Box Score

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy women's basketball team outscored American 20-6 in the fourth quarter to come away with a 65-52 victory Wednesday night at Alumni Hall in Annapolis. It marked the 12th year in a row in which the Mids won on Senior Night.

"That's pretty cool," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper about Navy winning again on Senior Night. "That pre-dates my arrival. I do think it says something about the school and its camaraderie. The team is always really excited to play for those kids (the seniors). It's really relaxed (before the game) and I think that is why they play so well."

The win improved Navy's Patriot League record to 9-7 and its overall mark on the year to 15-12. The Mids enter the final two games of the regular season ---- Saturday at Bucknell, one week from tonight at American ---- tied with Holy Cross and Loyola for fourth place in the league standings. Those three teams sit one game in back of third-place Lehigh (10-6). Meanwhile, the Eagles saw their record on the season drop to 6-21 overall and 4-12 against league competition.

Lone Navy senior Peri Curtis (Coronado, Calif.) and her family were honored prior to the start of the game as part of Senior Night festivities and she carried that excitement over into the start of the game as she scored Navy's first eight points and ended the first quarter having made all five of the shots she took in the stanza for a total of 10 points.

"What an inspiring performance (by Curtis)," said Pemper. "For awhile there she was the only one who could score."

American held a slim 18-15 lead after one quarter of play, but soon built a 28-17 lead with 6:18 remaining in the second frame. The Mids bounced back by scoring the next nine points to close to within 28-26. An American jumper made the score 30-26, but a Haley Unger (So., Marlboro, N.J.) off-balance shot at the halftime buzzer gave the Mids a 32-30 lead at the break.

"Sarah Reilly (So., Cincinnati, Ohio) came in and played about four minutes," said Pemper, "but had three offensive rebounds (two after missed free throw attempts) and hit that big three (to tie the game at 30-30) during our run."

Navy held an 18-9 edge on the glass in the first half, including a 7-0 lead on the offensive end. That allowed the Mids to score eight second chance points.

The Eagles, who have lost nine of their 12 league games by single digits, regained the lead in the opening minutes of the third quarter and stretched it to as many as five points at 40-35. The Mids slowly whittled away at the gap and closed to within one point ---- 46-45 ---- when Unger made another shot just prior to the end of the third quarter.

Unger then started the final period with a jumper, which was immediately followed by a basket from teammate Justice Swett (Jr., Nashville, Tenn.) that gave the Mids a 49-46 lead. After a bucket from Cecily Carl made the score 49-48, Sarita Condie (Jr., Lovelock, Nev.) connected on a three-point shot to boost the Mids out to a four-point lead. It soon became six points (56-48) when an American missed shot was followed by a short jumper from Christina Potts (Fr., Orlando, Fla.) with 7:12 left to play.

Both defenses became very stingy over the next few minutes, which allowed American to slowly cut the gap down to two points (54-52) on a jumper from Maria Liddane with 2:58 remaining. The Mids answered on their next possession when Condie drilled another triple to give Navy its first points in nearly five minutes and a 57-52 advantage.

The Eagles were one shot and done on their ensuing possession, then Condie gathered in her own missed shot and scored on the putback to make the score 59-52 with 1:55 left on the clock. Curtis promptly stole the ball back for Navy, and she made a great pass in the lane to Swett who had an easy layup that pushed the lead out to 61-52 with 1:16 remaining.

Navy was 4 of 4 from the foul line to in the final minutes to finish out the scoring.

Navy tied a season high by connecting on 50 percent (25-50) of its shots from the floor. This included a 7-11 effort (63.6%) in the fourth quarter. After starting the game by making just 3 of 10 free throw attempts in the first half, the Mids were 7 of 12 from the line in the second half.

American shot over 50 percent from the field in each of the first three quarters, but was just 2 of 12 (16.7%) from the floor in the final stanza. This included a 0 of 6 effort from three-point range in the final 10 minutes of play. Combined, the Eagles shot 44.4 percent from the field (20-45).

The smaller Mids continued to control the glass after halftime. Navy ended the game with a 36-21 advantage on the boards. This included a 12-2 edge on offensive caroms, a cushion that led to Navy tallying 14 second chance points and limiting American to just two such points.

"American didn't crash (the boards) much," said Pemper. "They shoot the ball so well. In their losses this year they still shoot 39 percent."

Nine of the 10 Mids who took to the court in the game played at least 10 minutes, with six of those 10 players scoring at least five points and nine grabbing at least two rebounds.

Curtis ended the game leading the Mids with 13 points, eight rebounds and four steals, while also tying for second on the team with three assists.

"I just wanted to come out and play for my teammates," said Curtis. "I know they were playing for me."

Condie contributed all 10 of her points in the second half while also snaring six boards and dishing out five assists. Aditionally, Molly Sanders (Fr., Ames, Iowa) scored a season-high 10 points and both Potts and Unger tallied nine points.

Navy has now scored at least 60 points in four of its last six games, a stretch that has seen the Mids compile a 5-1 record. The Mids are 6-0 against league foes this year when scoring 60 or more points against league competition, as well as 55-3 when scoring 60 points in a league game during Pemper's eight seasons.

Saturday's game at Bucknell will begin at 7 p.m.