Box Score

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Navy's defense recorded 15 steals while its offense saw five players tally at least six points in a 48-40 win by the Mids over Boston University in a women's basketball game played Wednesday night at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.

"We relied so much on our team defense," said Navy senior team captain Chloe Stapleton. "Boston can really score, so we had to work together."

The teams traded scoring runs -- and droughts -- throughout the game. Navy (13-9, 7-4 Patriot League) quickly scored the opening five points of the game, with Boston (4-18, 1-10) soon using a 7-2 run to take a 14-11 lead with 7:41 left in the first half. The Mids answered by scoring the next 11 points -- a run started and ended by Stapleton three-point field goals -- to build a 22-14 advantage on their way to taking a 25-18 lead into halftime. The Mids closed the frame on a Taylor Dunham (Fr., Fort Belvoir, Va.) three-point basket as the half expired.

Navy began the second half with an 8-2 run to take its largest lead of the game at 33-20. The cushion was 35-23 when Boston went on a 9-2 run to close to within 35-32 with nearly 11 minutes still to play. The margin was again three points at 37-34 (9:22) and 39-36 (6:17) when Marina Muenster (Fr., Coppell, Texas) made a pair of free throws to give the Mids a five-point lead with 5:05 showing on the clock.

The Terriers missed a layup on their end of the floor, then Ashanti Kennedy (So., Virginia Beach, Va.) hit a long jumper to stretch the lead to 43-36 with 4:20 left on the clock. Boston answered 13 seconds later with a layup by Meghan Green to again slice it down to a five-point game.

Stapleton missed a three-point on the offensive end of the court for the Mids, but she recorded a steal on the ensuing defensive trip to give the ball back to the Mids. That would lead to a jumper by Hannah Fenske (Fr., Albuquerque, N.M.) that pushed Navy's advantage out to 45-38 with three minutes remaining.

"We had a seven or eight point lead and they cut it," said Pemper, "but we responded really well.

"Marina's two free throws were really huge. Then Ashanti made the next basket and we went on a little run."

Boston missed a shot on its next time down the court, then an offensive rebound by Sarita Condie (So., Lovelock, Nev.) extended the next Navy possession. Fenske would find Muenster in the lane for a layup with just under two minutes left to play that made the margin 47-38. Muenster recorded her fourth steal of the game to eliminate Boston's next scoring opportunity, then grabbed an offensive carom to keep the following Navy possession alive. Justice Swett (So., Nashville, Tenn.) would be fouled with 58 seconds remaining, but made just the first of her two shots to make the score 48-38.

Muenster's fifth steal of the game followed with 48 seconds left, then she tallied an offensive board with 21 seconds remaining that all but sealed the victory for the Mids.

Eight of Navy's 11 Patriot League games have been decided by single digits, with the Mids posting a 6-2 record in those close games.

"I thought Marina had a really nice (defensive) presence in the second half," said Pemper. "So did Haley Unger (Fr., Marlboro, N.J.). Sarita was really feisty defensively on number 20 (Clodagh Scannell), who was their leading scorer. We tried to help off certain people, and 15 steals is just incredible."

Boston outshot Navy 41.7%-38.5% from the field in the second half and 38.3%-35.1% for the game, but the Mids snared 12 offensive boards and limited the Terriers to just seven to give Navy a 57-47 advantage in field goal attempts and a 20-18 lead in field goals made. And though the Mids were 0-4 from three-point range in the second half, they also were 5-15 for the game while the Terriers were 1-10 from beyond the arc on the night.

Navy's 15 steals rank second for both this season and in the Pemper era to the 16 it recorded against Saint Peter's. The Mids would record 17 points off of the 18 turnovers they forced the Terriers into, while Boston accrued 10 points after the 12 turnovers committed by Navy. Also helping the Mids to the win was their scoring 14 second-chance points and allowing the Terriers to score only five points such points.

Stapleton drained a trio of three-point field goal on the night to score 11 points. She has now made three triples in four-straight games and in five of the last six contests. Muenster, who posted 14 points and 12 rebounds in the first game of the season against Boston, finished tonight's game with eight points, seven rebounds and those aforementioned five steals. Additionally, Condie added seven points, Kennedy recorded six points and four boards, Fenske tallied six points, six rebounds and four assists, and Swett led the Mids with eight rebounds.

"Hannah was really solid late in the game," said Pemper. "She didn't shoot the ball well in the first half but I think was two for two in the second and made good decisions.

"In the first half we didn't feel like we made awesome decisions with our shots. So we were trying to get better at that in the second and we did shoot better."

Scannell finished the game by sinking 6 of 10 shots from the floor to lead the Terriers with 14 points.

Navy will be back in Alumni Hall Saturday when the Mids play host to Army in the annual Star Game. The Army and Navy men's teams will play at 2 p.m., with the women's programs following at 4:30 p.m.