Dec. 11, 2011

Final Stats

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Howard closed the first half and opened the second half of its game Sunday afternoon against the Navy women's basketball team on significant runs that resulted in the Lady Bison posting a 60-50 victory over the Midshipmen at Burr Gymnasium in Washington, D.C.

The loss by the Mids (6-4), who were playing their third game in five days and second in roughly 40 hours, ended their five-game winning streak, while the Lady Bison (4-5), who had six days off since their last contest, won their third consecutive game.

"Give credit to Howard," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper. "Their zone defense was terrific. They were determined to keep us from getting the ball inside into Jade Geif's (So., Lakeville, Minn.) hands. Howard is a tough team to defend due to their skill and athleticism when they are executing as well as they were today. They are a difficult team to have a short time period to prepare for."

The game started well for the Mids. Navy quickly jumped out to a 17-6 lead midway through the first half. But Howard closed the first half on a 21-7 run to take a 27-24 lead into halftime.

Though the Mids outrebounded the Lady Bison, 23-17, in the first half, Navy turned the ball over 11 times while forcing just two Howard turnovers. Those 11 turnovers led to 11 points for the Lady Bison. Additionally, Navy scored just three field goals over the last 10 minutes of the half.

Foul trouble also hurt the Mids in the first half. Navy, which entered the game ranked sixth nationally with just 12.1 fouls called against it a game this season, was whistled for nine fouls in the first half. Two of those nine fouls were picked up by Geif, which led to her playing just nine first half minutes. Howard would sink all 10 of its first half free throw attempts, while the Mids were 4-of-6 from the charity stripe over the opening 20 minutes of play.

Howard carried its momentum into the start of the second half. The Lady Bison ran off the opening nine points of the frame as part of a 21-4 run that gave them a 46-28 lead with 12:30 still remaining on the game clock. Howard would lead Navy by at least 10 points over the remainder of the game.

"We had that one rough stretch at the start of the second half where we needed someone to make a play on offense," said Pemper.

Navy improved its shooting from a mark of 36 percent in the first half to 45.5 percent in the second half. However, Howard more than doubled its field goal percentage from 25.8 percent in the first half to 59.1 percent in the second half. The Lady Bison also continued to shoot well at the foul line as they made 6-of-8 free throw attempts after halftime. Meanwhile, Navy attempted just two free throws in the second half and they came with 15 seconds remaining in the game.

"The players did a good job of being up and prepared for this game," said Pemper. "They were focused on today's game that came at the end of a tough five-day stretch that saw them play three games, go through the last few days of classes before exams start this week, and enjoy all of the excitement around The Yard for the Army-Navy football game. Even with all of that going on around them, this was a game they really wanted to win."

Alix Membreno (So., Loxahatchee, Fla.) and Audry Bauer (So., Lake Zurich, Ill.) both scored a game-high 11 points for the Mids, with Geif and Chantel Lavender (Jr., Trenton, N.J.) each adding eight points to the Navy effort. Bauer also grabbed a game-high seven rebounds and blocked three shots.

Howard was led by Tamoria Holmes, who tallied 27 points, four steals, three rebounds and two assists on the afternoon.

Navy's next game will be Dec. 20 when the Mids play host to UMBC in Alumni Hall.