored 10 of her Navy-best 15 points in the first half, while Bowen tallied nine of her 11 points in the second half. Myers, meanwhile, just missed her second-straight double-double with nine points and 10 boards, while also recording six steals and four assists.

Emily Garner led Lafayette with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Navy will open a three-game homestand Wednesday night when the Mids play host to Holy Cross in a 7 p.m. game in Alumni Hall.