Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy women's basketball team jumped out to a 21-7 lead over Lafayette at the end of the first quarter and led by double figures for the final 32 minutes of a 64-48 victory Saturday night at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.

The Leopards (5-18, 3-10 Patriot League) scored the first four points of the game, but the Mids (13-11, 7-6 Patriot League) ran off the next 12 points as part of a 19-2 spurt that boosted them to their 14-point cushion after 10 minutes of play. Navy was 4-5 from three-point range in the opening quarter and shot 61.5 percent from the field in all during the stanza. Defensively, the Mids limited the Leopards to 3-13 shooting in the period.

The longball continued to be effective for the Mids in the second quarter. Lafayette had winnowed the margin down to 23-13 when Navy drained three-point field goals three times in the next three minutes to take a 32-13 lead with 3:44 remaining in the quarter. Navy would hit one more triple in the period to go into the halftime break holding a 35-20 lead.

The Mids opened the second half on a 10-2 run to take a 45-24 lead, then used another 6-0 spurt to build a 51-28 advantage. Navy would extend its cushion out to 58-32 at the end of three quarters of play.

"Definitely," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper when asked about being happy with the start to the game. "And we started the second half pretty good. The team came out pretty focused tonight."

The Mids shot 50 percent (8-16) from the field and added two more triples (2-5 in the quarter, 10-21 for the game through three periods) in the third quarter and held the Leopards to three made field goals and six made free throws during the 10-minute stanza.

With reserve players totaling much of Navy's fourth quarter minutes, the Mids held a 62-38 lead before the Leopards ended the game by scoring 14 of the last 16 points to make the final score much closer than it actually was.

Navy totaled 20 assists on its 24 made field goals to boost the Mids to a 42.1 percent shooting night. That tally included a 10-25 (40%) effort from three-point land. Navy's defense held Lafayette to 16-49 (32.7%) shooting from the field, a number that included just a 1-14 (7.1%) performance from three-point range. The Leopards nearly made as many free throws (15-20) as field goals (16) on the night.

"We really wanted to look for that extra pass," said Pemper. "And we did well against their zone."

Both teams were pretty careless with the ball. Navy committed 20 turnovers ---- 10 in the fourth quarter ---- and forced Lafayette into 21 turnovers. However, the Mids held an 18-13 edge in points scored after turnovers.

"We talked about that (being able to score after turnovers)," said Pemper. "We didn't finish well, but we wanted to get out on the break. It seemed in the first half we had some real nice opportunities to get out on the break and have some good shots. We were running our lanes well, so we'll try and work on that."

Four Mids made at least one three-point field goal, with Sarita Condie's (Jr., Lovelock, Nev.) three triples boosting her to a team-high 13 points. Taylor Dunham (So., Fort Belvoir, Va.) made a pair of three-pointers in scoring 11 points, Christina Potts (Fr., Orlando, Fla.) sank a trio of treys to score nine points, and Danielle Poblarp (Jr., Topeka, Kan.) had two three-point field goals to score six points.

"We're really starting to play well (right now)," said Condie. "We have a lot of good shooters. We have to stay confident heading into this upcoming stretch."

Poblarp, Condie and Justice Swett (Jr., Nashville, Tenn.) each doled out three assists, with Swett also scoring six points and totaling five of Navy's 15 steals. Additionally, Ashanti Kennedy (Jr., Virginia Beach, Va.) snared a game-high eight rebounds.

Lafayette's Maia Hood did not make a field goal but was 13-14 from the foul line to lead the team in scoring.

Tonight's victory ---- the third in a row ---- keeps the Mids in a tie for fifth place in the Patriot League standings with five games to go. The Mids are tied for Loyola with identical 7-6 records. Both teams are one game in back of Lehigh and Holy Cross, both of which are tied for third place with 8-5 records. Navy will play Wednesday night at Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks posted a 51-48 victory over the Mids in January.