Final Stats

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. â€" A strong start allowed the Navy women's basketball team to lead Air Force by double figures for the last 30 minutes of a 64-46 victory Tuesday night at Clune Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo. It is the second year in a row in which the Mids (4-3) defeated the Falcons (1-5) by the score of 64-46.

"I liked our focus right out of the gate," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper, who improved to 6-1 in her career against Air Force. "We talked about the challenge of finishing a six-day road trip against a service academy rival who was coming off of a big win."

After Air Force tallied the first point of the game on a free throw just six seconds into the proceedings, Navy scored the ensuing seven points and held the Falcons without a made field goal for the first five minutes of the game. The score would soon be 11-5 in favor of the Mids, with Navy then closing the frame on a 10-2 run to take a 21-7 advantage after 10 minutes of play.

Navy's offense was 9-16 (56.3%) from the floor in the first quarter and its defense held Air Force to just 3-18 (16.7%) shooting in the stanza.

Laurel Jaunich (Fr., Charlotte, Vt.) entered tonight with a single-game high of six points over the first six games of her career. She would sink all four of her first quarter field goal attempts to better that mark with eight points in the game's initial period.

Both teams tallied just 10 points in the second quarter, which sent Navy into halftime holding a 31-17 lead. The Mids would tally 11 points in the first 3:07 of the third quarter to grow their lead to 42-19. Navy would lead by as many as 26 points (64-38) and by at least 16 points over the final 16 minutes of the contest.

Navy shot 40.3 percent from the field for the game, which included a 9-22 (40.9%) effort from three-point range. The Mids also held Air Force to 28.1 percent shooting for the game, with much of that percentage buoyed by 7-14 shooting in the fourth quarter. The Falcons were just 1-12 (8.3%) from three-point land on the night.

Air Force held a 47-43 advantage on the glass, but committed 22 turnovers while forcing Navy into a season-high 18 miscues. Additionally, the Mids held a 25-11 edge in points scored after turnovers.

Tonight's game was played with great tempo," said Pemper, "and Air Force played so hard."

Sarita Condie (Sr., Lovelock, Nev.) was 4-6 (66.7%) from three-point range and 7-12 (58.3%) shooting in all from the field in scoring 18 points to lead all players in the game. The guard also snared seven boards for the second time in three games. Justice Swett (Sr., Nashville, Tenn.) tallied the first double-double of her career with 10 points and 10 caroms, while also contributing three assists and three steals.

"Our seniors led with maturity tonight, coming to play and maintaining their poise," said Pemper. "We never got into a rhythm as a team, but we kept working. Justice hitting big three's, Ashanti Kennedy (Sr., Virginia Beach, Va.) making timely plays on both ends and Sarita being a good scorer and again rebounding from the guard spot."

Joining Condie and Swett with double figures in points were Jaunich with 10 and Molly Sanders (So., Ames, Iowa) with 10.

Air Force was led by Kassady Huffman and Cortney Porter, both of whom scored 10 points.

Navy now returns home to open a three-game homestand, the first two games of which will take place this weekend when the Mids play host to the Navy Classic. Saturday's games feature Liberty vs. Richmond at 6 p.m. followed by Cleveland State vs. Navy at 8:15 p.m. Sunday's slate includes Cleveland State vs. Richmond at 2 p.m. and Navy vs. Liberty at 4:15 p.m.

"We are excited to be coming home for our tournament Saturday and Sunday," said Pemper. "I'm eager to see how our team keeps evolving against two quality opponents. It will be a great Navy weekend with football also hosting the AAC Championship game on Saturday."