March 7, 2009
Final Stats
Box Score in PDF Format
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Navy women's basketball team posted a 53-51 victory over Bucknell, Saturday night in the quarterfinal round of the Patriot League Tournament. The sixth-seeded Mids now advance to a semifinal game against seventh-seeded Lafayette Sunday at 3:30 p.m. at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa.
"We received great leadership from Kalen Kropa and our senior class," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper. "I am very happy to beat a team of Bucknell's caliber. They are a talented team and to hold them to that kind of shooting night is a great effort from our team's part."
Navy's offense struggled to get going at the start of the game, but Cassie Consedine entered the game as a reserve and promptly hit back-to-back three-point field goals to pull the Mids to within one points at 11-10. A few minutes later, her third trey of the half gave Navy a 17-15 advantage.
Navy would close the half on a 5-1 run to head into the locker rooms holding a 29-25 lead.
The Mids would open up a lead of as many as 10 points in the second half at 43-33 and 47-37. The Bison quickly went on a 9-0 run to narrow the margin to one point at 47-46 with 2:56 left to play. Whitney Davidson would drill a three-point field goal on Navy's ensuing possession to boost the lead back to four points.
Bucknell would soon close to within two points at 50-48 with 51 seconds remaining. Navy's next trip down the floor saw Angela Myers missed a field goal, but Kalen Kropa grabbed the errant carom to allow Navy to maintain possession. Forced to foul several times due to not being over the limit, Bucknell finally sent K.C. Gordon to the foul line with 16 seconds left to play. After making the first attempt to give Navy a 51-48 lead, she missed the second but grabbed her own errant shot and was immediately fouled. This time she sank both attempts to give Navy a 53-48 lead with 14 seconds left.
Bucknell's Amanda Brown sank a three-point field goal with five seconds left to narrow the margin down to two points. After a Navy timeout, Gordon threw an inbounds pass from the baseline to just over halfcourt where Myers grabbed the ball and ran out the clock.
Navy shot 34.5 percent from the field in the game and made 7-of-22 three-point field goals (31.8%), while Bucknell shot 27.4 percent from the floor and was 4-of-14 from beyond the three-point arc (28.6%).
Consedine led Navy in the game with 18 points and eight rebounds, while Davidson tallied 15 points for the Mids.
"This means a lot for us as seniors," said Davidson of the first win in the tournament by Navy's Class of 2009. "We haven't defeated Bucknell in our careers and to beat them in a game of this magnitude is huge for us as a class and for our program."
Brown posted 20 points for the Bucknell, with Cosima Higham adding 13 points and 19 rebounds.
