Jan. 12, 2011

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ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Chey Arvin (So., Noblesville, Ind.) hit a three-point field goal to give the Mids the lead with 28 seconds left before finding Angela Myers (Sr., San Antonio, Texas) open for a layup that proved to be the deciding points in a 63-62 victory by the Navy women's basketball team over Lehigh Wednesday night at Alumni Hall.

The Midshipmen, who are 2-0 in the Patriot League, have now won four of their last five games to improve their record to 9-7 on the year. The loss for the Mountain Hawks dropped their overall record to 10-7 and their league mark to 0-2.

The victory by the Mids over the Mountain Hawks -- winners of the last two Patriot League titles -- ended a six-game skid in the series by Navy over the last three years. Four of those losses had been by four points or less, with Lehigh winning the last three games played in Annapolis by four points, three points and one point, respectively.

"I'm very happy for our players, especially our seniors who had never beaten Lehigh," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper. "We've been able to pull out some good wins against every other Patriot League team except for Lehigh. I don't know if either team played great tonight, but to be able to grind it out and get a win like this feels great. I think it helps the overall confidence in the program."

The last five minutes of the game was a seesaw affair in which the lead changed hands six times. The first such occasion occurred when Lehigh's Kristen Dalton made a layup to give the Mountain Hawks a 52-51 lead with 5:09 remaining. The Mids would miss a trio of shots on their next possession until Myers was fouled after grabbing an offensive rebound. Her two free throws made the score 53-52 with 4:29 left to play.

Neither team scored on either of their next two respective possessions, then Courtney Dentler made a layup to give Lehigh a 54-53 advantage with 3:11 to go in the game. The Mids quickly answered when Cassie Consedine (Sr., Bartlesville, Okla.) made a short shot, but an ensuing layup from Emily Gratch allowed Lehigh to take the lead again at 56-55 with 2:17 left to play.

An offensive foul on Navy's Audrey Bauer (Fr., Lake Zurich, Ill.) quickly returned the ball to Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks capitalized on the opportunity as another layup by Gratch gave them a 58-55 lead with 1:49 remaining. Navy answered 25 seconds later when a three-point field goal by Erin Edwards (Jr., Hockessin, Del.) tied the game at 58-58. Dentler then connected on a jumper to cap Lehigh's ensuing possession to give it a 60-58 lead as the clock hit the one-minute mark.

Consedine would misfire on a three-point field goal attempt on Navy's next trip down the floor, but Myers was there to grab the errant carom. She soon found Arvin open for a three-point field goal that gave the Mids a 61-60 lead with 28 seconds left in the game. Lehigh cautiously looked for a good shot on the other end of the court, and then Dentler drove down the left side of the lane. Standing in her way was Consedine, but instead of trying for her fourth blocked shot of the night, she planted her feet and took a charge from Dentler to return the ball to Navy with 11.5 seconds left on the clock.

Arvin starting scanning the floor, poised to inbound the ball while standing under the Lehigh basket when she saw Myers break free from the pack and sprint down the court. Arvin promptly threw a strike to Myers for a breakaway layup to give Navy a 63-60 cushion with just under nine seconds remaining in the game. The Mids then stingily defended the three-point line to prevent a game-tying attempt by Lehigh. Their patience paid off as eventually Lehigh's Alexa Williams was forced to shoot the ball from 16 feet out. Her two-point shot was true with four tenths of a second left, but it still left the Mountain Hawks one point shy of Navy. After a Lehigh timeout, the Mids were able to quickly inbound the ball to run out the scant time left on the clock to seal the victory.

"I think we executed well down the stretch and really took what the defense gave us," said Pemper. "The plays in which Erin and Chey hit their three-point field goals were not designed for either player. But we made smart plays to get them the ball and both were confident in their shots, which were good, open shots for them. The team showed a lot of trust to give them the ball at those crucial times. I love it when players step up and knock down the shot as they did."

Navy would take an early five-point lead in the opening minutes of the game, but that advantage was short lived as Lehigh soon opened up a 19-11 lead with 12 minutes left in the half. The Mids managed to take a 27-23 lead late in the half, but needed a Bauer three-pointer at the first-half buzzer to go into the break holding a 32-30 advantage.

The early part of the second half saw Navy extend its lead to as many as nine points at 46-37 with 13:37 left to play in the game. Lehigh slowly chipped away at the margin and eventually tied the game at 48-48 with 8:32 showing on the clock.

Navy won the game despite allowing Lehigh to shoot 50 percent from the field in the second half while connecting on just 31.4 percent of its own shots after intermission. What helped the Mids during this time were their sinking 5-of-15 three-point field goal attempts and 4-of-6 attempts from the free throw line after halftime in comparison to Lehigh's 1-of-5 efforts from both the three-point arc and the charity stripe over the final 20 minutes of play.

The Mids would finish the game sinking 10-of-30 three-point field goal attempts and 9-of-12 free throw attempts, while the Mountain Hawks were 7-of-16 from the three-point line and just 3-of-8 from the foul line on the night.

An additional big advantage for Navy was in the area of rebounding. The Mids grabbed 18 offensive rebounds in the game and held the Mountain Hawks to just eight offensive boards. This allowed Navy to hold a decisive 18-3 advantage in second chance points. In all, the Mids grabbed 44 rebounds on the night to just 31 for the Mountain Hawks in their first home game of the week-old Patriot League season.

"I think the crowd (of 2,808) was a big factor tonight," said Pemper. "Their cheers seemed organized, they were vocal and really into the game. It really felt like we had a homecourt advantage, and that is a special feeling for a team to have in a Patriot League game."

Myers led all players in the game with 18 points, while adding five offensive rebounds, eight rebounds in all and four steals. Jade Geif (Fr., Lakeview, Minn.), who scored a career-high 14 points in Navy's most recent game at Bucknell, scored 17 points -- 13 of which came in the first half -- and hauled in nine rebounds against the Mountain Hawks. Arvin would tie a career high with a trio of three-point field goals made on her way to recording 11 points. Leading all players on the glass was Consedine with 11 boards to go along with her three blocked shots, while Edwards added six points and four assists in the game.

"It was not just Angela and Cassie hitting shots for us tonight," said Pemper. "It was great to see others really step up, such as Chey. Jade played a terrific game and Erin did a good job in playing the entire second half."

Dentler had a very strong game for Lehigh as she recorded 17 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Joining her in double figures was Gratch with 14 points.

Navy will be back in Alumni Hall Saturday night for a 7 p.m. game against Lafayette.