ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's basketball team opened its 2018-19 campaign with an emphatic 81-36 victory over Catholic University on Wednesday night. After a slow start to the game, the Mids (1-0) outscored the Cardinals (0-0), 47-16 over the second and third quarters to put distance between themselves and their neighbors from Washington, D.C. The home fans at Navy's Alumni Hall were treated to a strong team effort on Wednesday that showcased the program's depth, defensive tenacity and youth. 
 
The Mids' underclass shined versus the Cardinals as the team's top-four scorers came from the freshmen and sophomore classes. Freshmen guards Kolbi Green (Woodstock, Md.) and Jennifer Coleman (Richmond, Va.) led Navy with respective point totals of 17 and 13. Sophomore forwards Jasmine Bishop (Twinsburg, Ohio) and Sophie Gatzounas (South Hadley, Mass.) went for 12 and 11, respectively in the victory. 
 
"Overall, I was pretty pleased with tonight's game," remarked head coach Stefanie Pemper. "It took us a second to adapt to the zone. We haven't gone against a zone like during the preseason. Credit to Catholic, they were really aggressive in passing lanes and their ball pressure was good. Our starting five had five turnovers in the first five minutes of the game, which wasn't great, but we figured out what they were trying to do and we got better spacing and kept the ball out of the corners because of their trapping. We didn't get into a good rhythm right away and sometimes that can happen in these early-season games. Ultimately, I thought we settled in when Kolbi hit her first three towards the end of the first quarter."
 
Coleman got Navy onto the scoreboard first as she sank a three-pointer 65 seconds into the contest for the Mids' first points of 2018-19. The Cardinals then responded with a run of five unanswered points to take an early 5-3 lead at the 5:14 mark in the first quarter. Coming off the bench, Green helped increase the Mids' advantage to 10-5 with the team's second trey of the opening period. The freshman guard knocked down her second three-pointer in two possessions with 37 seconds left to make it 13-7 after 10 minutes of play.
 
The action in the second quarter continued with more strong efforts from Navy's plebe class as Ciera Hertelendy (Inwood, W.Va.) made it 15-9 with an offensive rebound and put back. With another three-pointer by Green, the Mids' freshmen scored 14 of the game's first 18 points. Hertelendy and Green's effort were part of a 12-1 run over a 3:13 span that increased Navy's lead out to a 15-point margin at 25-10 at 5:25. The Mids kept the pressure on and extended their advantage out to 37-13 at the half. For the second period, Navy outscored Catholic, 24-6.
 
At the intermission, Navy was shooting 38 percent (13-34) and 29 percent from three-point range (5-17), while forcing Catholic into 17 turnovers. Coleman and Green led the way with 11 points each.
 
Coming out after the break, Gatzounas kickstarted a 7-0 run by the Mids to go up 44-13 by the 8:31 mark of the third quarter. The sophomore from Massachusetts netted five points in 21 seconds with a layup and three-pointer in quick succession. Soon after Cayla Hannibal (So., Virginia Beach, Va.) did her best Gatzounas impression with a five-point series of her own with a layup and trey. Navy nearly matched its second quarter scoring output later in the third with a pair of free throws by Green to notch the Mids' 22nd and 23rd points. For the stanza, Navy amplified its lead by 13 points, 23-10, and took a 60-23 margin into the final period of play.
 
With the outcome well in hand for the host Midshipmen, they slowed down their offensive pace a bit in the fourth quarter and only took nine total shots, but converted five of them, including four from three-point range. With the addition of seven successful free throws, Navy tallied 21 points in opposition of Catholic's 13 in the quarter. The game went final with the Mids victorious by a score of 81-36.
 
For the contest, Navy outshot Catholic, 40.6 percent (26-64) to 30.0 (11-49) from the field and 35.3 percent (12-34) to 16.7 (2-12) from three-point range. The Mids converted 70.8 percent (17-24) of their attempts from the foul line. On the glass, Navy dominated Catholic 48-32 in the rebound category with 21 of those rebounds being of the offensive variety. Navy doled out 21 assists on 26 made shots.
 
"That's something that will be super key for us this season; we've been talking about that," exclaimed Pemper about her team's robust assist total. "We have so many players that are trying to establish roles and we're trying to find our identity. We think the answer is to share the ball. We have a lot of capable scorers so sharing the ball will be critical to our success. That, unselfishness and having good spacing."
 
Defensively, Navy forced Catholic into 30 turnovers and blocked six shots. Leading the Mids' charge on defense were Bishop with a game-high five steals and Laurel Jaunich (Jr., Charlotte, Vt.) with a career-high four blocks. Jaunich also corralled a game-high 10 rebounds, a total that ties her career-best output.
 
"We had some success with our extended 2-3 zone," said Pemper. "I think it will be important moving forward to be able to change defenses. We have some good personnel for that defense. We started making better reads and anticipating. Montana Braxton came in and gave us some good minutes at the center spot, flying around on defense."
 
Navy's freshmen duo of Green and Coleman finished with 30 combined points over 40 minutes of play, 22 for Coleman and 18 for Green. During her time on the court, Coleman augmented her 13 points with seven rebounds, six assists and one steal. Green's line was 4-8 from three-point range and 5-6 from the foul line. 
 
In total, 12 Mids played on Wednesday night versus the Cardinals. 11 players saw 10 or more minutes of action and nine recorded four or more points.
 
Navy will now turn its sights ahead for a home matchup versus Marist College on Sunday afternoon. Tipoff between the Mids and Red Foxes is set for 2 p.m. at Alumni Hall.