Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Shooting woes on the offensive end of the court curtailed the Navy women's basketball team in a 60-44 loss to Holy Cross Saturday afternoon at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.

The first half was a very even frame for the first 13 minutes. The lead had changed hands eight times through the Mids (11-8, 5-3 Patriot League) taking a 21-20 lead with seven minutes remaining before halftime. Navy's offense hit a lull at that point as Holy Cross (8-13, 4-4) outscored the Mids 16-4 over the rest of the half.

The Mids made just 1-of-11 shots from the field (0-of-4 from three-point range) and were 2-of-5 from the foul line over those last seven minutes of the stanza. Conversely, the Crusaders were 4-of-9 from the floor (2-of-3 from three-point land) and 4-of-4 from the foul line during the same span of time. Those shooting efforts allowed Holy Cross to take a 36-25 lead at the break.

"I thought the 3-of-15 three-point shooting in the first half killed us," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper. "But we got some really great looks. Love the shots we got against their half court zone."

Navy could only whittle the deficit down to nine points -- 36-27, 38-29, 42-33 -- in the second half.

The Mids ended the game shooting just 30.4 percent from the floor, which included a 17.4-percent showing (4-of-23) from three-point range, while the Crusaders made 38.6 percent of their shots including 31.3 percent (5-of-16) of their three-point attempts. Holy Cross also was 11-of-13 from the foul line while Navy was 6-of-9 from the charity stripe.

"I think us missing shots was the key," said Pemper. "In the second half we were outscored by five and didn't shoot the ball great. In the first half, obviously `lose' by 11, so our defense was better in the second half, but we did give up more offensive boards (5 in the first half, 10 in the second). They (Holy Cross) obviously are good, they execute stuff well, they have a lot of athleticism going to the basket. It is hard to contain them and not give up rebounding position. And their size; they are just so big."

Though both teams turned the ball over 12 times and the Mids lost the offensive rebound contest to the Crusaders by just three (15-12), Holy Cross held sizable advantages over Navy in both points after turnovers, 14-7, and second-chance points, 11-4.

Individually, Chloe Stapleton (Sr., Cary, N.C.) made six of her 12 field goal attempts -- 3-of-8 from three-point range -- to lead the Mids with 15 points. Justice Swett (So., Nashville, Tenn.) added nine points and four rebounds, Ashanti Kennedy (So., Virginia Beach, Va.) had eight points, three rebounds and three assists, and Haley Unger (Fr., Marlboro, N.J.) grabbed nine rebounds.

Holy Cross was led in scoring by Raquel Scott with 16 points.

Navy will close the first half of the Patriot League season Tuesday night when the Mids play at first-place American. A television broadcast of the game will be syndicated nationally on the American Sports Network.