Feb. 11, 2010

Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- A last second shot by the Navy women's basketball team went wide to allow Lehigh to escape with a 54-53 victory over the Midshipmen Thursday evening at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.

Lehigh remained tied for first place in the Patriot League as the win improved its league record to 8-1, while the Mids fell back into a three-way tie for third place with Army and Colgate as the loss dropped Navy's record to 4-5 during conference play.

The Mountain Hawks took a 54-48 lead on a layup from Alexa Williams with just under three minutes left to play. After a Navy missed shot, Angela Myers (Jr., San Antonio, Texas) fouled Williams with 2:30 showing on the clock. Williams would miss the front end of the bonus and Cassie Consedine (Jr., Bartlesville, Okla.) scooped up the errant carom for Navy.

Myers would be fouled while driving to the hoop on Navy's ensuing possession. She converted both attempts from the charity stripe to make it a four-point game with 2:17 left in contest.

Lehigh promptly turned the ball back over to the Mids when Courtney Dentler was whistled for an offensive foul with two minutes remaining.

After starting the next Navy possession inside of the paint, Consedine drifted out beyond the three-point line where Erin Edwards (So., Hockessin, Del.) found her open. Her long-range shot went straight through the hoop to pull the Mids to within 54-53 with 90 seconds remaining in the game.

Erica Prosser would miss a three-pointer on Lehigh's next trip down the floor, and players from both teams scrambled for the loose ball. Edwards would get a hand on it at the same time as a Lehigh player did, resulting in a jump ball. The arrow pointed in the direction of the Mids to give Navy the ball back with just over one minute showing on the clock.

Myers again drove to the hoop, but this time she was whistled for a charging foul with 48.9 seconds left. More importantly than the Mids missing the opportunity to take the lead was the fact that it was her fifth foul, meaning Navy would play the remainder of the game without the player who led everyone in the game in scoring.

Lehigh was able to run 27 seconds off of the clock before Emily Gratch missed a shot from inside of the paint. Navy's Kristin Bowen (Sr., Monroeville, N.J.) hauled in the rebound with 22 seconds left in the game.

The Mids struggled to find a player with an open shot against the Lehigh defense. Eventually the ball found its way into the hands of Megan Matheny (Fr., Lexington Park, Md.) with just a few seconds left. She sliced her way towards the basket but was only able to launch an off-balanced shot with three seconds left. The attempt missed and Tricia Smith grabbed the carom for Lehigh just before the final buzzer sounded ending the game.

"Not having Angela on the floor for our last possession didn't help us, but we didn't need to be as chaotic on the possession as we were," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper.

Neither team managed to put any kind of distance between itself and the other throughout the game. Navy held a pair of five-point leads in the first half -- 5-0, 23-18 -- while Lehigh's largest lead of the game was just six points -- 13-7, 52-46, 54-48. The score was tied seven times in the second half and 11 times in the game. Additionally, the lead was exchanged a total of seven occasions.

Navy shot 48.8 percent from the field in the game, including an impressive 56.3 percent in the second half. But the Mids turned the ball over 24 times -- 16 as a result of steals by the Mountain Hawks -- while forcing Lehigh into just 13 turnovers.

Conversely, Lehigh shot 39.3 percent from the floor, made only 4-of-16 three-point attempts and was just 6-of-17 (35.3%) from the free throw stripe.

"We did force some things at times," said Pemper. "The 24 turnovers was a big factor tonight. But Lehigh played hard. They should feel as if they won this game. At the same time if we would have been able to have won, I think we would have been able to feel pretty good about things ourselves."

Myers led all players in the game with 12 points, while also adding five rebounds, four steals and three assists, but she also was credited with seven turnovers. She was joined in double figures by teammates Chey Arvin (Fr., Noblesville, Ind.) with 11 points, K.C. Gordon (Sr., Vienna, Va.) with 11 points and Consedine with 10 points and seven rebounds.

Williams paced all Lehigh players in the game with 11 points. She also added eight rebounds on the night.

Navy returns to Alumni Hall Saturday night when the Midshipmen play host to Lafayette in a 7 p.m. game.