Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. â€"â€" Bucknell outscored the Navy women's basketball team 25-6 in the fourth quarter to rally for a 63-54 victory Saturday night at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.

The Bison (23-5, 15-2 Patriot League) clinched the outright league regular season title with their fifth victory in a row, while the Mids (20-8, 13-4) dropped their second game of the week and earned the No. 2 seed in the tournament.

"We definitely fought hard but we didn't make championship type of plays and they (Bucknell) did," said Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper. "We beat ourselves a little bit. Missing shots isn't beating ourselves; missing free throws is a little bit. We could have carried ourselves a little more like champions. I hurt for our players because they did fight really hard and it was a terrific first quarter and first half."

Points were hard to come by in the first quarter as neither team shot over 30 percent from the field in the frame that ended with Navy holding an 11-8 lead. Taylor Dunham (Jr., Fort Belvoir, Va.) sparked the Mids early in the second stanza by scoring eight quick points to boost them out to a 29-12 lead. The Navy advantage would grow to as many as 19 points â€"â€" 33-14 â€"â€" before the Bison closed the first half on an 8-0 run.

Both teams shot 50 percent from the field in the second quarter, with the Mids connecting on 4-6 (66.7%) three-point attempts and the Bison missing all three of their shots from beyond the arc.

Navy's 33-22 lead at the break quickly shrunk down to 33-27 early in the third quarter, but a 9-0 run by the Mids gave them a 42-27 advantage with 5:20 still on the clock. Bucknell closed to as few as eight points â€"â€" 44-36 â€"â€" before the third quarter ended with Navy in front, 48-39.

Dunham connected on a layup and foul shot that gave Navy a 51-41 lead with 9:08 remaining in the fourth quarter. That would turn out to be Navy's final made field goal of the game as the Mids misfired on each of their final 14 shots from the floor. Making matters worse, Navy was 3-10 (30%) from the free throw line after Dunham's conversion.

On the other end of the floor, Bucknell was 5-12 (41.7%) from the field in the fourth quarter including a 2-6 (33.3%) effort from three-point land after it sank 3-13 (23.1%) three-point attempts in the first 30 minutes of the game. The Bison were additionally 12-15 (80%) from the charity stripe in the final 10 minutes.

"We missed free throws in the fourth quarter and they (Bucknell) really didn't," said Pemper. "We missed shots and free throws."

Navy ended the game shooting 31.8 percent from the floor and was 6-26 (23.1%) from three-point land. However, the Mids did not make a three-point attempt in the last 25 minutes of the game (0-15). In all, Navy shot 40 percent (6-15) from the free throw line. Bucknell shot 45 percent from the field in the last three quarters to end the game with an overall shooting percentage of 41.2 percent. The Bison also were 16-22 (72.7%) from the charity stripe in the game.

Both teams snared 42 rebounds, with Navy holding a 15-6 edge in offensive boards which led to it tallying 18 second chance points to eight for Bucknell. The Mids were more opportunistic after turnovers as they turned 13 Bison turnovers into 21 points and Bucknell accrued 12 points after Navy's 10 turnovers.

"I think we learned what it takes to win a championship," said Pemper. "I thought we really didn't play well in the fourth quarter. We beat ourselves from the foul line and little bit of execution decisions. I just know we can play better and the first half was terrific against a really good team. We learned we have to do all of those things and make championship type of plays."

Ashanti Kennedy (Sr., Virginia Beach, Va.) led Navy with 15 points and added six rebounds while Dunham totaled 14 points and four assists.

"We have to play the game all the way through to the end," said Kennedy. "I thought we played hard, but it came down to making shots at the end, the second half and especially the fourth quarter."

Claire DeBoer led Bucknell with 15 points.

Navy will close its regular season Wednesday with a 7 p.m. game against American. The Mids will then play host to the winner of the March 4 first round league tournament game between No. 7 Holy Cross and No. 10 Lafayette on March 6 in Alumni Hall in the quarterfinal round of the tournament.

"Wednesday's game is a really big game," said Pemper. "At this point in the season I don't think it would be enough for us to play well and lose. I think it is an important game to win heading into the tournament. We knew the quarterfinal round game is going to be a tough game even if we won tonight regardless of who it is or where we are seeded because everyone in the league has played us tough. Nothing changes in that regard. But we want to have some momentum going into it."

Navy lost to American, 50-48 Wednesday night, defeated Holy Cross by scores of 57-56 (in Annapolis) and 73-71, and recorded wins over Lafayette by the tallies of 76-41 (in Annapolis) and 68-65.

Patriot League Tournament Final Seeding (Wednesday's game will not impact seeding)
1. 15-2 Bucknell (Lafayette)
2. 13-4 Navy (American)
3. 12-5 Army West Point (Boston U.)
4. 11-6 American (at Navy)
5. 10-7 Boston U. (at Army West Point)
6. 7-10 Colgate (at Lehigh)
7. 6-11 Holy Cross (Loyola)
8. 5-12 Loyola (at Holy Cross)
9. 4-13 Lehigh (Colgate)
10. 2-15 Lafayette (at Bucknell)