Jan. 4, 2011

Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- A strong start to the game followed by a stingy defense and a balanced offense propelled the Navy women's basketball team to a 58-45 victory over Howard Tuesday evening at Alumni Hall in Annapolis. The game was the final non-conference contest of the season for the Mids, who will enter Saturday's Patriot League opener at Bucknell with a 7-7 record.

"I was pleased with the result tonight," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper. "We did a good job of executing our game plan on both ends of the court."

Navy put together one of its better starts to a game this season. The Mids quickly scored the first 12 points of the game and roared out to a 17-2 advantage eight minutes into the contest. In a sign of things to come for the Mids, six different players tallied points for Navy during the game-opening outburst. Altogether, Navy connected on 6 of its first 13 shots from the field during this span while holding Howard to 1-of-10 shooting from the field over the same time frame.

The Navy lead was still 13 points (25-12) with seven minutes remaining in the half when the Lady Bison (3-11) whittled the margin nearly in half to seven points at 25-18. Navy would close the half by scoring five of the last six points to head into intermission holding a 30-19 advantage.

All 10 Mids who took to the court in the first half of play scored at least two points, with Angela Myers (Sr., San Antonio, Texas) pacing all players with seven points.

Helping the Navy effort was its 5-of-11 shooting from outside of the three-point arc.

Navy would go on to lead by at least 10 points over the entire second half of play, with its cushion ballooning up to 23 points at 58-35 with two minutes remaining on the clock.

After shooting 37.9 percent from the field in the first half, Navy improved to a mark of 47.6 percent from the floor in the second half. Good ball movement to the tune of 19 assists on 21 field goals aided the Navy effort. On the other end of the court, the Navy defense forced Howard into shooting roughly 34 percent from the field in both stanzas.

Navy also controlled the glass in the game. The Mids tallied 41 rebounds on the night to better Howard's tally of 27 by 14 boards. Navy would also score 16 second-chance points following its 14 offensive rebounds. Conversely, the Lady Bison totaled just five second-chance points from its 10 offensive caroms.

Seven Mids scored at least five points in the game, with the senior tandem of Myers and Cassie Consedine (Bartlesville, Okla.) each scoring nine points and the freshman duo of Jade Geif (Lakeview, Minn.) and Audrey Bauer (Lake Zurich, Ill.) each contributing eight points. Additionally, Myers dished out seven assists, Geif hauled in nine rebounds and Bauer was credited with six caroms.

"It was nice to be able to play a number of players in the game," said Pemper. "We played well on defense, and on offense we took good care of the ball, were unselfish with it and moved it around nicely. It was great to see 19 assists on 21 field goals, as well as the rebounding advantage we had. We also shot well in our three-point attempts."

Leading all players in the game in scoring was Howard's Kara Smith with 13 points.

Navy's game against Bucknell Saturday night in Lewisburg, Pa., will begin at 7 p.m. Subscribers to Navy All-Access will be able to receive a video stream of the game on their computers.

"We are excited about the start of the Patriot League season," said Pemper. "I think every team in the league has improved. We have not hit our stride yet, but we are ready for league play to begin."