Final Stats

HAMILTON, N.Y. - Hannah Fenske rolled in a layup as the final horn sounded to give the Navy women's basketball team a 65-63 victory over Colgate Saturday afternoon at Cotterell Court in Hamilton, N.Y.

Colgate's Missy Repoli drained a 23-foot shot to tie the game at 63-63 with 6.9 seconds left on the clock, which led to a Navy timeout. Chloe Stapleton inbounded the ball to Marina Muenster, who looked to the middle of the floor and passed it to Justice Swett.

Swett obtained the ball at the top of the key on Colgate's side of the court. She dribbled the ball down the center of the court to inside of the top of the key on Navy's end. Just before some defensive pressure arrived, she passed it Fenske who was waiting on the right baseline out near the three-point line.

Fenske dribbled along the baseline and weaved around two defenders on her way to the basket before dipping toward the middle of the floor as she reached the inside of the lane. She took her shot just before the buzzer sounded, with the ball careening off the backboard to the front of the rim, stalling there ever so slightly and dropping through the twine.

"I saw Justice coming down the court," said Fenske, who hit the first buzzer-beating game-winning shot of her life. "As I looked up there were four seconds left as she was about to pass me the ball. I was about to shoot a three-point shot when a girl flew at me. I was about to shoot a pull-up, as well, when another girl flew at me, so I went for the layup, kind of weaved my way in and got it to fall."

"I thought Chloe did a really good job of finding Marina," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper. "Marina had good poise to look middle, and Justice also made a smart play to attack and draw (the defense). They actually did exactly what we talked about in the timeout. That doesn't always happen. Then we weren't sure what shot Hannah was going to take; she had multiple (possible) attempts. The layup was an unlikely choice from my vantage point. It was really exciting."

Navy scored the last six points of a first half that saw the lead change hands seven times to take a 28-22 lead at the break. The Mids utilized some pressure defense at the start of the second half to ignite their offense and take a 47-31 lead seven minutes into the frame. Colgate committed six turnovers in those opening minutes while Navy made eight of 12 shots -- including three of four three-point attempts -- during that run.

"We played really smart and were really active and shot the ball well in the first 14 minutes of the second half," said Pemper, "but then the press really bothered us."

Navy still held a 61-46 lead with just over five minutes left to play when Colgate's pressure started to have an impact on the Mids. The Raiders quickly chipped away at the margin and cut it to single digits at 61-53 with just under three minutes remaining. It took just 80 more seconds before a layup by Mariah Jones winnowed the margin down to three points at 61-58 with 1:35 left to play.

Swett was fouled on Navy's next trip down the court, but missed the front end of the bonus. Navy regained possession when Taylor Dunham stole the ball from Jones with 1:17 showing on the clock. Dunham would be fouled with 56 seconds remaining, but made just one of her two attempts from the charity stripe.

Jones promptly hit a jumper to cut the difference down to two points at 62-60 with 46 seconds left, and the Raiders regained the ball on a wayward pass from Stapleton with 40 seconds remaining. Jones would miss a three-point shot for the Raiders, but teammate Ariel Etheridge snared the loose carom. She went back up with the ball only to find Muenster there for the block and defensive carom, with Repoli fouling her with 30.2 seconds to go. Muenster would sink just the second of her two free throw attempts to make the score 63-60, which led to the Repoli triple that knotted the score.

Prior to Fenske's layup, the Mids committed four turnovers, missed both of their field goal attempts and were just two of five from the foul line after taking the 61-46 lead. Conversely, Colgate made seven of 11 field goal attempts and both free throw attempts while committing just one turnover during the same span.

It was Navy's third game in a row in which a shot at the final buzzer determined the outcome.

"Obviously our young players have played a lot of minutes," said Pemper. "Lately we have gone to a couple of sophomores who also are pretty inexperienced. We had a really good practice Thursday and a really good practice Friday. Everyone is really invested and we're getting contributions from a lot of people. We always talk about how not everyone is going to have a great game."

Navy shot 52.2 percent from the floor in the second half, which was helped by a four-of-six showing from three-point range. That led to the Mids shooting 45.1 percent from the field for the game. Colgate also shot the ball well after halftime -- 45.5 percent -- on its way to putting together a 39.7-percent shooting effort for the game.

Dunham connected on four-of-six field goal attempts -- two-of-three from three-point range -- to score 12 second half points and 18 for the game. She also added two assists and accounted for four steals.

Fenske was held scoreless in the first half but made four-of-seven second-half shots to score nine points in the latter stanza. Also tallying nine points in the game was Stapleton, who drained three-of-six three-points to go along with four steals.

Jones led Colgate with 15 points, with Repoli adding 13.