NORFOLK, Va. – The Navy women's basketball team dropped its first road game of its 2018-19 schedule with a 65-58 decision at Norfolk State on Sunday. Trailing by 18 early in the fourth quarter, the Mids (1-2) used a furious comeback to cut their deficit to three points with 1:22 left in the game before the Spartans (2-2) secured the victory with four points down the stretch. Playing in its home arena, Echols Hall, Norfolk State built up its lead on Sunday by shooting a combined 68.0 percent (17-25) over the second and third quarters.
 
A pair of freshmen powered Navy's effort on the road as Jennifer Coleman (Richmond, Va.) and Kolbi Green (Woodstock, Md.) both reached double-digits in the scoring column. Coleman shot 9-17 from the floor on her way to a game-high 22 points. Coming off the bench over 18 minutes of action, Green registered 10 points.
 
"We played hard and stayed in it through poor three-point shooting and turnovers in the first half," remarked head coach Stefanie Pemper. "We got a lot of the shots that we wanted, we got scrappy offensive boards and we turned them over, but we just couldn't convert our steals into points. Credit to Norfolk State for shooting it great all night; their top-two scorers led them.
 
"MK [Mary Kate Ulasewicz] was the one to spark the run in the fourth quarter with her hustle; Kolbi ignited us with some big buckets in the second half and Jenn settled in leading us in assists and finding smart openings to score."
 
The action on Sunday opened evenly with Norfolk State holding an early 5-4 lead before breaking it open with a 9-2 run to quickly turn the game into a 14-6 contest. A layup by Bianca Roach (Sr., Virginia Beach, Va.) ceased the streak and made it 14-8 at the 1:08 mark. The Virginia Beach native was at it again to close the period as she recorded a steal and layup to close the period with the score 15-10 in favor of Norfolk State. Roach's steal was one of four credited to the Mids in the first quarter. As a team, Navy forced Norfolk State into 10 turnovers.
 
The second quarter started with back-to-back field goals by the host Spartans to expand their lead to nine points. The deficit for the Mids stayed between seven and nine points for the next four minutes until Coleman sunk a jumper at 5:18 to make it 26-20. After Norfolk State went up 29-20, Navy responded with a pair of successful free throws by Laurel Jaunich (Jr., Charlotte, Vt.) and another basket by Coleman. Another ensuing free throw by Coleman cut the margin down to four points at 29-25. The Spartans made a pair of field goals over the final 1:09 to take a 33-27 lead into the locker room. 
 
Coleman and Roach led Navy's individual offensive efforts in the first half as Coleman tallied nine points, while Roach was 3-6 for six points. 
 
At the half, Norfolk State was shooting 56.0 (14-25) from the field and 16.7 (1-6) from three-point range. Navy compiled percentages of 39.3 (11-28) and 0.0 (0-8) for the opening 20 minutes of play.
 
Inserted into the game to start the third quarter after coming off the bench in the first half, Green repaid Navy's decision with two straight layups to cut the Spartans' lead to 33-31, 61 seconds into the period. Norfolk State immediately responded with a 14-3 run over a 4:38 run of play to take its then-largest lead of the day, 47-34 at 4:21. Navy held Norfolk State at the 47-point plateau for over three minutes, while it slowly scratched five points off its deficit as Coleman converted a layup and Cayla Hannibal (So., Virginia Beach, Va.) found the bottom of the net from distance for a three-pointer at 1:46. That was the Mids' first trey of the game, as they opened the contest, 0-12.
 
Coming out after the third quarter break down 54-41, Navy saw Norfolk State score the first five points of the period to go up a game-high 18 points at 59-41. Unfazed by their status, the Mids came roaring back with a 9-0 run over 2:38. Coleman netted all nine points for Navy as the game sat at 59-50 at 6:13. A pair of free throws from Green and later a three-pointer by the freshman extended the run out to 14-0 over 6:42. A pull-up jumper by Norfolk State's Dana Echols at 1:48 ended the scoreless drought for the Spartans and made it 61-55. A layup and and-one conversion by Roach cut the margin to just three points (61-58) with 1:22 left in regulation. That would be the final basket for the Mids as the Spartans notched the last four points of the game to earn the 65-58 victory.
 
"This is an inexperienced team trying to learn how to win," exclaimed Pemper. "The only player who knows anything other than a 25-win season and a 24-win season at Navy is Bianca. Winning has to be earned and we are building those habits. Like a lot of teams at this point in the year, we are searching for better consistency."
 
For the game, Norfolk State outshot Navy, 56.3 (27-48) to 40.0 (22-55) from the field and 20.0 (2-10) to 9.5 (2-21) from three-point range. Neither team had much success from the foul line with the Mids holding a slight 50.0 (12-24) to 42.9 (9-21) edge in free throw percentage.
 
Defensively, Navy forced Norfolk State into 28 turnovers and was credited with 16 steals. Roach had a team-high four steals on Sunday, while Coleman and Green each tallied three thefts each. The Mids also recorded three blocks. 
 
Navy was outrebounded 35-27, though they won the battle on the offensive glass, 15-13. Sophie Gatzounas (So., South Hadley, Mass.) led the way for the Mids with seven rebounds, five on the offensive end. 
 
Sunday's matchup was the senior homecoming game for team captain Bianca Roach. A native of Virginia Beach and alum of nearby Cape Henry Collegiate High School, Roach recorded season-highs in points (9), steals (4), rebounds (3) and minutes played (33). As part of her homecoming trip the team had dinner on Saturday night at her family's home.
 
"Bianca made some tough plays with her and-1's, steals and rebounds tonight," remarked Pemper. "She's been a special part of our program and we are all disappointed that we couldn't win this one."
 
The Mids will return home for a pair of non-conference games this upcoming weekend with the 2018 Navy Classic. The two-day, four-team event will see Navy host Penn on Saturday, Nov. 24 at 1 p.m. before turning its attention to North Carolina A&T on Sunday for a 1 p.m. tip-off at Alumni Hall. The University of Maine will be the fourth team at the Classic and will play in both of the 3:15 p.m. games that follow the Navy contests.