Final Stats

BOSTON, Mass. -- Marina Muenster (Fr., Coppell, Texas) totaled 14 points and eight (of her 12) rebounds after halftime to help the Navy women's basketball team overcome an eight-point second-half deficit and defeat Boston University, 61-55, Wednesday night at Case Gym in Boston, Mass.

The win was Navy's first away from home on the season.

"Being able to get that first road win of the year is big," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper. "It wasn't super pretty. Boston can score a lot of points. They had 40 in the first half at Lehigh the other day. They have a good inside game and guards who can defend well. Because of that we just weren't firing on all cylinders. So to get the first road win of the year and with a couple of people stepping up when not all of our shots were falling is great."

The Mids (8-6, 2-1 Patriot League) had a pair of four-plus minute scoring droughts in the first half, but went into the break trailing by only four points at 32-28. Free throw shooting allowed the Terriers (3-11, 0-3) to head into the locker room with a slight cushion. Boston was 12-12 from the charity stripe in the first half, while Navy made its lone attempt from the line.

The home team quickly tallied six of the first eight points of the second half to double its halftime cushion out to eight points at 38-30. There was still a seven-point margin between the teams -- 42-35 -- when Muenster tallied six-straight points on a layup and two pairs of free throws to pull the Mids to within 42-41 with 11:24 showing on the clock.

Navy took its first lead of the game since it held an 18-17 advantage when Sarita Condie (So., Lovelock, Nev.) drained a three-point attempt to give the Mids a 48-46 lead with just over eight minutes remaining. One minute later, Muenster scored on a layup to cap a 7-0 Navy run and give the Mids a 50-46 lead.

The Mids held the advantage until a Meghan Green layup gave the Terriers a 53-52 lead with 3:28 remaining, but Muenster answered immediately with a layup of her own to return the advantage to the visitors. After both teams came away without a point on their next time down the court, the same sequence repeated itself as first Green and then Muenster scored buckets for their respective teams, with the latter hoop resulting in Navy taking a 56-55 lead with two minutes showing on the clock.

Each team again missed a shot, then a Boston turnover gave the ball back to the Mids. Navy would convert on its trip as a Muenster scored on a layup with one minute remaining. The Terriers again missed a shot on their offensive end and quickly fouled Taylor Dunham (Fr., Fort Belvoir, Va,) with 39 seconds left to play. She would make one of her two attempts from the line to extend the Navy lead to 59-55.

Navy regained possession of the ball after a BU missed shot, offensive board and turnover, with Condie soon being fouled with 24 seconds left to play. She converted both attempts to expand the Navy lead out to six points. Muenster tallied a blocked shot and defensive board to end the next possession for the Terriers, and though after being fouled she missed the front end of the bonus with 15 seconds left to play, BU committed one more turnover with scant time left on the clock to end the game.

Navy shot just 31.4 percent from the floor in the first half, but connected on 41.4 percent of its shots in the second half. This latter number was despite Navy sinking just 2 of its 11 (18.2%) three-point attempts after halftime. Defensively, the Mids held the Terriers to 36 percent shooting in the first 20 minutes and 32.3 percent shooting in the second 20 minutes.

Navy was aided on both ends of the floor by committing just six turnovers in the second half while forcing Boston into 12 second-half turnovers. This was after both teams committed just six turnovers in the first half. Additionally, the Mids were 7-10 from the foul line in the second half while the Terriers were only 1-2 from the foul line after halftime.

"Our defense got better as the game went on," said Pemper. "They earned some respect in the second half.

"We talked before the game about how not all of the players will play well every night, and your best players won't play well every night. You hope you have teams where when that happens other players step up. That is important on every team."

Muenster played just 12 minutes in the second half, but was 5-6 from the field and 4-6 from the foul line during that time. She also added two blocks and one steal to her aforementioned second-half stats line of 14 points and eight rebounds. Muenster accounted for 14 of Navy's final 26 points of the game, including eight of the team's last 13 points. Her previous highs for points and caroms in a game were nine and eight, respectively.

"Marina was solid defensively in our last game against Lafayette," said Pemper, "and she continued that improvement tonight. Offensively, she just put it all together this evening. She has a nice touch and competitive fire. Her stamina also improved tonight. Boston was a good transition team, so it took a lot of energy for her to run the floor. She also was able to get fouled and be successful from the free throw line."

Also attaining a career high in points was Condie with 15. She led the Mids with eight first-half points before adding seven more in the second half. Condie accounted for three of Navy's seven three-point field goals made in the game.

Green paced the Terriers with 19 points and 13 rebounds.

After returning to Annapolis bright and early Thursday morning, Navy will hit the road again on Friday for a Saturday afternoon game at Army.