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ANNAPOLIS, Md. â€"â€" After trailing by as many as 13 points late in the third quarter, the Navy women's basketball rallied to force a first and then a second overtime before emerging with a 73-70 victory over Elon Tuesday night at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.

"I can't remember a game like this," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper. "This was just incredible. We shot 17 percent in the first half, but Elon never really got any separation from us. We did talk about how we have to want this game more. For our players to stay in it, and us to play so many kids, and them keep believing we could win it was just great.

"There was a lot of pride tonight, a lot of fight."

The Phoenix (3-2), who defeated the Mids (3-1) by 13 points a year ago and knocked off American Sunday afternoon in Washington, D.C., went on a 16-0 run to take a 20-8 lead with just over nine minutes remaining in the second quarter. Navy was able to slice the deficit down to seven points â€"â€" 29-22 â€"â€" at halftime despite the Mids shooting just 17.1 percent from the field and allowing the Phoenix to connect on 46.2 percent of their shots in the first 20 minutes of play.

Elon scored the opening four points of the third period on its way to taking 13-point leads of 38-25 (3:15) and 42-29 (1:41). But just as in the second quarter, Navy made a little run during the closing stretch of the period and winnowed the margin down to 42-35 through three quarters.

Navy's spurt continued into the start of the fourth quarter and soon the Mids closed to within one point of the Phoenix at 42-41 on a jumper by Ashanti Kennedy (Jr., Virginia Beach, Va.) â€"â€" who started the 12-0 run with a jumper and pair of free throws â€"â€" with 6:48 remaining in the period. Neither team scored on their next three respective possessions, then Elon ended its eight-minute scoring drought on a layup by Malaya Johnson with 3:06 showing on the clock. After a missed shot by the Mids, Lauren Brown hit a triple to boost Elon out to a 47-41 advantage with 2:18 left.

Navy freshman Bianca Roach (Virginia Beach, Va.), who made the first start of her young career this evening, hit a jumper for the Mids and then was fouled while stealing the ball to end the next Elon possession. She made both free throws to pull the Mids to within 47-45 with 1:16 remaining. Still under the five-foul limit to send Elon to the free throw line, the Mids quickly committed three fouls in a 15-second span to place Shay Burnett at the charity stripe with 53 seconds to play. She made just one of her two attempts to stretch the lead for the visitors out to 48-45.

The ensuing Navy possession saw Sarita Condie (Jr., Lovelock, Nev.) miss a triple, but teammate Justice Swett (Jr., Nashville, Tenn.) gathered in her fifth offensive board of the night and send it back out to Condie who connected on the straightaway shot to knot the score at 48-48 with 33.5 seconds left. After a Navy timeout, the Phoenix were unable to get a shot off until just prior to the shot clock expiring. The contested shot was off its mark to send the game into the first extra period.

Navy took an early lead in the overtime on a pair of free throws, but the score would be tied at 50-50 (2:57) and 51-51 (1:37) when a layup by Johnson gave Elon a two-point lead with 63 seconds left. Navy's Molly Sanders (Fr., Ames, Iowa) would miss a three-point try with 36.4 seconds remaining to give the ball back to Elon. The Mids quickly fouled Burnett with 33.5 seconds remaining, but again, she made just one of her two awarded free throw attempts. Her errant shot was snared by Kennedy, and the Mids quickly advanced the ball up the court before calling timeout with 11.4 seconds left on the game clock and eight seconds remaining on the shot clock.

Kennedy inbounded the ball to Condie who spotted up at nearly the same place on the floor she was at toward the end of regulation, and despite being challenged by a defender she arced the shot through the net to tie the game with 9.5 seconds remaining. An Elon timeout allowed the Phoenix to inbound the ball from in front of their bench. The ball would eventually wind up in the hands of Brown, whose missed a three--point attempt as the buzzer sounded to send the game into another extra period.

"The first one was off of a rebound from Justice," said Condie of the first of her two game-tying treys. "I wouldn't have even been able to hit that shot if it were not for the effort of another teammate. I think that was the story of the whole game. There were a lot of little plays, steals, assists, rebounds blocks ... I hit a couple of big shots, but it was because of the effort of the whole team."

The first four minutes of the five-minute session was a back-and-forth affair that saw the largest lead for either team be two points and the score tied four times. Roach then made several big plays in succession for the Mids. She first picked the pocket of an unsuspecting Burnett with just over one minute left to play and was immediately fouled by the Phoenix player. Roach made just one free throw, but it gave Navy a 65-64 lead. After Elon answered on a layup from Nikki McDonald, Roach scored on a layup and foul shot to give the Mids a 68-66 advantage with 34.1 seconds still to play.

Swett ended the next Elon trip down the court with her fifth steal of the night, which led to Condie being fouled with 24.9 seconds remaining. Condie made just one free throw to push the Navy lead to three points at 69-66. Brown missed a game-tying trey on the next Elon possession, but Johnson grabbed the offensive board on the low right block. As she went up for the putback attempt, Peri Curtis (Sr., Coronado, Calif.) registered the eighth blocked shot of her four-year career, which Condie scooped up prior to her being fouled with 14.4 seconds left.

"That was huge," said Condie of the block by Curtis. "I think everyone out there who played had a lot of confidence and we didn't back down. That was just a huge play for a senior to make a play like that at the end of a game."

Condie made both free throws to make the score 71-66, but Elon answered with a layup by Burnett with 10.4 seconds remaining. Roach was promptly fouled one second later on the inbounds pass. She made just one attempt from the line (72-68), and Burnett cut the margin in half on a layup with 2.5 seconds left. The Mids again gave the ball to Roach who was fouled with 1.3 seconds showing on the clock. Her first attempt was off its mark, but her second one went in to give Navy a three-point lead. A three-quarter court attempt by Elon as the buzzer sounded was wide of the hoop to end the game.

Navy scored just eight points in the 10-minute first quarter and totaled 22 in the entire 20-minute first half, but scored 19 points in the second overtime stanza. The Mids made six field goals and shot 17.1 percent from the floor in the first half, but made six field goals and 54.5 percent of their attempts in the two overtime periods. Elon, which held a 59-43 advantage on the glass, shot 36.8 percent from the field for the 50-minute game.

A big boost to Navy's rally was it recording 18 steals and forcing 28 Elon turnovers while the Phoenix accrued just eight steals and forced the Mids into 14 turnovers. Additionally, Navy was 24-31 from the foul line while Elon was 15-23 from the charity stripe. Kennedy alone was 9-10 from the foul line for the Mids, an effort that helped her register a career-high 21 points on the night two days after setting a new career high of 16 points against North Carolina A&T. She also led the Mods with nine caroms.

Condie had tallied 17 points over Navy's last two games, but scored 17 points this evening to go along with six steals, eight rebounds and five assists. Also reaching double figures in points was Roach with 12, while Swett contributed seven rebounds, four points and two assists in addition to her five steals.

Navy improved to 6-2 in multiple overtime games played in its 39-year history, which includes a 5-0 record in home multiple overtime games.

The Mids will now play host to the Navy Classic on Friday and Saturday. Friday's 3:30 p.m, game features Colorado State facing Morgan State, with Navy taking on Siena at 6 p.m. The pairings for Saturday's game will be determined by Friday's results, but the Mids are assured of playing in the 6 p.m. game once again.