Final Stats

WORCESTER, Mass. - A slow start and finish hurt the Navy women's basketball team in a 48-44 loss to Holy Cross Saturday afternoon at the Hart Center in Worcester, Mass.

The results of the day moves Navy, Holy Cross, Lehigh and Bucknell into a four-way tie for third place in the Patriot League standings with two games left. Each of the four teams has posted an identical 9-7 record.

"Clearly we missed a lot of open shots and that was the difference in the game," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper, who suffered her first loss to Holy Cross at the Hart Center in her seven seasons. "I thought our shots, for the most part, were good. You see our team -- I think the only one in the league that doesn't have anyone averaging double figures -- we have to win games by having multiple people hit shots and we continue to get better at executing offensively to where people do share the ball and people do get good shots."

The Mids made only two field goals through the first nine minutes of the game, but trailed the Crusaders by just the count of 11-5. Holy Cross would eventually take its largest lead of the half at 19-12 with three minutes remaining before halftime. That remained the score for another two minutes until Navy scored on each of its last three possessions -- including a three-point basket by Taylor Dunham (Fr., Fort Belvoir, Va.) as the first half expired -- to close to within 22-19 at the break.

Navy found itself trailing by just three points because even though the Mids were just 8-36 (2.2%) from the field in the half, they held the Crusaders to just nine made field goals and a 36-percent shooting effort.

That end of the first half sparked the Mids into the start of the second as Sarita Condie (So., Lovelock, Nev.) scored the first five points of the stanza and added another basket as part of a 10-2 run that gave Navy a 29-24 lead. The Mids would eventually open up a six-point cushion at 34-28 (11:21) and they still led by five points at 41-36 with 5:47 remaining on the clock.

"Sarita got us back in the game," said Pemper. "Not only on the scoreboard but her mentality, her confidence, her aggressiveness."

Navy's offensive struggles returned at the close of the game, however, as Holy Cross tallied 12 of the final 15 points of the afternoon.

"I thought our slow start really hurt us," said Pemper. "But then for about 10-15 min of the second half we played some good basketball, got some big stops and made some baskets. And then we just have to finish a little better down the stretch and work for the best shot that you can.

"We talked about it after the game and hopefully we learn from it. We're a team that is focused on trying to learn from our successes and learn from our failures; that is a constant, so we need to do that from this game. We're frustrated by the loss. Just really crazy to take 24 more shots than a team and outrebound them and not turn the ball over and lose."

Both teams made 18 field goals in the game and the Mids held a 7-1 advantage in three-point field goals made, but the Mids shot 24.3 percent (18-74) from the floor and just 20 percent (7-35) from three-point land while the Crusaders made 36 percent (18-50) of its shots. Additionally, the Crusaders were 11-15 from the foul line while the Mids were just 1-2 from the charity stripe.

Navy snared 18 offensive boards but could score just seven second-chance points while Holy Cross tallied five such points on six offensive caroms. The Mids also forced 14 turnovers while committing only nine of their own.

"Our defense was really solid," said Pemper. "Late in the game we were hurt by Emily Parker inside. But I thought we hustled, I thought Justice was really solid, I thought we worked really hard and followed the scout for the most part."

Condie led Navy with 12 points, Dunham added 11 points and Justice Swett (So., Nashville, Tenn.) grabbed 11 rebounds. Emily Parker led Holy Cross in scoring with 12 points while Raquel Scott grabbed 15 rebounds.

Navy will close the regular season with home games Wednesday against American and Feb. 28 vs. Loyola.