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ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- A late 8-1 run provided enough insurance for the Navy women's basketball team to hold off Grand Canyon, 60-51, Saturday afternoon at Alumni Hall in Annapolis on the final day of the Navy Classic.

The victory was the third in a row -- all in the last five days -- for the Mids and improved their record on the year to 4-3, while the Antelopes saw their record fall to 1-4 with the loss.

"I'm really happy," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper, who has guided the Mids to an 8-1 record in their last nine Navy Classic games. "Grand Canyon is a team that challenged us a little differently than other teams have. Their pressure can really force turnovers, so we focused a lot on that."

The teams traded runs throughout the first half, but when the horn sounded to end the stanza the score was tied at 30. Grand Canyon scored nine-straight points to build a 15-10 lead, which Navy answered with a 6-0 run to take a 16-15 advantage. The Antelopes promptly scored 13 of the next 16 points to regain a 28-19 lead, but the Mids counterpunched by closing the half on an 11-2 spurt to knot the game once again.

It took nearly three minutes for either team to score in the second half, with Grand Canyon breaking the drought with a jumper at the 17:08 mark. Haley Unger (Fr., Marlboro, N.J.) converted a pair of free throws on Navy's ensuing possession to tie the score and notch the first two points of an 8-0 run by the Mids. Peri Curtis (Jr., San Diego, Calif.) soon followed with a free throw of her own, then Unger scored on the inside move after receiving a nice pass from Chloe Stapleton (Sr., Cary, N.C.). Curtis would score on a layup of her own 90 seconds later, then a steal by Sarita Condie (So., Lovelock, Nev.) led to Marina Muenster (Fr., Coppell, Texas) being fouled while shooting. She would make just one of her two shots from the foul line to give Navy a 38-32 lead with 13:02 showing on the clock.

Navy would eventually build a 45-36 lead with 6:50 left in the game, but Grand Canyon very quickly made it a four-point contest at 45-41 with 5:22 remaining. Stapleton thwarted the surge by the Antelopes by draining a three-point shot on the next possession for the Mids. Grand Canyon took three shots on its next time down the court but failed to convert on any of them before a turnover gave the ball back to Navy. The Mids needed just one shot to score -- a spinning layup by Danielle Poblarp (So., Topeka, Kan.) -- on their ensuing possession to take a 50-41 lead with 4:27 left to play.

A pair of layups by the Mids and 6 of 6 shooting from the foul line over the last three minutes of play helped Navy hold on for the victory.

Both teams shot slightly over 40 percent from the floor in the first half, but while Navy maintained that effort in the second half it limited Grand Canyon to a mark of 27.6 percent. The Mids were just 1 of 12 (8.3%) from three-point range after halftime, but were 8 of 10 from inside of the arc over the last 20 minutes of play. Additionally, Navy made 11 of 15 foul shots (73.3%) in the second half while sending Grand Canyon to the line just five times (3 makes).

Grand Canyon held a 44-32 edge on the glass, but turned its 19 offensive caroms into just 11 points. Conversely, the Mids snared nine offensive boards and scored seven second chance points. Navy also was helped by its forcing the Antelopes into 21 turnovers while committing 17 of its own.

"Maybe we started to get a better feel for their offense," said Pemper of holding the Antelopes to 21 second half points. "We forced them into 21 turnovers -- not that we forced all of them, but 12 steals is good for us. I thought we had good, active hands. On offense we went inside trying to get better matchups than we had in the first half. Haley, for example just kept learning throughout the game. And we started to have a little more success in transition."

Taylor Dunham (Fr., Fort Belvoir, Va.) led Navy in scoring with 13 points in just 16 minutes of playing time. The point guard did not commit a turnover in her stint on the court. Joining her in double figures was Unger with 12 and Curtis with 10. Curtis also added four rebounds and four steals.

Madison Craig led Grand Canyon with 13 points, while teammate Jessica Gajewski added 10.

Dunham and Craig named to the all-tournament team this weekend, as were UNCG's Jazzmine Missouri and Melody Doss from Northern Kentucky.

Navy will close its six-game homestand Tuesday night when the Mids play host to Towson.