Final Stats

BETHLEHEM, Pa. â€"â€" The Navy women's basketball team overcame an early eight-point deficit to record a 62-54 victory over Lehigh Wednesday night at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa. The win was the fourth in a row for the Mids while the Mountain Hawks have now lost their last three games.

Lehigh (15-10, 8-6 Patriot League) quickly jumped out to a 12-4 lead less than four minutes into the game. Navy (14-11, 8-6) would outscore the Mountain Hawks 32-14 over the remainder of the first half â€"â€" including 19-6 in the second period â€"â€" to take a 36-26 lead into halftime.

The Mountain Hawks would go from shooting 61.5 percent (8-13) from the field â€"â€" including 2-4 from three-point range â€"â€" in the first period to sinking just 38.5 percent (3-14) of their shots in the second quarter. This included misfires on all four of their three-point attempts. Meanwhile, Navy went from shooting 42.1 percent (8-19) from the field in the first quarter to making 53.3 percent (8-15) of its shots in the second quarter. Individually, Peri Curtis (Sr., Coronado, Calif.) was 5-9 from the field and scored 10 points for the Mids in the first half.

"I attribute Lehigh scoring 20 points in the first quarter (led 20-17) on Justice Swett (Jr., Nashville, Tenn.) not being on the floor," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper. "Things changed for us when she took the floor.

"I can't say enough about Peri's first half getting us going, and her ability to be good defensively and offensively. A lot of players in this sport only make plays on one end and tonight Peri contributed on both."

Navy built a 14-point lead â€"â€" 40-26 â€"â€" early in the third quarter and still led by 13 points at 46-33 with four minutes remaining in the period. However, Lehigh scored the last nine points of the frame to winnow the margin down to 46-42 at the end of the quarter.

Both teams made five field goals in the third quarter, but Lehigh added one triple and was 5-5 from the foul line while the Mids missed each of their five three-point attempts and did not make a trip to the charity stripe in the frame.

Lehigh slowly whittled the margin down to one point at 50-49 with 5:41 remaining. The Mountain Hawks fouled Christina Potts (Fr., Orlando, Fla.) on Navy's ensuing possession, and she made both foul shots â€"â€" the last two of the three free throws Navy would attempt in the game â€"â€" to increase the lead to three points. Lehigh missed a shot on its next trip down the court, then Potts scored on a layup to give Navy a 54-49 lead with 4:28 still to play.

Neither team scored on either of their next two offensive opportunities â€"â€" two Lehigh turnovers, two Navy missed shots â€"â€" then Lehigh's Lexi Martins scored on an inside shot to make it a 54-51 game with 3:21 left. Swett scored a bucket for the Mids on their next time with the ball, then a Lehigh miss was grabbed by Potts and that eventually led to a basket by Curtis that gave Navy a 58-51 lead with two minutes left.

Lehigh immediately cut the seven-point lead down to four points when Bernadette Devaney made a three-point shot, but a jumper by Potts, a missed shot by Martins and a jumper by Swett closed out the scoring.

"Down the stretch," said Pemper, "Christina and Justice made some timely baskets and our defense held strong.

"Great team win. Bench scoring (28-12), points in the paint (44-26) and assist-to-turnover ratio (better than 2-1) were all keys. I'm really happy for the women. They faced adversity a few times tonight and stayed confident."

Navy ended the game shooting 45.2 percent from the field despite making just 3 of 16 (18.8%) of its three-point attempts. Helping the Mids to their strong percentage was their shooting 25 of 46 (54.3%) two-point attempts, as well as handing out 20 assists on their 28 made field goals. The 25 two-point field goals made were a season high (previous best was 21) and the two-point shooting percentage ranked second for the Mids this season (60%).

Lehigh shot a respectable 41.2 percent from the field in the game while making all seven of its free throw attempts and sinking 5 of 16 (31.3%) of its three-point attempts.

The Mids forced the Mountain Hawks into 15 turnovers while committing just nine of their own. The Mids also held an 8-1 edge in steals. Additionally, Navy scored 16 points after the turnovers it forced while Lehigh tallied just seven points after turnovers.

Potts connected on 5-8 shots from the field and attempted â€"â€" and made â€"â€" all three Navy free throws on the night to tally a team and career-high 14 points while snaring a team and career-high six rebounds and dishing out a team and career-high five assists. Joining her in double figures were Curtis with 12 points (6-11 from the field) and Swett with 10 points (5-7 from the floor).

Lehigh was led by Martins with 15 points and 14 rebounds.

Navy will play host to Army West Point Saturday at 11 a.m. in Alumni Hall. That game will be televised nationally by the CBS Sports Network.