EASTON, Pa. – The Navy women's basketball team dropped its second Patriot League conference game in a row on Wednesday as the Mids were tripped on the road at Lafayette by a score of 55-42. Playing before a raucous crowd of local elementary school students as part of Lafayette's "Youth Day" promotion at the Kirby Sports Center, the Mids (8-9, 3-4 PL) were never able to find the formula on the offensive end to knock off the Leopards (7-11, 2-5 PL). Trailing by 10 points after the first quarter, Navy tried to tighten the contest up over the final 30 minutes and had the defensive effort to do just that, but never got closer than six points.
 
A matchup of two the Patriot League's top-scorers, Lafayette's Natalie Kucowski (14.8 ppg) and Navy's Jennifer Coleman (12.9 ppg) never really materialized on Wednesday and hence it was both team's supporting cast that took the onus in spearheading their respective offenses. The Mids' Kolbi Green (Fr., Baltimore, Md.) posted a game-high 17 points on 5-11 shooting and a trio of three-pointers. The freshman shooting guard also tallied four free throws as she tied a career-best in points. The Leopards' offensive spark came off the bench as Alex Cantwell tallied 15 points of 6-9 shooting and three three-pointers.
 
"We didn't have an answer for Cantwell today," remarked head coach Stefanie Pemper. "Right down to her last bucket, that was a backbreaker. 
 
"I liked how we kept competing, we won the third quarter and scored 13 in the fourth. After a tough shooting first half where we didn't have enough o-boards and a few too many turnovers I thought we came out in the third quarter and changed those two story lines. They really should've only had four points that quarter until that late three by Cantwell. I liked our third quarter a lot. Overall, I think that our women really competed. We did a nice job on their top-two scorers. We just couldn't find our shot well enough against their zone. There was lid on the hoop."
 
Navy opened with the game's first points as Bianca Roach (Sr., Virginia Beach, Va.) found Laurel Jaunich (Jr., Charlotte, Vt.) for a pull-up jumper at the top of the lane on the team's first possession. Over the next three minutes, Lafayette outscored Navy, 8-1. Trailing 8-3, Green scored the next five points for the Mids. Unfortunately for the visitors, the Leopards were finding success on the offensive end as well and held a 13-8 lead by the 4:57 mark. It stayed at a five-point margin for the next 3:33 as neither team was able to score. Lafayette's Makaila Wilson put a stop to the Leopards' dry spell with a layup at 1:24. Another field goal, this time a Cantwell three-pointer helped Lafayette close the quarter in the lead, 18-8.
 
Trailing 21-11 early in the second quarter, Green hit pay dirt for the Mids with a three-pointer at 8:25 to close out a 7:12 scoreless streak for the visitors from Annapolis. Cailin Duffy (Fr., Westerville, Ohio) tried to jump start Navy's offense on her own as she tallied five points over three possessions to make it a 25-16 game at 5:13. Lafayette continued holding the lead into the break as the Leopards went into the locker room up 31-19.  
 
For the half, Lafayette outshot Navy, 43.3 percent (13-30) to 26.1 (6-23) percent. Both teams found some success from three-point range with a trio of three-point baskets each. A pair of freshmen, Green and Duffy combined for 14 of the Mids' 19 points as Green tallied nine points, while Duffy added five.
 
Navy slowly started scratching away at Lafayette's 12-point lead as the team rattled off five unanswered points to make it 31-24 by the 6:28 mark when Jasmine Bishop (So., Twinsburg, Ohio) sank a jumper in the paint. The Mids defense helped this comeback attempt and held the Leopards scoreless for the first 5:21 of the half until Drew Freeland made a field goal at 4:39. Navy made it an 8-2 run to start the period when Green swished home a three-pointer at 3:37. A six-point margin at 33-27 would be as close as Navy got for the rest of the game as Lafayette was able to re-establish itself down the stretch and extend its lead back out to nine points over the last three-plus minutes.
 
Coming out in the fourth quarter with the score, 38-29, Jennifer Coleman (Fr., Richmond, Va.) cut the Mids' deficit to seven with a jumper at 8:54. The Leopards had a quick rebuttal in which they netted four unanswered points to grow their lead back out to double-digits at 42-31. Cayla Hannibal (So., Virginia Beach, Va.) tried shooting Navy back into the game with five points in a stretch of four and a half minutes, but it would go for naught as Lafayette never let the game get closer than seven points in the final period of play. Green put an exclamation point on her 17-point game with a layup and free throw conversion with 10 seconds to go.
 
In the 55-42 victory for Lafayette, the Leopards outshot the Mids, 43.1 percent (22-51) to 25.9 (14-54). Both team made five three-pointers though Lafayette shot 38.5 percent (5-13) versus 21.7 percent (5-23) for Navy.
 
"I don't think the crowd had a huge role in our play today," answered Pemper about the 700-plus school children in attendance. "In some ways I think we handled this environment better than Saturday at Army. We kept it simple in terms of our play calls; we repeated our calls. Our communication was there. I thought we got our shots. Statistically we are not a great three-point shooting team so we see some zones and we have to find ways to score even if it's not from three. I was real happy with Cayla Hannibal's contributions today. Off the bench she was a good defensive spark. Jasmine and Sierra [Swanda]'s defense was really tough. I thought we showed a lot of different things today, but we just couldn't find the right answer offensively." 
 
The Leopards won the battle on the boards significantly by 16 rebounds, 45-29. Lafayette's Natalie Kucowski corralled a game-high 12 boards. Navy countered with a quartet of players with four caroms.
 
Navy's defense was effective in terms of causing turnovers as they forced Lafayette into 19 miscues on nine steals. Green led the way with a trio of steals.
 
"I think our confidence was a little shaken after Saturday and we have to find a way to get that back," said Pemper. "A lot of that is preparation and putting time in. I'm excited for our next practice and our next game. I believe in our team."  
 
Navy will have a chance to even its record in Patriot League play this Saturday at home with a matchup versus Boston University. The Mids and Terriers will tip-off the action at Alumni Hall beginning at 4 p.m.