ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Looking to even its Patriot League record on Saturday, the Navy women's basketball team was hampered by its worst shooting performance of the season in a 49-35 loss to Boston University. In a defensive slugfest that saw the teams grind out a 16-13 score at halftime, the visiting Terriers (9-9, 5-3 PL) broke open the game in the third quarter with a dominant 21-4 period of play over the Mids (8-10. 3-5 PL). Over the 40 minutes of action at Alumni Hall, Navy was held to a 23.2 percent shooting.
 
A pair of freshmen in Jennifer Coleman (Richmond, Va.) and Cailin Duffy (Westerville, Ohio) highlighted Navy's individual performers on Saturday as Coleman registered a line of 10 points, seven rebounds, four steals and three assists. Duffy was a spark off the bench for the Mids as she netted seven points over 10 minutes of play.
 
"We're just not executing as sharp as we need to be," remarked head coach Stefanie Pemper postgame. "We had a real good practice yesterday, so this was a surprising result to me. The first half was solid for us defensively. 
 
"We're just not finding enough competitive energy on the court. The players have to decide that enough is enough, that's kind of the bottom line. Other coaches are saying 'you are young and you'll get better' so maybe it's that kind of year. I've never coached that way in my life; no one on our staff does either. At times we look young, regardless of which players are on the floor."
 
The defensive tone was set early as the first quarter saw both teams held significantly below their scoring and shooting averages. In the 8-5 quarter, Navy broke through first as defense turned into offense early as Coleman intercepted a pass and went coast-to-coast for a layup on the other end at 9:10. That was the only successful field goal for either team over the first four-plus minutes as Boston opened 0-5 with three turnovers, while Navy was 1-6 with three turnovers, as well. The Terriers netted their first points on a pair of free throws at 6:04. On the ensuing possession, Kolbi Green (Fr., Baltimore, Md.) jumpstarted the Mids' offense with a three-pointer. Morgan Taylor (Jr., Evans, Ga.) quickly followed up that trey with a drive through the lane to make it a 7-2 game at the 5:08 mark. Navy continued holding Boston off the scoreboard as another four minutes passed by without a made field goal. Each team was only able to post single points via free throws. With the score 8-3, Katie Nelson made the Terriers' first goal of the game with 58 seconds left in the quarter. The two teams combined to shoot 4-27 from the field (14.8 percent).
 
Coming out in the second quarter up 8-5, the Mids' lead evaporated by the 8:16 mark as the Terriers connected on two of their first three shot attempts. Laurel Jaunich (Jr., Charlotte, Vt.) snapped Navy's 7:07 scoreless streak as she sank a high arching three-pointer from the left wing. That trey put the Mids back ahead, 11-9 at 5:33. After the under-five media timeout, a short run on offense saw the score increase up to a 14-13 margin in favor of Navy by 1:49. A late layup by Coleman with 75 seconds remaining helped the Mids go into halftime up 16-13. 
 
Statistically, Boston was outshooting Navy, 23.8 percent (5-21) to 20.7 (6-29). The Mids were 2-9 from three-point range, while the Terriers were 0-7. Navy forced Boston into 10 turnovers via seven steals. The Mids had eight turnovers of their own. Those 13 points were the fewest that Navy had allowed versus a Division I opponent this season.
 
Trailing by three to start the second half, the visitors made their first five shots as part of a 12-0 run. While the Terriers were on fire from the field, troubles with the Mids' ball handling was hampering the hosts as they turned the ball over six times over the first five minutes of play. Green found the answer for Navy's offensive struggles as she ended the team's 6:21 scoreless streak with a three-pointer at 3:39. With the score 25-19, Boston ran off a 5-0 span to take an 11-point lead with 2:09 left to play in the stanza. After a Taylor free throw made it 30-20, Boston scored four more points down the stretch to make it 34-20 at the conclusion of three quarters. The final tally for the third quarter was Boston 21 and Navy 4.
 
"BU is a good shooting team and they weren't in the first half, but then they starting hitting in the third quarter," said Pemper. "We could tell that for whatever reason, our players were tight in the first half so we were real positive with them and said that to them at the half. That absolutely backfired and our players went the wrong way in the third." 
 
The Terriers kept putting distance between them and the Mids as they immediately deposited a pair of free throws to go up 16 at the start of the fourth quarter. Coming off the bench, Duffy recorded five points on her own with a layup and three-pointer in a matter of three possessions. Duffy's streak was part of a bigger 7-2 run that made it a 38-27 game with 6:39 left in regulation. That 11-point margin would be as close it would get for Navy the rest of the game as the contest went final at 49-35.
 
Navy continued its streak of strong defensive efforts as in all eight Patriot League matchups, the Mids have held their opponent to 58 or less points, including five straight with 55 or less. BU came into the game averaging 60.2 points per contest with three players averaging 10.3 or more points. All three players: Nia Irving, Payton Hauck and Lauren Spearman were held to single-digit outputs on Saturday. The Terriers' Katie Nelson took over the offense with a game-high 23 points. 
 
For the game, Boston University outshot Navy, 44.2 percent (19-43) to 23.2 (13-56). Both teams shot matching 20.0 percent marks from three-point range. 
 
The Mids won the battle on the boards by six, 38-32. Navy's total was augmented by 18 rebounds on the offensive end of play. Taylor finished with a team-high eight rebounds for Navy.
 
The Mids' defense was its normal harassing self as it forced the Terriers into 21 turnovers. Coleman's four steals led a Navy squad that finished with 12 total steals.
 
"I've always been a real honest coach to them, respectfully and constructively," remarked Pemper. "MK [Mary Kate Ulasewicz] was great, she showed pride out there today. We had some players competing and you could see that one of our freshman was upset with the lack of Navy Women's Basketball that was going on out there. She single-handedly can't get it back. MK is a junior and she had a couple of real great practices leading up to today. She's tired of losing. We need more women that are tired of losing. We thought we had that at the start of today. We had lost to Army, we lost to Lafayette and we all thought that we were tired of losing, but we weren't able to turn that around tonight."
 
Navy will round out the first half of Patriot League play with its ninth league contest this coming Wednesday at home versus Bucknell. The Mids and Bison are slated to tipoff at 7 p.m. at Alumni Hall.