ANNAPOLIS, Md. - After a well-rounded team win, in which the team scored 67 points and forced 24 turnovers, on Saturday versus Colgate, Navy will look to continue its push up the Patriot League standings with a road matchup versus the sixth-place Holy Cross Crusaders. Part of a men's and women's basketball doubleheader at the Hart Center, the Mids (9-12, 4-7 PL) and the Crusaders (13-9, 5-6 PL) will tip off at 5 p.m. on Holy Cross' campus. The two teams met earlier this season in Annapolis as Navy was victorious, 54-47 on Jan. 16. 

The Navy-Holy Cross matchup will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network, as well as broadcast over the airwaves on the NESN television network. Live stats will be available via Holy Cross.

Last Time Out
Navy received a well-rounded team effort on Saturday afternoon as the Mids defeated the Colgate Raiders at home by a score of 67-52. Buoyed offensively by four players with double-digit point scoring performances and forcing the Raiders (9-12, 5-6 PL) into 24 turnovers, the Mids (9-12, 4-7 PL) completed the season sweep of Colgate with a 15-point victory.

Jennifer Coleman filled the stat-sheet on Saturday as the freshman point guard recorded game-highs in points with 16, rebounds with 11, assists with five and steals with five. On the offensive end, Morgan Taylor, Bianca Roach and Sophie Gatzounas all aided Navy's scoring attack with respective totals of 12, 11 and 10 points.

Trailing 13-9 in the first quarter, Gatzounas made her second basket of the game to tighten it to a two-point contest at 2:05. The back-and-forth continued down the stretch as a Cayla Hannibal three-pointer and a pair of Roach free throws helped Navy pull ahead 16-15 before the quarter expired.

Going back to Roach's free throws at the end of the first, the Mids ran off a streak of nine unanswered points to go up 25-17 by the 7:42 mark of the second quarter. After reaching that eight-point lead, Navy went cold for the next 2:47 and Colgate was able to shave five points off its deficit. The three-ball came up key for the Mids once again as Coleman found the bottom of the net from distance at 4:55. Less than 90 seconds later, Coleman swished her second trey to make it 31-24. The freshman's hot streak continued with a layup next time down the court. During this stretch of play from 4:55 to 3:01, Coleman was three-for-three with eight points. Up 33-24 after Coleman's layup, Navy extended its lead to 12 points by halftime, 38-26. In the second quarter, the Mids shot 66.7 percent from the field on eight-of-12 shooting.

In the third quarter, Navy immediately stretched its lead out to 16 points as Laurel Jaunich and Coleman went back-to-back with field goals to start the second half. With the score 42-26, Colgate hits its stride offensively with eight unanswered points from 8:33 to 5:59. Over the course of the third quarter both squads netted 14 points.

The Raiders made a concerted effort in the early portion of the fourth quarter to come back and were able to cut three points off their 12-point disadvantage with an 8-5 start to the period to make it 57-48 by 5:36. The Mids didn't let the visitors get too comfortable in single-digits as they extended their lead out to as many as 16 points, 67-51, by the 2:57 mark. The game closed at a 67-52 score as Colgate went without a made field goal for the final 5:36 of the contest.

For the game, Navy outshot Colgate 45.6 percent (26-57) to 40.4 (21-52) from the field and 68.8 percent (11-16) to 50.0 (7-14) from the foul line. Both squads shot 20.0 percent from three-point range as the Mids were 4-20, while the Raiders were 3-15.

Navy's defense was back to its troublesome style as it forced Colgate into 24 turnovers. After turning non-conference opponents over 24 or more times on five occasions, Saturday was the Mids' first such effort in Patriot League play. Navy was credited with 15 steals on the day.

Looking Back at Navy-Holy Cross Game One: January 16, 2019
Facing off on January 16 in Annapolis, Navy and Holy Cross gave the fans at Alumni Hall an ultra-competitive 40-minute women's basketball game in which neither team ever held more than a nine-point lead. Trailing for the first 18:01 of the game, the Mids overcame a six-point deficit to take a slim 24-23 lead into halftime before slowly putting some distance between themselves and the Crusaders in the second half. Clutch play down the stretch helped Navy secure its third Patriot League win of the season and second in a row.

