Jan. 2, 2010

Final Stats

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Harvard broke open a two-point contest with a game-closing 32-18 run that propelled the Crimson to a 71-55 victory over the Navy women's basketball team, Saturday night at Lavietes Pavilion in Cambridge, Mass. The Crimson improved their record to 7-4 on the season with the victory, while the Midshipmen saw its record fall to 8-6 on the year with the loss.

After a close first half, Harvard used an 11-2 run that encompassed the end of the first half and the start of the second half to take a 33-22 advantage over Navy. The Mids quickly chipped away at the deficit and were able pull to within two points of the Crimson at 39-37 on a three-point field goal from K.C. Gordon (Sr., Vienna, Va.) with 14:45 left to play in the game.

"I was thrilled with how we responded to Harvard's run at the start of the second half," said Navy head coach and one-time Harvard assistant coach Stefanie Pemper. "Harvard made a lot of shots at the start, but we were able to battle right back into the game."

The Crimson scored the next eight points of the game, however, to take a 47-37 lead with 12 minutes remaining on the clock. After the teams traded buckets and Angela Myers (Jr., San Antonio, Texas) drilled a three-point field goal for Navy, Harvard scored 17 of the ensuing 20 points to build a 66-45 lead with a little less than four minutes remaining in the game.

"I thought we had good spurts of both points and intensity and did a number of good things tonight against a talented team," said Pemper. "I think we ran into a little mental and physical fatigue in the second half. We did not have the depth to match Harvard tonight. They were able to make the plays down the stretch."

From the time Navy closed to within 39-37, the Mids were 5-of-21 from the floor over the remainder of the game while the Crimson made 14 of their final 24 field goal attempts. In all, Harvard shot 54.5 percent from the floor in the second half and 44.6 percent from the field in the game, while Navy connected on 35.5 percent of its field goal attempts in the second half and 31.1 percent of its shots in the entire contest.

Navy sank seven three-point field goals (on 16 attempts) over the final 20 minutes of play and ended the game shooting 9-of-26 from outside of the three-point arc. Conversely, Harvard was 5-of-13 from three-point land in the second half after missing all eight of its long-range shots in the first half.

Gordon tallied a career-high five three-point field goals (on seven attempts) on the night, with four of her triples coming in the second half. Her season-high 15 points allowed her to share the Navy scoring honors in the game with Cassie Consedine (Jr., Bartlesville, Okla.). The duo was joined in double figures by Myers and Chey Arvin (Fr., Noblesville, Ind.), who both tallied 10 points on the night. Myers and Consedine also tallied eight and seven rebounds, respectively, for the Mids.

"K.C. made some great adjustments to her game in the second half, and I think Chey did a good job tonight as well," said Pemper.

Victoria Lippert's 17 points led all Harvard players in the game.

Navy will close out its slate of non-conference games Tuesday when the Mids play at Dayton.