LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. – The Navy women's basketball team overcame a cold-shooting first half to collect a six-point win on the road at Rider University on Sunday. Playing its first contest as part of a four-game road trip, the Mids (3-3) scored 45 points after halftime to knock off the Broncs (3-5) in their home arena, Alumni Gymnasium. Buoyed by double-doubles from Jennifer Coleman (Fr., Richmond, Va.) and Sophie Gatzounas (So., South Hadley, Mass.), Navy was victorious for the 200th time during the 11 seasons that Stefanie Pemper has served as the program's head coach.
 
Reaching the 20-point plateau for the third time in four games, Coleman led the Mids with game-high marks of 23 points, 14 rebounds and five steals. After a slow start, Coleman netted 19 points in the second half as Navy grew its lead to as much as 14 points. Gatzounas aided the Mids' performance with 12 points and 13 rebounds of her own. Bianca Roach (Sr., Virginia Beach, Va.) gave Navy three players in double figures as she scored 10 points, including five successful free throws.
 
"I thought this was a great team win in terms of our toughness; physical and mental toughness," remarked head coach Stefanie Pemper. "Rider was playing with some confidence coming into this game and playing well at home. We came in looking for our first road victory.
 
"We missed so many layups in the first half and for us to come out in the second half and finish our first couple of layups, make some good defensive plays and grab some steals, that was really important. I was really proud of the way we started the second half. We showed great mental toughness." 
 
After trailing early, 4-2, Navy responded with five unanswered points as defense turned into offense for the Mids. A converted foul shot by Roach started the run before a Gatzounas steal turned into a fastbreak layup for Coleman. Soon after, Gatzounas found her way into the scoring column with a layup of her own. Down the stretch in the first stanza, the Broncs turned that 7-4 deficit into a 10-9 lead by the end of the period. Five different Mids accumulated points in the first quarter.
 
Three straight made three-pointers spotted the host Broncs a 19-13 lead a little over two minutes into the second quarter. Laurel Jaunich (Jr., Charlotte, Vt.) kept the Mids in the game with a pair of jumpers during that span of play. Trailing by six, Navy shutout Rider for the final 7:47 of the period. While their defense was revving in high gear, the Mids' offense slowly scratched away at its deficit and netted four baskets over that stretch to take a 21-19 lead. Roach put Navy ahead at the 1:27 mark of the second quarter. As part of the scoreless streak, the Mids' defense forced 10 straight misses by the Broncs, including five from three-point range.
 
At halftime, Navy was outshooting Rider 29.4 percent (10-34) to 24.2 (8-33), though the Broncs held an advantage in made three-pointers, 3-0. 
 
Coming out of the locker room with an added sense of urgency, the Mids immediately rattled off nine unanswered points over a stretch of 1:23 to force the Broncs into a quick timeout. A free throw by Rider's Stella Johnson at 8:22 capped the Broncs' drought at 17-0 over a 9:25 run of play and made it 30-20 in favor of Navy. The Mids continued holding its lead in the eight-12 point margin over the majority of the third quarter. After starting the game 2-9 individually, Coleman found her stroke in the third and made five of seven field goal attempts. With the score 43-31 with 2:04 remaining, Rider ran off a 7-0 streak to cut it to 43-38 before Coleman beat the buzzer with a three-pointer. That trey was the 11th point of the quarter for the freshman from Richmond.
 
Starting off the fourth quarter with an eight-point lead, 46-38, the Mids slowly increased its advantage out to a game-high 14 points by the 5:55 mark of the fourth quarter. A layup by Jaunich gave Navy that 56-42 lead. Continuing to hold a double-digit advantage, a late run of play between 2:01 and 0:08 saw Rider shave eight points off a 12-point deficit to make it 64-60. A pair of made free throws by Coleman with less than six seconds left closed out the contest with the final score of 66-60. 
 
"We wanted to score 65 points today and we got 66 so we're thrilled with that," exclaimed Pemper. "Jennifer had a really good second half; she was really efficient shooting the ball and led us in assists again, which was great.
 
"If we made our free throws a little bit better late in the game and of course if we made our layups in the first half it would have been a more comfortable win. Overall though, this was a great team road win."
 
For the game, Navy outshot Rider, 40.7 (27-67) percent to 35.5 (22-62). Neither team had much success from three-point range as the Broncs edged the Mids, 19.2 (5-26) percent to 16.7 (2-12). Rider shot 78.6 (11-14) percent from the foul versus a 50.0 (10-20) percent mark for Navy.
 
With three players corralling seven or more rebounds, the Mids won the battle on the glass, 46-37.
 
Navy's stout brand of defense was showcased again on Sunday as the Mids forced the Broncs into 18 turnovers, the fifth game in 2018-19 with 16 or more turnovers. Coleman and Roach led the team in steals with eight combined thefts, five for Coleman and three for the senior team captain.
 
Rider's explosive leading scorer Stella Johnson was held to 14 points on 5-of-14 shooting. The Mids also turned her over three times. Coming into Sunday, Johnson was averaging 21.4 points a game.
 
"Morgan [Taylor] did a nice job defending their leading scorer [Stella Johnson] late in the game, which was key," said Pemper. "She [Taylor] was winning some one-on-one battles against a player, who came in averaging 21 points a game. She'll play pro somewhere. We don't see a lot of players like that.
 
 "Today was important in finding players that settled into roles. Morgan got some confidence in her defense because of what she was able to do in the second half against Johnson. Bianca made some big baskets for us; we look for her to get some confidence from that. It was also great to see Laurel go 3-for-5 and hopefully gain some confidence from that effort."
 
Navy's road trip will continue next weekend with a pair of games in Colorado. First up will be a Friday matchup (6:30 PM ET) at Air Force. Before departing the Rocky Mountain State, the Mids will go head-to-head with the Colorado Buffaloes on Sunday (3:00 PM ET) in Boulder.
 
Sunday's victory marked the 200^thof Pemper's career at Navy. All-time between her time at Navy (2008-pres.) and Bowdoin College (1998-2008), she has won 435 games in her 21-year career as a collegiate head coach.
In the history of the Patriot League, only five head coaches have reached the 200-win plateau at a Patriot League school …
    Bill Gibbons (Holy Cross: 1991-Pres.) – 505 wins
    Sue Troyan (Lehigh: 1996-Pres.) – 367 wins
    Dave Magarity (Army: 2006-Pres.) – 239 wins
    Kathy Fedorjaka (Bucknell: 1998-2012) – 209 wins
    Stefanie Pemper (Navy: 2008-Pres.) – 200 wins