Feb. 18, 2009
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ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Holy Cross scored the last 11 points of the game to come away with a 67-58 victory over the Navy women's basketball team, Wednesday night at Alumni Hall.
"Our defense let us down tonight," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper. "It has been awhile since that has happened. We let their three most dangerous players have great games."
Navy (13-13, 6-5 Patriot League) fought back from a seven-point second-half deficit to take a 46-45 lead over Holy Cross (11-15, 6-5) on a field goal from Emily Cordle (Sr., Rome, Ga.) with 8:25 left in the game. That would be the first of eight lead changes over the remainder of the contest.
The score was soon tied at 56-56 with the Mids preparing to inbound the ball on their own baseline and the clock showing 3:18 left to play. Angela Myers (So., San Antonio, Texas) slid behind a Holy Cross defender and found herself wide open underneath the basket. Whitney Davidson (Sr., New Oxford, Pa.) quickly inbounded the ball to Myers for an easy layup that gave Navy a 58-56 lead. The ensuing Holy Cross possession saw Bethany O'Dell grab an offensive rebound to keep the possession alive, then she scored on a layup to tie the game with just under three minutes left to play.
Christy Cushnie promptly stole the ball from Kalen Kropa (Sr., Reidsville, N.C.) to keep the Mids from attempting a shot on their next trip down the floor. Myers then fouled Whitney Fremeau with 2:30 left to play. Fremeau made her first attempt from the line to break the tie, but missed her second effort. Neither team was able to grab the loose ball until Elizabeth Campbell hauled it in for the Crusaders. After receiving the ball at the top of the key, Briana McFadden drove down the left side of the lane for a layup while being fouled to push the Holy Cross advantage to 61-58 with 2:22 left to play. She would miss her attempt from the stripe, however, with Myers hauling in the carom.
Myers would miss a game-tying three-point attempt for the Mids, then Campbell hit a field goal for the Crusaders to make the margin five points with 90 seconds left. K.C. Gordon (Jr., Vienna, Va.) would miss a three-point attempt for Navy, with the rebound being scooped up by Campbell. That led to another McFadden layup to boost the Holy Cross lead to 65-58 with 37 seconds showing on the clock.
After Kristin Bowen (Jr., Monroesville, N.J.) misfired from three-point range for the Mids and Cushnie hauled in the rebound, the Mids fouled O'Dell with 22 seconds left to play. She would sink both free throw attempts for what would prove to be the final points of the night.
Following the layup by Myers that gave Navy a 58-56 lead, Holy Cross scored on each of its last six possessions of the game, while the Mids were a combined 0-of-4 from the field with one turnover over their last five trips down the court.
"The difference down the stretch was the ability of Holy Cross to make shots," said Pemper. "We also had a big turnover in there which hurt us."
Both teams did most of their scoring from beyond the three-point arc. Holy Cross made nine triples in the game, while Navy converted eight three-point shots. The difference between the two teams, however, was that the Crusaders attempted 19 three-point shots (47.4%) and the Mids took 32 shots from outside of the arc (25%). Those numbers helped Holy Cross total an overall field goal percentage of 43.1 percent on the night and Navy to a mark of 36.5 percent.
Bowen led Navy in scoring with a career-high tying 15 points in the game for Navy, with Myers adding 13 points, eight rebounds and three assists for the Mids.
O'Dell paced all players in the game with 21 points on the night, McFadden scored 16 points for the Crusaders and Campbell notched a double-double in the game with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Navy will be back in Alumni Hall Saturday when the Mids play host to Army in the annual Star Game between the two programs. The Army-Navy men's game starts the doubleheader at 1 p.m., with the women's game following at 3:30 p.m.
