ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's basketball team came up short by a score of 65-61 in a hard-fought contest versus Penn on Saturday afternoon. In a matchup between two teams that competed in last year's WNIT Tournament, the first game of the 2018 Navy Classic saw two evenly-matched programs stay close throughout the 40 minutes of action. A brief 10-point lead by the Quakers (4-1) in the fourth quarter would prove to be enough as the Mids (1-3) were never able to get it closer than three down the stretch.
 
The trio of Kolbi Green (Fr., Woodstock, Md.), Sophie Gatzounas (So., South Hadley, Mass.) and Morgan Taylor (Jr., Evans, Ga.) spearheaded Navy's attack on Saturday with a combined 46 points and 19 rebounds. Green was the game's leading scorer with 17 points as she knocked down five three-pointers. Gatzounas' stat-line versus Penn consisted of 16 points, eight rebounds and a game-high three steals. Taylor went for 13 points and 10 rebounds in her first career double-double. 

"That was a heck of a performance by us," exclaimed head coach Stefanie Pemper. "I'm really, really excited about this game. Penn is as good of a team that we'll play all year. They're talented and deep. They have a good inside game, they have shooters and they have a good point guard. For our women to come out and put together that type of performance and show that kind of toughness, that's really impressive. That's the first time this season that we've seen that type of all-around effort so I'm really encouraged." 
 
The action on Saturday began with Penn jumping out to an early 11-3 lead as the visitors made five of their first 10 attempts versus one for the Mids over their first 12 shots. After that slow start, Navy's offense got going as Mary Kate Ulasewicz (Jr., Doylestown, Pa.) and Gatzounas made layups on back-to-back possessions to make it 14-7 with 2:28 remaining in the first quarter. A pair of three-pointers by Green within 42 seconds of each other helped Navy cut its deficit down to a point at 14-13 with 25 seconds to go. Navy's defense suppressed Penn over the final 2:48 during that 8-0 stretch.
 
Coming out of the first quarter break trailing by one, a third trey by Green quickly knotted the game at 16-16, 43 seconds in. Another three-pointer, this time by Taylor gave the Mids their first lead of the game, 19-18 at 8:02. Green's efficient start to the game continued as she made her fourth field in as many attempts with a layup at 4:33 to even the contest once again, this time at 23-23. The three-pointer continued to be a dangerous tool for the Mids in the second quarter as Bianca Roach (Sr., Virginia Beach, Va.) knotted the game for a fifth time with a trey at 2:38 before Green notched her fourth triple less than a minute later at 1:46 to make it a 31-30 game in favor of Navy. A 6-0 run over the final 43 seconds of the period flipped the score back in Penn's favor, 36-31.
 
At the half, Navy was shooting 33.3 percent (11-33) from the field and 37.5 percent (6-16) from three-point range, while Penn was hitting its attempts at a 46.7 (14-30) rate and 16.7 (2-12) percent from distance.
 
Similar to the action in the first quarter, the Quakers opened the third stanza with a strong offensive effort and broke open the game to a double-digit margin at 50-40. The quarter ended with Penn up 52-44. Morgan Taylor and Sophie Gatzounas spearheaded the Mids' offense with 11 of the team's 13 points as Taylor tallied seven points, in addition to Gatzounas' four.
 
After heating up in the third, Gatzounas doubled that four-point output in the fourth quarter with a pair of layups in quick succession to cut the game to a slim 54-48 margin at 7:50. Back-to-back field goals by the Quakers expanded their lead out to 10 before Gatzounas knocked down a jumper and later put back an offensive rebound to make it 58-52. The comeback continued under five minutes when Gatzounas found Jasmine Bishop (So., Twinsburg, Ohio) on an in-bounds pass to tighten the score to 58-54. 
 
A three-pointer by Ashley Russell stopped the 6-0 run and put Penn up 61-54 at 3:56. An ensuing steal and fast break layup by Gatzounas forced Penn to call a timeout with the game back at a five-point margin. Two free throws by Taylor cut it even closer to 61-58 at 2:17. With just 41 seconds showing on the clock, the Quakers finally ended its 3:16 scoring drought with a pair of successful foul shot conversions. Another pair of free throws built Penn's lead back out seven at 65-58 before a Green three-pointer with nine seconds left closed the scoring.  
  
"I was happy most of the game and we didn't even shoot particularly well at 33 percent!" said Pemper. "It turned into a possession game and we were down three with the ball late. I like the quality of shots that we got. We forced them out of their 2-3 zone. I was glad that our women came out and really competed today and that they weren't discouraged from last Sunday. It'd be easier to play a team that wasn't an NCAA Tournament type of team like Penn, but we rose to the occasion and have a lot to be encouraged by."
 
For the game, Penn outshot Navy, 39.3 (24-61) to 33.8 (22-65) percent from the field. The Mids knocked down 31.8 percent (7-22) of their three-point attempts versus 26.3 (5-19) for the Quakers. Navy edged Penn in a close rebound battle, 44-43, and 19-16 on the offensive glass. 
 
The Mids assisted on 11 of their 22 made baskets with Laurel Jaunich (Jr., Charlotte, Vt.) and Gatzounas both recording three helpers. 
 
Gatzounas' overall performance drew the attention of Pemper postgame, "how great was Sophie Gatzounas! She's such a great competitor," remarked the 11^th-year head coach. "We had to play Sophie at the guard late to get bigger. We needed her size. The referees often times favor the team that is more aggressive and there was a lot of physicality in the second half, but we were hustling. Sophie was big part of that hustle." 
 
Both Navy and Penn will have a quick turnaround as they'll compete again tomorrow in day two of the 2018 Navy Classic. The Mids will face off with the North Carolina A&T Aggies at 1 p.m. before the Quakers and Maine Black Bears go head-to-head at 3:15 p.m. The Navy-N.C. A&T game will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network for those fans that are unable to make it out to Alumni Hall.
 
"Not many teams score 61 against them [Penn] and hold them below their scoring average," said Pemper. "We're moving in the right direction and when we take that next step, it's really going to be great. Tomorrow is going to be real tough in a different way. North Carolina A&T is another postseason caliber team."
 
Note: Maine defeated North Carolina A&T, 58-52 in their respective matchup on Saturday afternoon.