Final Stats

WEST POINT, N.Y. - The senior triumvirate of Sarita Condie (Lovelock, Nev.), Justice Swett (Nashville, Tenn.) and Ashanti Kennedy (Virginia Beach, Va.) each made big plays in the final minute to help the Navy women's basketball team rally for a 63-58 victory over Army West Point Saturday at Christl Arena in West Point, N.Y. The victory by the Mids (14-5, 7-1 Patriot League) over the Black Knights (14-5, 5-3) extends their winning streak to seven games.

"I like our team," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper, "so I like going into any game with the team this year. We have good chemistry, we play hard at both ends, we have good senior leadership. I liked this team going into this game, and we have a lot of respect for Army. We knew it was going to be a really tough game."

The lead changed hands six times in the fourth quarter, including on three occasions in the final 90 seconds of the game. Army held the largest lead of the frame at 54-50 with 4:45 remaining on the clock, but Taylor Dunham's (Jr., Fort Belvoir, Va.) layup with 1:30 remaining capped a quick 5-0 run that gave Navy a 55-54 lead. That advantage lasted all of 20 seconds as Aliyah Murray scored on the other end to give the Black Knights a 56-55 lead. Twenty seconds later, Condie drained her fourth three-point field goal -- off of an assist by Swett -- of the afternoon to put the Mids back in front, 58-56. That led to an Army timeout with 37.6 seconds remaining.

Swett would record a steal five seconds after the Black Knights inbounded the ball and promptly advanced it into the hands of Condie, who was fouled with 24.3 seconds left to play. She would make just the first of her two attempts from the foul line, however, but her tally gave the Mids a 59-56 lead.

Army called timeout to advance the ball down the court, and following the inbounds pass Madison Hovren scored on an inside move to slice the lead down to 59-58 with 19.8 seconds still to play. The Mids quickly inbounded the ball under the basket they were defending and the Black Knights fouled Kennedy with 17.2 seconds remaining. After walking to the other end of the court, she calmly made both attempts from the charity stripe to again make it a three-point game. Army then used its last timeout of the game to once again advance the ball to in front of its own bench after the break in the action.

The Black Knights attempted a pair of three-point shots to tie the game, but Kennedy snared the carom after the second miss and was fouled with 2.3 seconds showing on the clock. She made the same walk to the other end of the court with the same result to close out the scoring in the game.

"With it being Justice making the pass to get it to Sarita for the big three, Ashanti making those four free throws," said Pemper. "Those are our three seniors right there."

"It was a real testament to our composure," said Condie. "We really stayed together the entire game, regardless of what was happening."

"I think our upper class showed really good leadership out there," said Hannah Fenske (Jr., Albuquerque, N.M.), on Navy's play down the stretch. "They really propelled us to what we needed to do."

It was a tightly contested game as the largest lead for either team was six points -- by Army in both the first and third quarters -- and Navy's largest lead was its final margin of victory.

The teams also combined for 36 turnovers, 19 of which were by Army, 14 of those coming by way of Navy steals. Navy would score 20 points after those Army miscues, while the Black Knights tallied 10 points after the 17 turnovers committed by the Mids.

"Their (Army) turning us over 12 times in the first half was a big story," said Pemper. "A concern for us at half was how do we stop turning the ball over.

"The first half may not have been the prettiest for either team. Going into the last media timeout (before half) I'm looking at the scoreboard and it is looking like a game in the 50s (Army led at the break, 29-28) and I'm thinking this is not the recipe for us to win. We ended up at 63, but obviously that was free throws. I didn't know we were going to win a game in the 50s. I was hoping we could get it into the 60s, and we barely did (Navy is now 61-4 when scoring at least 60 points in a Patriot League game during Pemper's nine seasons)."

The offenses for both teams were diametrically different. Navy was 13-28 (46.4%) from three-point land -- the 13 triples ties the Army-Navy single-game record for either team -- and was 8-32 (25.0%) in its two-point attempts. On the other end of the court, Army was 17-38 (44.7%) in its two-point attempts and 6-22 (27.3%) from three-point range. The Mids also were 8-10 from the foul line -- six of those attempts came in the final minute -- while the Black Knights were 6-8 from the charity stripe.

Condie led the Mids with 15 points, while Fenske also reached double figures with 12 points. Both players were an identical 4-7 from beyond the arc. Molly Sanders (So., Ames, Iowa) and Dunham each added nine points to Navy's overall tally. Swett ended the game with just three points, but she grabbed five offensive rebounds and eight boards in all. Additionally, Dunham (4), Condie, Fenske and Swett each dished out at least three assists, while Fenske, Kaila Clark (Fr., Hughesville, Md.) and Bianca Roach (So., Virginia Beach, Va.) all recorded three steals.

Hovren led Army's scoring efforts with 14 points, while Murray had 11 points and 13 rebounds.

Navy will next play one week from today at Holy Cross.