Jan. 26, 2011

Final Stats

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A first-half closing 19-4 run provided enough of a cushion to allow the Navy women's basketball team to withstand a late rally by American to defeat the Eagles, 57-46, Wednesday night at Bender Arena in Washington, D.C. The win improves Navy's record to 6-0 in the Patriot League this season and runs its winning streak to seven games, while the loss drops American's league mark to 4-2.

This is the first time in Navy's 19-year membership in the Patriot League that the Mids have started a league campaign with a 6-0 record. The Mids remain in first place in the Patriot League standings and are now two games in front of both American and Army heading into the last game in the first half of the league season.

"I don't think American shot the ball real well early on," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper. "But I liked our defense. It was a great team win for us. I wouldn't say anyone played great for us tonight. It wasn't a real pretty game, but we feel good about coming out of here with the win against."

American's Lisa Strack made a layup with 14:26 left to play in the first half to tie the score at 7-7, but Navy would hold the Eagles scoreless for the next eight minutes as part of a first-half closing 19-4 run for the Mids that allowed Navy to take a 26-11 lead at halftime. The Eagles missed 15 of their last 16 shots from the floor in the first half and connected on just 15.4 percent (4-26) of their attempts for the entire 20 minutes of play. The Mids sank 8 of their 20 shots (40%) from the field over the last 14 minutes of the half and shot 42.3 percent (11-26) in all during the half.

The Navy lead would grow to as many as 17 points -- on three occasions -- in the second half. However, American slowly started to chip away at the margin and eventually pulled to within nine points at 45-36 with 4:37 left in the game. After a Navy turnover, the Eagles had the chance to close to within seven points when Lisa Strack drove to the basket. Navy's Jade Geif would step in front of Strack's path and Strack was called for a charging foul to give the ball back to the Mids. Angela Myers would score on Navy's ensuing possession to boost the margin back to double figures at 47-36 with 3:21 showing on the clock.

It would soon be an eight-point game when Ebony Edwards drilled a three-point field goal for American to make the score 47-39 with 2:23 left to play. Navy would secure the game by sinking 8 of 11 free throws over the remainder of the contest.

Navy shot 47.6 percent from the field in the second half, but were just 1 of 8 from outside of the three-point line after halftime. American would sink 5 of its 15 three-point attempts in the second half and shot 43.3 percent from the floor for the entire second half. The Mids held a 39-32 advantage on the glass, which helped to negate Navy turning the ball over five more times than American did (16-11).

Four players scored in double figures for Navy, with Myers tallying a team-high 15 points. Audrey Bauer added 12 points, while Geif and Cassie Consedine both scored 10 points.

Strack also scored 15 points for the Eagles.

Due to poor weather in the region, Navy's 32-mile drive from Annapolis to the American campus in Washington, D.C., took three hours and 35 minutes.

"Our routine was impacted," said Pemper. "We normally have two pre-game meetings, but today we didn't have any. I was saying things in the first two timeouts that I normally would during those meetings. But the delay was handled professionally by everyone here."

Navy will close the first half of its Patriot League season Saturday when the Mids play host to Colgate.