Women's Basketball Rallies for Road Win at Bucknell

Jan. 8, 2011

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The Navy women's basketball team overcame a four-point deficit to Bucknell with six minutes left to play with a 15-2 run that allowed the Mids to rally for a 62-56 victory Saturday night at Sojka Pavilion in Lewisburg, Pa.

The game served as the Patriot League opener for both Navy (8-7, 1-0) and Bucknell (3-10, 0-1), and the win was just Navy's second when opening the Patriot League season on the road (2-6).

"This was our best win of the season," said an elated Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper. "Both teams knew each other so well and played solid defense the whole night. To come out ahead in a game like this is just awesome."

The teams started the second half tied at 31-31. Navy held Bucknell without a field goal for the first five minutes of the second half, but the Mids were unable to take advantage of their strong defensive play and only were able to take a lead of no more than two points during this span. The Bison would soon find their rhythm and used an 8-0 run to take a 44-37 lead with 11 minutes left on the clock.

A three-point field goal by Alix Membreno (Fr., Loxahatchee, Fla.) soon cut the margin down to one point at 46-45, with Bucknell's Shelby Romine quickly answering with a trey of her own to give the Bison a 49-45 advantage with 6:50 left in the game.

Both teams failed to score on their next respective possessions, then Cassie Consedine (Sr., Bartlesville, Okla.) hit a jumper to cut the margin in half. Bucknell missed a pair of shots on its next trip down the floor, then Navy's Megan Matheny (So., Lexington Park, Md.) had her shot blocked out of bounds with two seconds left on the shot clock. The Mids inbounded the ball to Angela Myers (Sr., San Antonio, Texas) who dribbled twice before sinking a 17-foot shot from the high post as the buzzer sounded to tie the game at 49-49 with 4:22 showing on the clock.

The Bison missed another field goal attempt and that led to Myers sinking a three-point field goal to give Navy a 52-49 lead with 3:30 left to play. Another Bucknell missed shot was followed by Jade Geif (Fr., Lakeview, Minn.) making a short shot after a nice post move to increase the margin to five points. Bucknell misfired on its fifth consecutive shot from the floor, which was followed by Geif making another short basket with one second showing on the shot clock to give the Mids a 56-49 lead with 1:54 left to play.

Joyce Novacek ended the Bucknell drought with a field goal (56-51, 1:30), but Geif hit a third consecutive jumper to increase the Navy lead back to seven points with 1:14 showing on the clock. Myers, who had assisted on Geif's most recent field goal, promptly stole the ball for the Mids with 52 seconds left to play. Bucknell had played a very clean second half and had been whistled for only two personal fouls through the first 19 minutes of the game. The Bison would foul Myers and then commit four more fouls in a span of 16 seconds, with the last foul sending Membreno to the foul line with 43 seconds left to play. She would sink both attempts from the charity stripe to increase the Navy margin to nine points at 60-51.

Membreno's free throws ended the aforementioned 15-2 run for the Mids that saw Navy score on seven consecutive possessions.

"It was an incredible run," said Pemper. "Angela hit a couple of big baskets in there. You need great plays to win games like this, and Angela's baskets were just that. And while we were able to get into a good rhythm on offense, that translated into a great deal of success on the defensive end of the floor."

Things became a little interesting down the stretch as a field goal by Romine sliced the difference down to seven points with 36 seconds left, with the Mids turning the ball over on the ensuing inbounds pass. Novacek quickly drilled a three-point field goal attempt to make it a four-point game with 20 seconds remaining. This time the Mids were successful at inbounding the ball to Myers, who was fouled with 26 seconds left. Myers, an 81-percent free throw shooter this season, missed the front end of her bonus free throw attempt, with the errant carom being grabbed by Bucknell. However, Christina Chukwuedo would miss a three-point field goal attempt with 15 seconds left to play. Membreno tracked down the loose ball and she was fouled with 11 seconds remaining. She sank both attempts from the line to account for the final points in the game.

Navy shot 44 percent from the field in both halves of the game and limited Bucknell to 33.3-percent shooting in the second half and a mark of 38.6-percent in the second half. The Mids turned the ball over three fewer times than the Bison did (15-12) in the game, but Bucknell held a 36-27 advantage on the glass. This included the Bison grabbing 18 offensive boards and holding Navy to just 11 offensive caroms.

Membreno's career-high 15 points led the Navy offensive on the night. She was joined in double figures by Geif's career high of 14 points and Consedine's 10 points. Myers, who with her first field goal of the game became the 15th player in Navy history to score 1,000 career points, scored nine points, dished out six assists and swiped five steals on the night.

"I was pleased with our post play tonight," said Pemper. "Jade hit a couple of nice baskets for us, and Audrey Bauer (Fr., Lake Zurich, Ill.) played well too (six points and two rebounds in 17 minutes)."

Romine's 20 points led all players in the game.

Navy will open a two-game homestand Wednesday night when the Mids play host to Lehigh at 7 p.m. in Alumni Hall.

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