Jan. 14, 2012

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ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Back-to-back baskets by Jade Geif (So., Lakeville, Minn.) and one final defensive stand in the game's waning seconds allowed the Navy women's basketball team to emerge with a 58-56 victory over Army Saturday afternoon at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.

"This was a great team effort for us today," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper, "and a great team win. It has been awhile since we had a win like this with so many contributors."

Navy (9-8, 2-1 Patriot League) held a 54-47 lead over Army (8-10, 2-1) following a layup by Kara Pollinger (So., Fort, Gay, W.Va.) with one second left on the shot clock and 6:19 left on the game clock. The Midshipmen would misfire on their ensuing six shots from the field, which let Army tie the score on a basket and a foul shot by Liz Benedict (2:54) and then take a 56-54 lead on a jumper by Anna Simmers with 1:27 remaining in the game.

"We knew they were going to hit shots and go on runs," said Geif. "That's basketball. Every time we went down the floor on either offense or defense, we knew we had to play hard. If we stepped off a bit, they were going to score; if they stepped off a bit, we were going to score."

Geif ended the Navy drought when she received the ball on the lower block and rolled from one side of the lane to the other for a layup to knot the game at 56-56 with 1:07 left to play. Army's Jen Hazlett missed a three-point shot on the other end of the floor, with Erin Edwards (Sr., Hockessin, Del.) snaring the loose ball for the Mids with 53 seconds left to play. Audrey Bauer (So., Lake Zurich, Ill.) would miss a three-point shot of her own, but Geif tipped the carom out toward the top of the key where point guard Pollinger emerged with the long rebound to keep the ball on Navy's end of the floor with 32 seconds remaining in the game. Pollinger kicked the ball to Alix Membreno (So., Loxahatchee, Fla.) who looped the ball in to Geif as she was sliding down the right side of the lane. Geif tallied her second layup in as many possessions to give Navy a 58-56 advantage with 23 seconds remaining.

"Those two baskets by Jade at the end," said Pemper, "saw great passes into her and then her ability to finish off the play."

Army brought the ball over halfcourt and called timeout with 19.1 seconds showing on the clock. The Black Knights put the ball into the hands of Simmers when play resumed, who slowly worked her way toward the basket from the left side of the lane. As she started to drive to the basket she was fouled by her defender, Geif, with 11.6 seconds left to play. The foul was just Navy's sixth of the half, so Army was forced to inbound the ball instead of going to the foul line.

Army again gave the ball in Simmers on the inbounds pass. Stopped above the top of the key, she passed wide -- to avoid Pollinger's defense -- to teammate Molly Yardley who barely saved the ball from going out of bounds on the sideline before tossing it to Olivia Schretzman who immediately turned toward the hoop and shot the ball. Her 15-foot attempt grazed the front of the rim and fell straight down. Players from both teams scrambled for the loose ball before the officials whistled for a jump ball with 1.2 seconds left to play.

After a Navy timeout, the Black Knights inbounded the ball from under their own basket to Schretzman 12-feet from the hoop and along the baseline. She dropped the ball at first, then gathered it in and tossed up a shot around Geif that went wide of the basket as the buzzer sounded.

"I am super happy with our performance as a team," said Pemper. "I'm very pleased with our depth. Being able to handle adversity during the game as we did, and being able to pull things out and just finish."

Army had been able to build several cushions over Navy during the first half, but the Mids reeled Army back in each time. The Black Knights used a 7-0 run to take a 17-10 lead over the Mids, only to see Navy tie the game at 19-19. A short while later another 7-0 Army spurt gave it a 29-23 lead with 4:37 left to play in the first half. However, the opening 20 minutes of play ended with Edwards nailing a three-point field goal as the buzzer sounded to pull Navy to within one point of Army at 31-30.

"That three-point field goal was big," said Geif. "We went into the locker room excited. A one-point difference is nothing."

That bucket gave the Mids some momentum going into the locker room and it carried over into the start of the second half. Membreno scored on a layup on Navy's first possession of the frame, then Edwards connected on another triple on Navy's ensuing possession to give the Mids a 35-31 advantage. Army proceeded to go on a 5-0 run, which was immediately followed by Navy scoring five consecutive points to take a 40-36 lead. Navy slowly expanded that cushion out to eight points at 50-42 with nine minutes left to play. Army sliced five points off of the difference between the teams before a Geif jumper was followed by Pollinger layup that gave the Mids the aforementioned 54-47 advantage.

Navy controlled the glass during the second half of play. The Mids tallied eight offensive rebounds and 20 caroms in all over course of the frame, while limiting Army to 13 rebounds and just one offensive board. That allowed Navy to tally nine second-chance points in the second half while holding the Black Knights to just two such points.

Both teams shot a nearly identical percentage from the field in the game (Navy, 37.7%; Army, 39.2%). The Mids tallied six three-point field goals on 20 attempts, while the Black Knights were 3-of-11 from outside of the arc. The two teams combined to miss just one of 20 free throw attempts in the game, with Army converting all 13 of its foul shots and Navy going 6-of-7 from the charity stripe.

Nine Mids took to the court during the game with eight of them scoring at least two points.

"These games are grueling," said Pemper. "I am very pleased with our depth today. We haven't received consistent play from our bench this year. If we can get that going, as we have seen at times in practices, that can be huge for us in league play."

"Today says a lot about how we played as a team," said Edwards. "Our freshmen really sparked us. We haven't had a game this year with all of the media exposure we had and a big crowd, so to have them play as they did today can be a big step forward for us."

Geif, who was 6-of-12 from the field, led the Navy offense with 16 points and notched her fourth double-double of the season with 12 boards. Seven of her dozen caroms came on the offensive glass. Geif was joined in double figures by Edwards with 11 points. Pollinger also added nine points and four assists and Membreno posted a statistical line of eight points, six rebounds and six assists.

Simmers matched Geif's scoring efforts with 16 to lead Army. Also having strong offensive games were her teammates Liz Benedict with 14 points and Jen Hazlett with 11 points.

Navy will next be in action Wednesday when the Mids play at American in a 7 p.m. game from our nation's capital.