Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Six players scored in double figures to help the Navy women's basketball team put together one of its highest scoring outputs in recent years and hold off a pesky George Mason squad, 84-79, Tuesday night at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.

The 84 points accrued by the Mids is tied for the third-highest single game total -- tied for the second highest in a regulation game -- in head coach Stefanie Pemper's seven seasons.

"We played pretty solid from the (start of the) second half through the first 14 minutes," said Pemper. "Then there were lots of fouls and we knew it was going to take forever. But we won a game by hitting free throws. We had some nice inside scorers. The `three ball' really helped us tonight; (it) gave us some confidence and put points on the board."

George Mason (3-2) slowly built a 19-14 lead with seven minutes left to play in the first half, but Navy (2-3) scored 19 of the next 25 points to take a 33-25 advantage with just under two minutes remaining before halftime.

Peri Curtis (Jr., San Diego, Calif.) started the run with a three-point shot, then Chloe Stapleton (Sr., Cary, N.C.) connected on back-to-back triples followed by a layup to give Navy a 25-23 advantage. After bucket by the Patriots, Hannah Fenske (Fr., Albuquerque, N.M.) and Marina Muenster (Fr., Coppell, Texas) exchanged baskets for the Mids, then Curtis tallied the ensuing two field goals to close out the run.

Navy would go into the locker rooms at halftime with a 36-30 lead.

The lead would be 38-34 early in the second half when the Mids went on another run. Haley Unger (Fr., Marlboro, N.J.) scored on a layup off of a feed from Sarah Reilly (Fr., Cincinnati, Ohio), then Stapleton scored on a layup and and a three-point shot to boost the Mids out to a 45-34 advantage. After another empty possession by George Mason, Curtis scored off of a pass from Stapleton to end a 9-0 run that gave Navy a 47-34 lead with just over 16 minutes remaining.

George Mason cut the margin down to nine points four times over the next few minutes, including at 54-45 at the midpoint of the second half. Navy responded by going on an 11-2 run that gave it a 65-47 cushion with 7:39 left in the game. Muenster accounted six of those 11 points on a layup, two free throws and another layup, with Danielle Poblarp (So., Topeka, Kan.) capping the surge with a three-point field goal.

Navy still held a 14-point lead at 71-57 after Stapleton drained her fourth three-point field goal of the evening with 4:46 remaining, but the game was far from finished. It took just two and one-half minutes of clock time for the Patriots to cut the deficit down to five points at 72-67 with 2:13 showing on the clock. Mason guard Taylor Brown ignited the run for visitors as she recorded two jumpers, a steal and layup and another jumper during the stretch.

The margin hovered between five and seven points until Brown drained a three-point shot with 23.9 seconds remaining to slice it down to four points at 80-76. After a George Mason timeout, the Mids inbounded the ball to Sarita Condie (So., Lovelock, Nev.) who was immediately fouled. She had made two free throws on Navy's previous possession, but she made only the front end of her two attempts this time. Muenster was there for the offensive board, however, but missed a challenging shot in the lane that was gathered in by the Patriots. Jasmine Jackson would miss on the other end of the floor, with Muenster snaring the loose ball and being fouled with 15.9 seconds left to play.

Like Condie, Muenster made just one attempt from the charity stripe, which her tally giving the Mids an 82-76 lead. Brown missed a three-point shot for the Patriots, but teammate Cyndi Cole grabbed the miss and was fouled with 9.1 seconds left. She made the first attempt and missed the second, but George Mason's Tayler Dodson scooped up the ball and scored on a putback to made the score 82-79 with 5.3 seconds left. Navy inbounded the ball to Condie who was fouled with 4.2 seconds showing on the clock. She would march to the other end of the court and calmly sink both shots to close out the scoring for the evening.

"It was difficult because they draw fouls so well," said Pemper. "Number 31 (Brown) and number one (Jackson) get to the line. If 31 had done the whole game what she had done the last five minutes it would have been hard to beat them. It was hard to keep them off the line. It's not like us to foul 24 times."

Both teams made 27 field goals in the game, but Navy converted 11 of 28 three-point attempts while George Mason was 3 of 20 from beyond the arc. The Mids were 17 of 24 from the foul line in the second half and ended the game sinking 19 of 27 attempts from the stripe in all. The Patriots shot one fewer free throw than the Mids did, but sank three additional attempts (22 of 26).

The Patriots also held a 47-42 advantage on the glass, but despite holding a 21-17 edge in offensive boards they scored just 14 second-chance points to 10 for the Mids. A similar story was found in the turnover tally as Navy's 21 turnovers led to 19 points for George Mason, while the 17 turnovers registered by the Patriots led to 16 points for the Mids.

Navy accounted for 23 assists on its 27 made field goals.

"It felt great," said Stapleton, of Navy's offensive efforts. "Everyone was unselfish with the ball and showing confidence in each other. We love to do one more pass, look in, look out."

Navy's bench accounted for 40 points, with Justice Swett (So., Nashville, Tenn.) (11), Condie (10) and Curtis (10) all reaching double figures and Muenster (9) just narrowly missing joining them. Stapleton's 16 points led all Mids, while Poblarp accounted for a trio of triples, 13 points and five assists, and Reilly contributed 11 points.

Condie tied her career high for points, while Poblarp, Swett and Muenster all set career highs.

"This was kind of like the Chloe that we know," said Pemper of Stapleton's shooting. "She was opportunistic, we executed some plays and she read screens right and made the most on those opportunities. I thought Dani Poblarp was really big tonight. I definitely think her running layup was the difference in the game. We kept saying `poise, tempo' over the last five minutes, and Dani did well."

Brown led all players in the game with 27 points.

The Mids will now play host to the annual Navy Classic Friday and Saturday in Alumni Hall. Navy will face UNCG Friday at 3:30 p.m. and Grand Canyon Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Northern Kentucky plays at 6 p.m. on both days, with Grand Canyon being their foe Friday and UNCG their opponent on Saturday.