ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's basketball team had an inauspicious start to its home game versus Lehigh on Sunday and felt the effects of it throughout the action at Alumni Hall as the team fell by a score of 56-38. Outscored 15-2 in the first quarter, the Mids (6-6, 1-1 PL) were never able to muster enough of the rally to get closer than seven points in the second half versus the experienced Mountain Hawks (10-3, 2-0 PL) squad. 
 
Looking throughout its roster for an offensive answer, Navy had nine players register points on Sunday with Morgan Taylor (Jr., Evans, Ga.) leading the way with seven. Cailin Duffy (Fr., Westerville, Ohio) and Jennifer Coleman (Fr., Richmond, Va.) were second on the team with six points each.
 
"We are an unpredictable team offensively, that can be both good, but mostly bad," remarked head coach Stefanie Pemper. "One of the things we're still trying to figure out is shot selection. In this game we felt like we needed to get some transition baskets. In the first quarter it was kind of a mess. We certainly pushed it and took fast shots, but we missed. To be on your home floor and shoot seven percent, is shocking. We decided to slow it down and make them [Lehigh] play defense and I think that was the right thing to do. We have to find something in-between without so many extremes. We have to be a team that scores in transition and we have to be a team that gets good looks in our half-court. We're still trying to find out what high-percentage shots are for us. That is going to be a big key for us moving forward."
 
Both teams started out cold, as Navy was 0-6 before Laurel Jaunich (Jr., Charlotte, Vt.) broke the opening game offensive slump with jumper at 6:00 to tie the game at 2-2. Lehigh was 1-7 during this four-minute stretch of play. From that point in the quarter, the Mountain Hawks outscored the Mids, 13-0, while shooting 5-11. Navy shot 1-15 from the field and turned the ball over five times in the frame.
 
Coming out in the second quarter down 15-2, Sophie Gatzounas (So., South Hadley, Mass.) put an end to Navy's 6:17 scoreless streak with a steal and layup 17 seconds into the period. A pair of three-point plays, an and-one conversion by Bianca Roach (Sr., Virginia Beach, Va.) at 7:21 and a traditional three-pointer by Duffy at 5:30 looked to spark the Mids as Roach's basket cut the Mountain Hawks' lead to 10 points, while Duffy's score made it an 11-point game. Cayla Hannibal (So., Virginia Beach, Va.) and Coleman combined for five points over the final 81 seconds to send the contest into halftime at a 29-17 margin.
 
At halftime, Lehigh was outshooting Navy, 35.5 (11-31) percent to 18.8 (6-32) from the field and 33.3 (4-12) percent to 22.2 (2-9) from three-point range. The Mids' defense was keeping them afloat as they forced the Mountain Hawks into 10 first half turnovers.
 
Outscoring opponents by a combined 40 points in the third quarter through the first 11 games of the 2018-19 season, the Mids looked to drum up some third quarter magic on Sunday. After Lehigh's Hailey Pascoe opened the period with a made three-pointer, Navy responded with a series of three made baskets in three possessions between 8:40 and 7:50. The Mids run was extended out to 8-0 when Taylor knocked down a jumper at 6:27. With the game getting closer at 32-25, the Mountain Hawks responded with a Gena Grundhoffer layup to build their advantage back out to nine points. Taylor continued her strong third quarter with a steal and fast-break layup at 4:59 to once again help Navy cut its deficit to seven points, 34-27. The visitors found their shooting stroke in the second half of the period and out-scored Navy, 12-5 to make it a 46-32 game after 30 minutes. For the quarter, Navy shot 58.3 (7-12) percent.
 
A similar script unfolded for Navy in the first half of the fourth quarter as the Mids netted the first six points of the stanza. Kolbi Green (Fr., Woodstock, Md.) put the exclamation point on this 3:18 run with a three-pointer at 6:42. With the score, 46-38, Lehigh came back with an emphatic 10-0 run of its own to conclude the game with a 56-38 score. After opening the frame shooting 2-4, Navy missed its final 12 field goal attempts.
 
For the contest, Lehigh outshot Navy, 35.2 (19-54) percent to 25.0 (15-60). The visitors also recorded higher percentages from three-point range, 34.8 (8-23) percent to 23.5 (4-17) and from the foul line, 83.3 (10-12) percent to 57.1 (4-7).
 
The Mountain Hawks also out-rebounded the Mids, 47-35. Coleman led Navy with nine rebounds. Sunday marked the third game this week that the freshman point guard had recorded eight or more boards.
 
Defensively, Navy forced Lehigh into 21 turnovers on 10 steals. Bianca Roach (Sr., Virginia Beach, Va.) spearheaded the Mids' defense with a game-high four steals.
 
"Our defense was really good tonight," said Pemper. "Lehigh has been very good on offense and we held them under both their normal scoring average and field goal percentage. We were really solid defensively. We threw a lot of different defenses at them and competed really hard. 
 
"This is the best Lehigh team we've played against in a long time. Their juniors are experienced having played since they were freshmen and that really shows. That class brings a lot of confidence to their program and you're seeing the fruits of that now. Lehigh is very, very formidable." 
 
Navy will be back in action with a home Patriot League contest on Wednesday evening versus American University. The Mids and Eagles are slated for a 7 p.m. tip-off at Alumni Hall.