Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Taylor Dunham (Fr., Fort Belvoir, Va.) keyed a second-half surge that saw the Navy women's basketball team score 50 points over the final 20 minutes of play and defeat UNCG, 71-64, Saturday afternoon at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.

The 50 points are the most scored in a half by the Mids in Stefanie Pemper's seven seasons on The Yard.

The Mids (3-3) went into the break trailing the Spartans (2-3), 23-21. Navy shot better from the field than UNCG did in the first half, 33.3%-25.8%, but the Mids committed 17 turnovers in the frame while forcing the Spartans into 12 turnovers.

"To take nothing away from Greensboro," said Pemper, "but we just didn't come to play with a lot of energy in the first half. We talked about it before the game, during timeouts and at halftime. UNCG really was the first team to start playing. We talked at half about doing what we did the other night (in the second half) against George Mason."

Dunham entered today's game having totaled four points and two assists while appearing in two of Navy's first five games of the season, and accrued two points and one assist in the first half against UNCG. She opened the second half by draining a three-point field goal 13 seconds into the stanza to give the Mids a 24-23 lead. One minute later she scored on a jumper to give Navy a 26-25 lead, then a short while later stole the ball and fed Sarah Reilly (Fr., Cincinnati, Ohio) for a layup to extend the team's advantage out to 32-25.

The lead change hands twice over the next few minutes, then was tied at 37-37 when Chloe Stapleton (Sr., Cary, N.C.) drilled a three-point shot to break the tie and give Navy a lead it would not relinquish.

The long-ball was working for the Mids throughout the second half, and Navy seemingly connected on one each time when it needed it the most. The lead was down to one when Peri Curtis (Jr., San Diego, Calif.) made a triple to give the Mids a 43-39 lead. It was again a one-point difference when Stapleton sank another trey to make the score 48-44 in favor of the Mids. The Spartans made a jumper on their end of the floor, but Dunham answered with a triple on the other end to give Navy a 51-46 lead with just over eight minutes left to play.

Navy would push the margin out to eight points at 56-48 -- with a trey by Hannah Fenske (Fr., Albuquerque, N.M.) included in the run - before the Spartans made it a three-point game at 57-54. Sarita Condie (So., Lovelock, Nev.) was fouled on the other end of the floor and made both free throws, but the Spartans answered with a jumper by Jade Scaife to make the score 59-56 with a little more than three minutes left.

Dunham made one free throw on Navy's next possession, then stole the ball to end UNCG's following trip down the floor. The Mids couldn't convert the opportunity, but the Spartans also failed to score on their next chance. It then took all of 15 seconds after gathering in the defensive carom for the Mids to turn that four-point lead into a 63-56 cushion as Justice Swett (So., Nashville, Tenn.) connected on Navy's seventh three-point - on 10 attempts - in the second half with 1:45 left in the game.

The Spartans used a couple of three-pointers of their own to winnow the margin down to three points with 19.3 seconds remaining, after which they called their final timeout of the game. When play resumed, Stapleton winged her inbounds pass to the other side of halfcourt to a sprinting Condie, whose attempt at a layup was thwarted when Jazzmine Missouri spun her to the court. That drew an intentional foul, which sent Condie to the line with 17.7 seconds still to play. She made both foul shots (69-64), then Dunham was fouled on the resulting inbounds play with 15.8 seconds showing on the clock. Dunham, too, was perfect from the foul line to close out the scoring for the day.

Both teams shot the ball exceptionally well in the second half. Navy connected on 60 percent of its field goal attempts in the second half while UNCG made 58 percent of its shots from the floor over the final 20 minutes of play. In addition to holding a 7-3 edge in three-point field goals made after halftime, Navy also converted 13 of 15 attempts from the foul line in the second half to just a 2 of 2 effort for UNCG in the same span. And though the Mids did commit 11 more turnovers in the second half, that was the same number they forced the Spartans into.

Dunham recorded 11 points, five assists and three steals in the second half to end the game with 13 points, six assists and three steals. Her only two turnovers were committed in the first half.

"Taylor has really hung in there," said Pemper. "She has looked better in practices. In our scrimmages she has done a nice job with Justice, Peri, Sarita and Marina Muenster (Fr., Coppell, Texas), and toward the end of the game four of them were out on the floor together. So they are building some nice chemistry."

Joining her in double figures was Condie with 11 points thanks to her going 7 of 7 from the free throw line. Nearly reaching double digits were Unger, Stapleton and Swett, each of who scored nine points.

"On different nights," said Pemper, "it may be different players stepping up. We don't have established players other than Chloe."

UNCG's triumvirate of Jessica Collins, Scaife and Lucy Mason scored 16, 15 and 13 points, respectively.

Navy will be back in Alumni Hall Saturday at 3:30 p.m. when the Mids play host to Grand Canyon on day two of the Navy Classic. Immediately following that game will be UNCG taking on Northern Kentucky/