Box Score

EUGENE, Ore. - In game where each team dominated play for a single half, a strong second 20 minutes allowed Oregon to post a 72-64 victory over the Navy women's basketball team Saturday night at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Ore.

"I think you have to credit Oregon for the differences in the game," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper. "I think they attacked the basket well. Jillian Alleyne just worked a little harder. Defensively they were just so scrappy in the second half and forced a lot more turnovers. We weren't real poised. Obviously, then, the crowd got in their favor. Ultimately I just credit Oregon for the plays they made on both ends of the court.

The first half couldn't have gone any better for Navy (4-5) than it did as the Mids used the three-point shot to jump out to leads of 9-0, 25-7 and 39-17 before taking a 45-24 lead over the Ducks (4-3) at the break. Navy connected on 11 of 22 three-point shots in the first half while holding Oregon to 36 percent (9-25) shooting from the floor. Both Chloe Stapleton (Sr., Cary, N.C.) and Taylor Dunham (Fr., Fort Belvoir, Va.) accounted for a trio of triples in the frame.

Navy then scored the opening first goal of the second half to extend its margin out to 47-24.

Oregon quickly whittled away at the margin, closing to within 11 points -- 47-36 -- until Navy extended it back out to 14 points at 52-38 with 12:17 remaining in the game. The Mids then held a 54-42 lead when the Ducks tallied the next 16 points to take their first lead of the game at 64-48 with 4:41 left to play.

Navy responded by seeing Stapleton and then Sarah Reilly (Fr., Cincinnati, Ohio) sink consecutive three-pointers to allow it to regain the lead at 60-58 with 3:39 remaining. The Ducks answered with an 8-0 to build a 66-60 lead with just under two minutes showing on the clock. The Mids sliced the margin down to two points at 66-64 following a pair of free throws by Dunham and a jumper by Peri Curtis (Jr., San Diego, Calif.), but Oregon would score the final six points of the game to thwart any last run by Navy.

"We held that 10-point lead for awhile," said Pemper, "and were able to get the lead back but couldn't make any more plays after that."

After sinking 11 of 22 triples in the first half, Navy made just 3 of 10 three-point attempts after halftime as part of a 6-of-23 effort in all over the last 20 minutes. Conversely, Oregon went from shooting 36 percent in the first half to converting on 48.4 percent of its second half field goal attempts.

Navy held a 19-17 advantage on the glass in the first half, but Oregon won the battle of the boards by a 21-15 count in the second half. The turnovers also told a different story in the two stanzas: Navy committed five first half turnovers while forcing Oregon into 11; the Mids turned the ball over 12 times in the second half while the Ducks committed two turnovers. Whereas in the first half Navy held a 19-2 advantage in points after turnovers, Oregon held a 21-2 edge in that stat during the second half.

Additionally, both teams were called for five first half fouls, but Navy was assessed 15 fouls in the second half while Oregon was whistled for eight. That would lead to the Ducks making 12 of 16 foul shots in the second half after making 3 of 4 in the first half; the Mids were 6 of 8 from the charity stripe for the game.

"I thought in the second half," said Pemper, "turnovers hurt us, we never got super comfortable as shooters, and we sent them to the foul line a little too much.

"We have to find our poise on the court. We have to find a few players who exemplify that. That will help us tremendously."

Dunham led the Mids with 15 points, Stapleton scored 14 points and Curtis contributed nine.

The 6-4 Alleyne made 9 of 12 shots from the field in scoring 19 points while snaring 16 caroms, teammate Lexi Petersen scored 14 points while dishing out five assists, and Amanda Delgado scored 13 points.

"Delgado and Katelyn Loper had some huge threes for them (Oregon)," said Pemper, "and they are both seniors. The good defense we played early, and I thought Haley Under (Fr., Marlboro, N.J.) was really good on Alleyne, then we weren't able to sustain that for a whole game. So executing a game plan for a full 40 minutes is something we can take away from this.

"I expect Navy teams to kind of rise to the bright lights of a big game like this. For a team that had three freshmen in the starting lineup, how we were so smart in the first half and so confident ... we're used to the past few years where the women really rise to this challenge, and this was the first experience for this team, so we are glad we put them in this situation and how they rose to that challenge for the first 20 minutes. And there is so much to learn from in the second half. This definitely was a game where we have just as many positives as there are negatives."

Navy is now off from competition for final exams until closing its non-Patriot League season Dec. 21 when it plays host to Saint Peter's.