Final Stats

FAIRFAX, Va. â€" Sarita Condie (Sr., Lovelock, Nev.) made a three-point field goal with 1.2 seconds left in regulation to cap a rally by the Navy women's basketball team that forced overtime, but the Mids were held to just four points in the extra session to fall, 68-64, to George Mason Tuesday night at the Recreation Athletic Complex in Fairfax, Va.

The loss by the Mids (7-4) to the Patriots (7-5) snapped a four-game winning streak for Navy.

"It came down to last shot," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper. "This is a tough one to lose, for sure. Difficult environment to play in. George Mason is a team we definitely respect.

"It is exciting that we could battle and tie it and give ourselves the chance to win a big game going into league play. Mason just made a few more shots than we did in overtime."

The teams traded the lead 16 times in the first half, which ended with the Mids taking a slim 34-32 lead at the break. Navy extended its advantage to six points at 40-34, but George Mason outscored the Mids 17-2 over the remainder of the frame to build a 51-42 lead through three quarters.

Navy sliced the deficit down to three points at 53-50, but the margin grew to seven points at 57-50 and was again six points at 59-53 with 2:10 left to play. Taylor Dunham (Jr., Fort Belvoir, Va.) drained a three-point shot on the next Navy possession to halve the lead. Defense dominated the next 90 seconds as neither team scored until Justice Swett (Sr., Nashville, Tenn.) made the first of two free throw attempts with 21.2 seconds remaining to cut the margin down to 59-57.

Navy fouled after Swett's second shot missed its mark, with an ensuing timeout by George Mason allowing it to inbound the ball at halfcourt. After play resumed, the Mids tried for a few steals before fouling Kara Wright with 8.6 seconds left. She made the first attempt but missed the second, after which Navy grabbed the loose ball and called timeout.

Dunham inbounded the ball in front of the Navy bench into the hands of Swett, who flipped it to Hannah Fenske (Jr., Albuquerque, N.M.). She drove down the left side of the lane to the baseline, then cut toward the basket. Once in the lane she tossed it to the right corner where Condie caught the ball and shot it while falling out of bounds back toward the baseline. Her shot arced over the upper-right corner of the backboard and fell through the rim with 1.2 seconds left to tie the game and force overtime.

"We started the second half well," said Pemper, "but couldn't sustain the lead. George Mason went on a run in the third and got up big. We were fighting back in the fourth. I think a credit to our women; they believed they could come back and win it. I thought we were executing our offense better. People were finishing and made some plays.

"The Mason kid (Wright) missed the second foul shot. Our team executed the play well. Sarita had an unbelievable three. Falling out of bounds, over the corner of the backboard; just an incredible shot."

George Mason scored the initial four points of the extra session before a Condie layup cut it back down to a two-point game. The margin was back to four when Dunham scored on a layup while being fouled with 49 seconds left to make the score 66-64. Dunham would miss the free throw, however.

Navy's defense forced a shot clock violation, which gave the ball back to the Mids with 19 seconds left. After a timeout by the Mids allowed them to inbound in front of their bench, the ball soon found its way into Dunham's hands. She shook free of her defender and tried a 12-foot shot from the lane that was off its mark. Wright grabbed the loose ball for the Patriots and was fouled with 6.4 seconds still to play. She would make both foul shots to account for the final scoring

Navy was 5-10 from three-point range in the first half but was held to 2-13 shooting from beyond the arc over the last 25 minutes of play. The Mids shot 34.7 percent from the field for the game, while the Patriots made 38.8 percent of their shots. That included a 3-20 effort from three-point land, but they were 13-16 from the foul line to better the 7-14 tally by the Mids.

George Mason held a 52-43 edge on the glass, but the Mids grabbed 16 offensive caroms while the Patriots had 15 offensive boards. George Mason would score 20 second chance points and limited Navy to only nine such points. Also, though the Mids committed just one more turnover, 15-14, the Patriots tallied 15 points after those turnovers while allowing just four such points to Navy.

Condie totaled 20 points for the Mids, with the trio of Dunham, Swett and Kaila Clark (Fr., Hughesville, Md.) each recording 10 points. Condie and Fenske each had four assists, with Clark grabbing a team-high eight boards.

Both Wright and Casey Davis scored 16 points for the Patriots, with Davis also snaring seven offensive and 16 total rebounds.

Navy will open Patriot League play Dec. 30 at Bucknell.

"Our staff has a lot of belief in our players," said Pemper. "We think if we want to be the best team in the Patriot League we need to play 9-10 players. To say that means we feel we have 9-10 people on any given night, regardless of injury or illness, on a roster of 12. It is a fun team, a really unselfish team. They had great practices over break. I think we have really good leadership. We continue to be really excited about the Patriot League season. It is just a tough loss tonight. We really could have won this game and it would have been a huge win."