Dec. 29, 2013
Final Stats
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Chloe Stapleton (Jr., Cary, N.C.) hit eight three-point field goals, Jade Geif (Sr., Lakeville, Minn.) notched a double-double and Kara Pollinger (Sr., Fort Gay, W.Va.), playing 30 miles from her hometown, tallied 15 points and six rebounds to help the Navy women's basketball team hang on for a 72-68 victory over Marshall Sunday afternoon at the Cam Henderson Center in Huntington, W.Va.
"It was a really good team win," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper. "Four players were over 12 points, and Jade was terrific with her double-double."
The Mids (8-3), who took to the court for a game for the first time in 23 days, opened up several 10-point leads in the first half. Navy led by double figures at 18-8 (10:50), 21-11 (7:16) and 23-13 (6:31). The Herd (5-6) would tally the next 11 points to take a 24-23 advantage before a 7-0 Navy run gave the Mids a 32-26 lead. Navy would go into halftime holding a 35-33 lead.
Geif paced all players in the first half with 13 points - on 6 of 7 shooting from the floor - and 7 rebounds. That effort led to the Mids shooting 50 percent (13-26) from the field, which included a 6 of 17 (35.3%) mark from three-point range.
Marshall shot just 39.3 percent (11-28) from the floor in the first half, but stayed in the game thanks to 8 of 10 (80%) shooting from the foul line.
Navy controlled the early portion of the second half as it took a 43-35 lead less than four minutes into the frame on a three-point field goal by Pollinger. The Herd sliced that margin in half, but a triple by Stapleton, a pair of free throws by Geif and another trey by Stapleton gave the Mids a 51-40 lead with 12:31 left on the clock.
Marshall cut the lead down to five points at 56-51 with 8:30 remaining, but another Stapleton triple gave Navy a 59-51 lead. She would soon hit yet another trey to boost the Mids out to a 67-57 lead with 5:45 showing on the clock. Pollinger soon snared an offensive carom and scored on the putback to make the score 69-57 with 3:38 remaining in the game.
The Herd's Suporia Dickens made a pair of free throws on their next possession, then the Mids missed a pair of shots before turning the ball over on their next trip down the court. Dickens quickly connected on a three-point field goal to cut the margin down to 69-62 with 1:34 left on the clock.
Marshall committed three fouls on the next Navy possession to send Navy into the bonus. The third foul sent Pollinger to the foul line with 1:19 remaining. The strategy worked as she missed the front end of the bonus, but the loose ball careened off of a Marshall player and out of bounds. The Herd fouled Stapleton after the Mids inbounded the ball, and she too missed the front end of the bonus with 1:12 showing on the clock.
The Herd missed a shot on their ensuing trip, with Stapleton snaring the carom. That led to Alix Membreno (Sr., Loxahatchee, Fla.) being fouled with 59 seconds left. She would make the first but miss the second attempt from the charity stripe. Marshall missed a three-point attempt but kept possession on an offensive board, then Chelsey Romero was fouled while attempting a shot with 45 seconds left. She made the first attempt (70-63) and missed the second, but teammate Norrisha Victrum snared the errant shot. The ball soon found its way back into the hands of Romero who scored a layup while being fouled with 33 seconds left. She converted the three-point play to pull the Herd to within 70-66.
Marshall fouled Membreno on the inbounds pass, and she made the first foul shot (71-66) before missing the second. The Herd's Leah Scott promptly scored on a layup to make it a one-possession game at 71-68 with 27 seconds left. Marshall again fouled quickly, this time sending Pollinger back to the foul line with 26 seconds remaining. She missed the first, but made the second attempt to push the Navy lead to four points.
Navy forced Marshall to run considerable time off of the clock before Dickens missed a three-point attempt with just 10 seconds remaining. Geif grabbed the rebound and was immediately fouled. She would walk to the other end of the court where she missed both free throw attempts, but Marshall could not get a shot off until a Victrum trey went wide at the buzzer.
In all, Navy was just 3 of 10 from the foul line and missed both of its field goal attempts after taking its 12-point lead. Conversely, Marshall was 3 of 8 from the floor and 4 of 5 from the charity stripe in the same time span.
Navy would drill 14 three-point field goals in the game, one away from tying the school and Patriot League record. The Mids shot 43.8 percent from outside of the arc, 55.0 percent from two-point range and 48.1 percent overall from the floor. Defensively, the Mids held the Herd to 36.8 percent shooting from the field and a 29.2-percent (7-24) showing from three-point land. What allowed Marshall to stay in the game was foul shooting as it was 19 of 25 (76.0%) while Navy was 8 of 19 (42.1%).
"We shot three-pointers better than we shot free throws," said Pemper, "so that hurt us, but I liked after being off for so long to come out and get a good win on the road against a much improved Marshall team."
Additionally, the Herd held a 12-2 advantage in second chance points in the second half and a 21-8 edge for the game.
Stapleton's eight triples left her one shy of tying the Navy and Patriot League record of nine set by Angela Dobbs in 1992. Her 26 points bettered her previous career high of 20. Geif was 7 of 11 from the floor in scoring 17 points while adding 12 carom and five assists. Membreno also recorded double figures in points with 12 while also contributing 12 points, six assists, three rebounds and three steals.
The game was scheduled two years ago so Pollinger could play near her hometown. With seeming much of Fort Gay in attendance, the senior team captain sank four three-point field goals on her way to scoring 15 points while chipping in six rebounds and two steals.
"We really wanted to come out and play well for Kara," said Pemper. "She has been such an important part of our program. We always want to play well for her. She makes us proud and we try to make her proud as coaches and teammates. This is really special to get to come here. We are really appreciative of Marshall scheduling this game to set this up for her senior year."
"I am definitely very blessed to be part of a program that does something like this," said Pollinger. "I cannot put into words how much this has meant to me. And to see how much it has meant to my teammates and coaches too. I have never fought so many tears of excitement in my life. To be around such a wonderful place, and finally getting to show it to my friends, my teammates, my coaches where I come from; no one really comes to Fort Gay to visit. To go to my house and see where I grew up was amazing. It is a weekend I will never forget."
Navy will open its Patriot League season Thursday when the Mids play host to Loyola at 7 p.m. in Alumni Hall.
