Feb. 12, 2011

Final Stats

EASTON, Pa. -- Lafayette made just one field goal in the last seven minutes of play, but converted all eight of its free throw attempts during that span to hang on for a 58-53 victory over the Navy women's basketball team Saturday afternoon at the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, Pa.

The loss was Navy's third in its last four games and dropped its Patriot League record to 7-3, while Lafayette posted its second consecutive victory to improve its league mark to 4-6.

"We fought for 20 minutes, but it's a 40-minute game," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper. "We didn't play with enough effort or focus in the first half and we just didn't have enough veteran leadership this afternoon. When we needed to make plays down the stretch we hadn't established the confidence to make them. Lafayette is talented and they played hard and did a great job making us work defensively. On the other end we were not as effective in transition as we were the first game, we had some great looks from three that didn't fall, and Lafayette's defense took Angela (Myers) out of the game offensively and that hurt us."

Navy's opening two baskets were three-point field goals, but the latter of the two by Erin Edwards (Jr., Hockessin, Del.) four minutes into the game would be the last trey tallied by the Mids for the next 24 minutes of clock time.

Lafayette built an early cushion as it turned a 10-9 deficit into a 19-12 advantage. Navy cut the margin down to three points as Alix Membreno (Fr., Loxahatchee, Fla.) scored back-to-back buckets for the Mids. Lafayette's Lauren Jackson responded with a three-pointer and a layup to boost the gap to eight points. The difference between the teams was soon four points at 24-20 before the Leopards closed the first half on a 7-2 run to take a 31-22 lead at intermission.

Navy struggled with turnovers in the first half for the second consecutive game. Lafayette forced the Mids into 12 turnovers that led to 13 points for the Leopards.

The Mids pulled themselves back into the game with a great start to the second half. Navy opened the frame with a 10-2 run that made the score 33-32 with 15:33 showing on the clock. Cassie Consedine (Sr., Bartlesville, Okla.) scored four points during this span, with Geif accounting for the remaining six. After a pair of free throws and a layup by Elizabeth Virgin that were sandwiched around a Navy turnover gave the Leopards a five-point lead, Geif recorded back-to-back baskets to make it a one-point game at 37-36 with 13 minutes left to play.

The teams would trade tallying consecutive field goals to again make it a one-point game at 41-40, then both teams hit three-point field goals to return the difference to one point at 44-43 with 8:01 remaining. Navy's triple by Audrey Bauer (Fr., Lake Zurich, Ill.) was the third and final one for the Mids on the day.

Lafayette quickly expanded its lead to six points at both 50-44 (6:10) and 52-46 (4:43), but field goals by Geif and Membreno closed the difference back to two points at 52-50 with 2:37 remaining. Navy forced Lafayette into a missed shot on its next trip down the floor, with the Mids grabbing the carom. Navy's ensuing possession saw Angela Myers (Sr., San Antonio, Texas) misfire on a three-point attempt that would have given the Mids their first lead of the second half. Her miss was gathered in by Lafayette.

Lafayette's Sarah McGorry then missed a shot for the Leopards and players from both teams scrambled for the loose ball. The officials would call a jump ball and the possession arrow pointed Lafayette's way with 1:33 left to play. The Leopards took most of the time of the shot clock off before LaKeisha Wright had a field goal attempt of hers blocked by Myers. The ball again was kicked around before Wright grabbed it and called timeout with five seconds remaining on the shot clock. Wright would quickly attempt a jumper from the left wing after receiving the inbounds pass, but her shot was well off from the rim. However, Virgin grabbed the errant carom and converted from four feet out before the shot clock expired to give the Leopards a 54-50 lead with 61 seconds left to play.

After a Navy timeout, Myers would miss a running baseline layup that was rebounded by Geif who was fouled as she attempted a shot. Geif made one of two attempts from the charity stripe to make it a three-point game with 36 seconds remaining. The Leopards quickly put the ball into McGorry's hands at the Navy free throw stripe. Bauer rushed towards her in an attempt to tie up McGorry, but the officials ruled Bauer's attempt was too aggressive and whistled her for a foul. McGorry would hit both free throws to make the score 56-51 with 31 seconds left. Bauer knocked down a long jumper with 18 seconds left that sliced the Navy deficit in half. Now looking for someone to foul, the Mids were unable to do so until eight seconds were left on the game clock. McGorry was sent back to the line where she knocked down both attempts to seal the victory.

Navy took much better care of the basketball in the second half. The Mids turned the ball over on just four possessions after halftime while forcing twice as many Lafayette turnovers. Navy also made 14 field goals to just eight for Lafayette in the second half, but the Leopards were 10 of 10 from the foul line over the last half of play while Navy was just 2 of 4. Additionally hampering the Navy offense was a 1 of 9 effort from outside of the three-point stripe after halftime. This helped to offset Navy's 13 of 20 effort (65%) from inside of the three-point line in the second half.

Geif had perhaps her best offensive game of the season. She connected on 7 of 10 shots from the floor and made 6 of 8 free throws to finish with 20 points. She also finished one rebound shy of tallying her third double-double of the league campaign.

"Jade was terrific, Audrey gave us some great minutes, and Alix played really tough on both ends of the court for the second consecutive game," said Pemper. "Jade's leadership is so inspiring with how much our team's success means to her and how much responsibility she takes in helping us win."

Navy freshmen accounted for 35 of the team's 53 points and 17 of the 25 rebounds hauled in by a Mid. Geif not only led Navy in both scoring and rebounding, she was the lone Mid to reach double figures in points. Consedine finished with nine points and two rebounds, Membreno tallied eight points, five rebounds and four assists, and Bauer posted seven points and three caroms. Myers scored only four points in the game with her two field goals coming in the last 12 minutes of the contest.

"It pains me to say it but Lafayette wanted it more and they played with more pride," said Pemper. "Technically our last two losses have been three or four possession games but it's our determination and lack of focus that's let us down and we can definitely play better."

Lafayette's scoring breakdown was very similar to Navy's. Virgin posted 20 points on the afternoon to be the only Leopard to score in double digits.

Navy will now open a three-game homestand Wednesday night when the Mids play host to Holy Cross.