Dec. 5, 2010

Box Score

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy women's basketball team misfired on a trio of game-tying three-point field goal attempts over the last 100 seconds as a late rally by the Mids fell short in an eventual 60-55 loss to Delaware Sunday afternoon at Alumni Hall in Annapolis, Md.

A pair of free throws by Elena Delle Donne gave Delaware (6-1) a 58-50 lead over Navy (4-4) with 2:57 left on the clock. The Mids sliced the margin down to five points when Angela Myers (Sr., San Antonio, Texas) drilled a three-point field goal 15 seconds later. Myers then came away with a steal and scored on a quick layup to make the score 58-55 with 2:21 showing on the clock.

Delaware would attempt four shots on its next possession, but Navy was able to come away with the ball with 1:13 remaining in the game without having allowed a point to the Blue Hens. Cassie Consedine (Sr., Bartlesville, Okla.), who made five three pointers in Navy's game Friday against Loyola and finished Sunday's game with four treys, missed a pair of game-tying triples over the next 15 seconds. Delaware's Danielle Parker grabbed Consedine's latter attempt, but after coming down with the ball she had it stolen away from her by Navy's Alex Membreno (Fr., Loxahatchee, Fla.). Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper called timeout as soon as the ball was in the hands of the Mids with 29.8 seconds showing.

Navy was unable to get a shot of any kind off, and Pemper again called timeout with 11.9 seconds left in the game. Delaware's defense again stymied the Mids and soon Chey Arvin (So., Noblesville, Ind.) drove down the right baseline toward the basket. She stopped and tried to find an open Mid, but Parker stepped in front of the pass to steal the ball. Parker flipped the ball to Lauren Carra who was fouled with five seconds left on the clock. She made both attempts to account for the final scoring in the game.

"We were looking for a three-pointer to tie the game," said Pemper of Navy's final full possession in the game. "We just didn't execute the play right."

The Mids led for all but a few seconds of the first half and held an advantage of as much as eight points (31-23) before heading into halftime with a 34-30 lead. The Blue Hens scored seven of the first nine points of the second half to take a 37-36 lead less than five minutes into the frame, but Navy regained an advantage of two points at both 39-37 and 41-39. A 10-2 Delaware run gave the Blue Hens a 49-43, which soon became a 58-50 advantage following the aforementioned free throws by Delle Donne.

Despite having a height advantage at nearly every position on the floor, Delaware managed to grab just one more rebound in the game than Navy did. The Blue Hens held a 39-38 lead on the glass overall, while the Mids grabbed 13 offensive caroms to just 12 for Delaware.

"We played with more consistency and confidence than we did Friday against Loyola," said Pemper. "We definitely played better than we did the other night."

Both teams totaled nearly identical shooting numbers in the game. Delaware was 21-of-58 from the floor for a shooting percentage of 36.2 percent, while Navy was 20-of-60 from the field for a mark of 33.3 percent. However, there was a noticeable difference between the teams at the free throw line and from outside of the three-point arc. Delaware converted 13-of-15 free throw attempts and 5-of-15 three-point field goal attempts, while Navy was 5-of-6 from the charity stripe and 10-of-27 from beyond the three-point line.

Myers, who tallied 13 of Navy's final 16 points in the game, came just short of a triple-double with 19 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists to go along with three steals. Also reaching double figures in points for the Mids was Consedine with 18.

Delle Donne led all players in the game with 20 points, but she connected on only 7-of-23 field goal attempts and was just 1-of-6 from the three-point line. Carra's late free throws gave her 16 points in the contest.

"I thought we did a nice job of team defense today, including a pretty good job on number 11 (Delle Donne)," said Pemper. "Lots of things went well for us. I think we were the aggressor today. I feel bad for the players because we played well enough to win the game. We just didn't make enough plays.

"We had some mistakes from our new players, but that is going to happen. Overall, I liked our effort. This was a promising result for us."