Final Stats

EASTON, Pa. â€"â€" Rallies by the Navy women's basketball team both at the end of regulation and then again in overtime gave the Navy women's basketball team a 65-58 victory over Lafayette Saturday afternoon at the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, Pa. The Mids (9-8, 3-3 Patriot League) outscored the Leopards (3-13, 1-5) 8-1 at the end of regulation to force overtime, then scored the final 12 points of the extra session to come away with the victory.

"That was a real gutty win," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper, who took over sole possession of second place in school history and fifth place in league history with her 142nd career win today. "We never really got down emotionally. We just stayed with it and then hit some big shots."

Navy took an eight-point lead in the opening minutes of the second quarter only to see Lafayette close to within one point several times in the period. The Mids would go into halftime holding a 26-25 lead. Taylor Dunham (So., Fort Belvoir, Va.) accounted for half of Navy's points in the first 20 minutes of the game.

Lafayette tied the score at 30-30 early in the third quarter before the Mids took a 38-32 advantage with 5:46 left in the stanza. The Leopards promptly outscored the Mids 12-1 over the remainder of the frame to take a 44-39 lead into the final period.

Navy scored on each of its first three possessions of the fourth quarter to regain the lead at 45-44 on a jumper from Peri Curtis (Sr., Coronado, Calif.). However, Lafayette needed less than two minutes to open up a 52-45 cushion with five minutes showing on the clock.

The Mids again became very efficient on both end of the court. An Ashanti Kennedy (Jr., Virginia Beach, Va.) jumper, a Lafayette missed shot gathered in by Navy followed by an offensive board and putback by Haley Unger (So., Marlboro, N.J.) quickly winnowed the margin down to 52-49 with 3:30 left to play. The Mids forced another Lafayette turnover, then Dunham was fouled on Navy's ensuing possession. She made the first shot and missed the second, but Curtis snared the carom, kicked the ball out to Sarita Condie (Jr., Lovelock, Nev.) for a three-point shot that was pure to give Navy a 53-52 advantage with 2:32 remaining to play.

Navy fouled Jamie O'Hare on the next Lafayette possession, but she made just one of two free throw attempts to leave the score tied with exactly two minutes left on the clock. The Mids managed just one shot â€"â€" it was blocked â€"â€" and turned the ball over on their two remaining offensive possessions in regulation, but Navy's stout defense forced the Leopards into four missed shots to send the game into overtime.

It was Navy's sixth overtime game of the year, which leaves the Mids one away from tying the NCAA record for the most overtime games played in a single season.

A Lafayette turnover to start overtime was followed by a Navy missed shot. The Leopards then opened up the scoring when Sammy Stipa made a pair of free throws. O'Hare then stole the ball and scored on a layup to boost the Lafayette lead to 57-53. Dunham missed a pair of foul shots on Navy's next opportunity on offense, with Harriett Ottewell-Soulby going 1-2 from the foul line on the other end of the floor to make the score 58-53 two minutes into overtime.

The Mids did a great job of breaking the Lafayette press when Condie found Curtis for a layup within a matter of seconds of inbounding the ball to give them their first points of the period. O'Hare missed a shot just prior to the shot clock expiring on Lafayette's next possession, then Dunham sliced her way down the left side of the court for a layup to pull the Mids to within 58-57 with 1:55 left to play.

Navy forced another Lafayette turnover to regain the ball, with Unger being fouled after grabbing an offensive carom on the other side of the court. She made just the first attempt from the charity stripe to tie the score with 1:13 remaining. After O'Hare committed another turnover for the Leopards, Dunham drained a three-point shot to give the Mids a 61-58 lead with 43 seconds left to play. Another O'Hare turnover was followed by Condie being fouled with 28 seconds remaining. Her two free throws boosted the Mids out to a two possession â€"â€" 63-58 â€"â€" advantage.

O'Hare misfired on a pair of three-point attempts on the next Lafayette possession, with her latter attempt being grabbed by Condie who was quickly fouled. She sank both free throw attempts with 7.9 seconds left to close out the scoring.

"I thought we played really hard," said Pemper. "It was a good, physical basketball game. It seems every game we play here is close (nine of the last 11 have been decided by single digits).

"Sometimes it seems the team that gets off to an early lead in overtime doesn't win the game. I definitely have been on the other side of a result like today."

Navy posted a slightly higher field goal percentage, 37.7%-35.2%, but the Mids made 23 field goals to 19 for Lafayette. Included in those tallies were the Mids sinking 10 three-point shots (38.5% shooting) and the Leopards making just six (27.3%).

The Mids continually capitalized on the turnovers in forced the Leopards into. Navy scored 26 points after 22 Lafayette turnovers, while the Leopards accrued 14 points after the 13 turnovers committed by the Mids. Navy also won the battle on the offensive glass, 18-16, and lost the overall rebounding count by just one (41-40).

"Lafayette is a really good offensive rebounding team," said Pemper. "To finish with more offensive boards and end just one behind them overall was big for us."

Dunham led the Mids with 21 points while dishing out a trio of assists, Condie scored 10 points and handed out three assists, and Lehigh Valley-native Sara Jones (New Tripoli, Pa.) tallied eight points, five rebounds and three steals. Additionally, Curtis posted six points and eight boards, Justice Swett (Jr., Nashville, Tenn.) had six points â€"â€" on a pair of three-point baskets â€"â€" and five assists, and Unger finished with seven points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.

"Lafayette was really aggressive defensively on Taylor," said Pemper. "For her to keep her poise to sink that three-point shot and layup was great.

"I'm really happy for both her and the entire team. After our performance Wednesday at Loyola (a 51-39 Navy loss), we were pretty down. There were some things we needed to figure out. The players did a nice job of putting together a plan for today. It was a great win for that reason."

O'Hare led Lafayette with 16 points, while Ashley Lutz tallied 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Navy will return home for a Wednesday night game against Lehigh.