Trailing 15-9 after one quarter of play, Jennifer Coleman single-handedly cut Navy's six-point deficit in half within the first minute as she swished a three-pointer from the top of the arch. Over the next six minutes, the margin between the Mids and Crusaders bounded between two and five points as every time Navy shrunk Holy Cross' lead to one possession, the Crusaders would respond. With score 23-18 at 1:59, Kolbi Green dialed up her second made three-pointer of the contest to make a 23-21 game. Tight defense and the three-ball once again came through as the Mids forced a Crusader shot-clock violation and immediately came down the court and set Coleman up for the trey. That basket by Coleman gave Navy its first lead of the game and put the squad up 24-23 going into the halftime intermission.

With the score knotted at 27-27 early in the third period, the Mids responded with five points unanswered points. After a brief comeback attempt by Holy Cross saw the visitors cut Navy's five-point lead to two, 34-32, at the 3:07 mark, the hosts closed out the final portion of the quarter on an 8-2 run.

Up 42-34 going into the fourth quarter, the Mids built their lead out to nine points at 44-35 by 8:22. A two-point rebuttal by Megan Swords on the opposite end of the court at 7:59 were the final points for either team for over three-plus minutes. Trailing by seven points, Holy Cross cut six points off its deficit between 4:40 and 2:01 to make it a 46-45 game. With her team up by just one with 1:34 left in regulation, Coleman calmly hit a jumper in the lane to put the Mids up 48-45. The Mids' perfect day at the free throw line went the entire 40 minutes as Bianca Roach and Green each went 2-2 over the final 16 seconds to close the game at 54-47.

Holy Cross barely outpaced Navy in both the field goal and three-point shooting categories as the visitors shot 32.0 percent from the field and 29.4 percent from three-point range, while the Mids recorded a 30.2 percent mark from the field and a 28.6 percent number from distance. Navy was locked in from the charity stripe as the team was a perfect 10-for-10 in free throw attempts.

Coleman had a hand in all facets of Navy's success on Wednesday as she recorded a game-high 21 points, in addition to 12 rebounds, three steals and two assists. Combined with her freshman backcourt mate Green, the duo totaled 36 of the Mids' 54 points and knocked down all six of the team's three-point baskets. Green finished the contest with 15 points, three three-pointers and three steals.

Navy versus Holy Cross
The Mids and Crusaders have met 64 times in a series that began on January 18, 1992 ... All-time, Holy Cross leads Navy, 42-22 with a 22-9 advantage in games played in Worcester ... The two teams had not ever met prior to the Mids joining the Patriot League in 1991-92 ... After three Navy coaches from 1992-2008 went a combined 4-36 versus the Crusaders, Head Coach Stefanie Pemper has righted the ship and is 18-6 in 24 career matchups ... Last season marked the sixth time in series history that the Mids had swept the regular season, 2-0 over the Crusaders ... Over the last ten matchups, Navy is 6-4 and currently holds a six-game winning streak.
    Last 5 Games:
    Jan. 16, 2019 (H): Navy 54 - Holy Cross 47
    Feb. 7, 2018 (H): Navy 62 - Holy Cross 54
    Jan. 11, 2018 (A): Navy 65 - Holy Cross 58
    Jan. 28, 2017 (A): Navy 73 - Holy Cross 71
    Jan. 2, 2017 (H): Navy 57 - Holy Cross 56

Comparing the Teams

(2018-19 Stats)	Navy	Holy Cross
Record / Patriot League	9-12 / 4-7	13-9 / 5-6
Home / Away Record	5-6 / 4-6	9-2 / 4-7
Points Per Game	54.8 PPG	65.4 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	56.1 PPG	62.6 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	33.3 %	41.1 %
3-Point Percentage	24.1 %	32.8 %
Free Throw Percentage	64.1 %	68.8 %
Rebounds Per Game	39.0 RPG	40.2 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	10.9 / 17.0	13.0 / 15.0

Individual Leaders

(2018-19 Stats)	Navy	Holy Cross
Points Per Game	Coleman, 12.2 PPG	L. Manis, 18.1 PPG
Rebounds Per Game	Coleman, 8.0 RPG	L. Manis, 11.4 RPG
Assists Per Game	Coleman, 2.7 APG	M. Smith, 3.9 APG
Field Goal Percentage	Gatzounas, 44.5 %	M. Swords, 49.3 %
3-Point Percentage	Coleman, 30.9 %	K. Pedi, 41.8 %
Free Throw Percentage	Green, 78.4 %	A. LaBarbera, 89.8 %