Feb. 1, 2014

Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- A short, turnaround jumper by Emily Homan with 7.0 seconds left proved to be the deciding points in a 70-69 victory by Lafayette over the Navy women's basketball team Saturday night at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.

The loss was the first for the Mids (17-4) in the Patriot League season (9-1) and left Navy one win short of tying the school record for the most consecutive wins (11, 1990-91 & 1995-96). Lafayette won its third-straight game to improve to 11-10 overall and 5-5 in league play.

Despite the loss, Navy still holds a one-game lead in the Patriot League standings over second-place Army, which won Saturday in overtime at home against Loyola.

"Lafayette was really hot, and we weren't," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper. "We obviously turned it up a notch in the second half, but we obviously have to not have to do that in the second half. We have to play better for 40 minutes, play harder. Credit to them (Lafayette). They had confident shooters everywhere, they obviously have a really good player inside. It just wasn't our night."

Navy shot 44.4 percent from the field in the first half and limited Lafayette to a mark of 35.3 percent, but the Leopards went into the break holding a 33-32 lead. This was due to the Mids sinking just 1 of 8 three-point attempts while Lafayette made 6 of 14 shots from long range.

The Mids held leads of 28-23 and 32-26 late in the first half, but Lafayette scored the final seven points of the stanza -- with its final bucket coming on an offensive putback by Danielle Fiacco as the first half buzzer sounded -- to take the one-point lead. That surge carried over into the second half as the Leopards quickly took 40-34 and 42-36 leads in the opening minutes of the frame.

Navy climbed right back into the game with a 6-0 run of its own to tie the game at 42-42, but Lafayette immediately regained the lead and took five-point cushions at 52-47 and 54-49. The Mids finally found some success from beyond the arc and back-to-back triple by Peri Curtis (So., Coronado, Calif.) and Kara Pollinger (Sr., Fort Gay, W.Va.) gave Navy a 55-54 lead.

Lafayette answered and again built a five-point advantage at 62-57 with 7:00 showing on the clock, but just as quickly the Mids scored the ensuing five points to tie the game and then took a 65-64 lead on another trey by Stapleton with 3:56 left to play.

Madeline Fahan would connect on jumpers on two of the next three Lafayette possessions to give it a 68-65 lead with 1:54 remaining, then Jade Geif (Sr., Lakeville, Minn.) closed the Mids to within one point on a shot from in the paint of her own with 1:26 left. First Lafayette and then Navy missed shots, then the Leopards threw the ball away with 32.5 seconds remaining in the game. The Mids promptly went back inside to Geif, who scored again to give Navy a 69-68 lead with 16.9 seconds left.

Lafayette sent the ball inside on its next possession, with Homan connecting on her turnaround jumper. That led to a Navy timeout. The Mids quickly gave the ball to Alix Membreno (Sr., Loxahatchee, Fla.), who drove down the center of the lane, but she was too far under the basket couldn't get a completely clean look at the bucket and her shot was off as the game ended.

"We kind of messed it up," said Pemper of Navy's last possession. "We didn't have it set up the way Alix likes to drive. I thought either she would get to the basket or have Kara in the corner. But we didn't execute it great, and that's partially my fault."

Both teams shot the ball better in the second half. The Mids made 46.9 percent of their field goal attempts (5-11 from three-point range) while the Leopards made 51.6 percent of their shots from the floor (3-10 from outside the arc).

In all, Navy shot 45.8 percent from the field and made 6 of 19 three-point attempts (31.6%), while Lafayette made 43.1 percent of its shots including a 9-of-24 effort form long range (37.5%). The Leopards held a slim 37-35 edge on the glass, and both teams turned the ball over 13 times.

"Here or there, we could have made a better play," said Pemper, "but they (Lafayette) shot the `three' better than they have been shooting it."

Geif was limited to 21 minutes of playing time due to foul trouble, but she made 9 of 12 field goal attempts on her way to scoring 20 points and pulling down seven rebounds. Audrey Bauer (Sr., Lake Zurich, Ill.) scored 10 points wit Stapleton tallying 13 points and six rebounds. Pollinger took only one field goal attempt in the first half and ended the game with a season-low eight points while dishing out a career-high nine assists.

Lafayette was led in scoring by Kelly Loughney's 16 points.

"We need our good players to play well," said Pemper. "They (Lafayette) had some players step up and they could really rely on Homan inside. We have to adjust our defense to her and it gives another opportunity for others to step up.

"In the first half, Kara only had one shot. And she's our leading scorer. That's because their defense was really focusing on her. We need other kids to step up in that situation. Kara is working her tail off. So maybe it is that cliché where the game was lost in the first half."

Navy will take to the road for a pair of games next week. The Mids will play Wednesday at Boston U. and Saturday at Army.

Patriot League Standings (8 games left)
1. 9-1 Navy
2. 8-2 Army
T3. 7-3 American
T3. 7-3 Bucknell
T5. 5-5 Holy Cross
T5. 5-5 Lafayette
T7. 3-7 Boston U.
T7. 3-7 Lehigh
9. 2-8 Loyola
10. 1-9 Colgate