WORCESTER, Mass. – Faced with a difficult matchup against a Holy Cross team that came into the day 9-2 in home games, the Navy women's basketball team faced another uphill climb on Wednesday as it found itself with a gameday unlike any other in its recent history. Due to a winter storm in the Northeast on Tuesday, the team was forced to start its day in Annapolis with an 8 a.m. walkthrough before jumping on a plane to Boston and bussing directly to the Hart Center. After the Mids finally arrived in Worcester they matched up with a physical Crusader squad in an extremely competitive Patriot League women's basketball game with tight back-and-forth action throughout. After the horn sounded following 40 minutes of play, the host Crusaders (14-9, 6-6 PL) were three points better than the Mids (9-13, 4-8 PL) with a final score of 47-44. During the course of play neither team was able to hold more than a six-point lead.
 
Jennifer Coleman (Richmond, Va.) led Navy's offensive attack with a game-high 14 points. The freshman point guard added to her stat-line with a career-high 16 rebounds. Junior Morgan Taylor (Evans, Ga.) aided the Mids' effort with seven points off the bench.

"This was definitely our toughest loss in league play," remarked head coach Stefanie Pemper. "I really thought we battled all game. This was the hardest one to lose because of how bad we wanted it. We defended tough and had a good, competitive energy the entire game. We were right there. This was a really hard one to lose.
 
"After the game, we said that we know we can play better and that the game just required us to make a couple of more plays to pull it out on the road against a team in Holy Cross that is playing really well at home and having a good league season. If we just could have made one more layup or made a few more foul shots. There were a few turnovers that we wish we could have back. There were a couple of stops that weren't able to get. Credit to Holy Cross, they made a couple of fantastic baskets late in the game; plays that they hadn't made all game. You look at their scoring and they went down every quarter. This was such a competitive game." 

Both teams started out slow on the offensive side of the ball as over five minutes expired and the score was even at 4-4. Navy started off the game shooting 1-9, while Holy Cross was 2-7 with a pair of turnovers. The teams traded baskets during the next minute with Bianca Roach (Sr., Virginia Beach, Va.) finding the bottom of the hoop at 4:50. After the Crusaders extended their run to 6-0 to come from behind and go up 10-6, Taylor and Jasmine Bishop (So., Twinsburg, Ohio) converted on consecutive possessions to re-tie the game by 2:21. The back-and-forth action continued down the stretch as Holy Cross scored four in a row before Coleman swished home a dramatic mid-court three-point heave at the first quarter buzzer. 
 
After Holy Cross netted the first basket of the second quarter to go up 16-13, Navy fired back with five unanswered points with Taylor adding the exclamation mark with a three-pointer at 7:54. With the Mids up 18-16, the Crusaders took the next five minutes of play by an 11-4 margin. Trailing 27-22, Sierra Swanda (So., Jacksonville, Fla.) got Navy back in the scoring column at 1:14 with a layup. A three-pointer by Green with 29 seconds left in the period tied the game once again at 27-27.
 
At the half, Holy Cross was outshooting Navy from the field, 46.4 percent (13-28) to 35.5 (11-31). The Mids shot 54.5 percent (6-11) in the second quarter.
 
Coming out of the locker room even, the host Crusaders immediately went up by three as they sank a trey 23 second in. That was the only basket for three minutes until Holy Cross made a layup at 6:32. Behind on the scoreboard 32-27, Taylor and Coleman shaved four points off the Mids' deficit by 5:31 before another Coleman basket put Navy back ahead, 33-32 at 4:53. The back-and-forth competition continued as Holy Cross fired back with a three-pointer 19 seconds later to make it 35-33 in its favor. In total, that trey was part of a larger 7-2 run by the Crusaders to close the third quarter.
 
With Holy Cross up 39-35 to start the final period of regulation play, Laurel Jaunich (Jr., Charlotte, Vt.) made the only basket of the first four minutes as she caught a back-door screen pass from Coleman and deposited the easy layup at 7:45. Coleman tied the game for the ninth time when she collected her own rebound and beat the shot clock at 5:56. Holy Cross scored seven of the next 10 points to go up 46-42 by the 1:27 mark. Jaunich cut the Mids' deficit to two points with a layup with 52 seconds left. The Crusaders made one foul shot in the waning seconds to conclude the game with a 47-44 final score.
 
In the contest, Holy Cross outshot Navy, 39.6 percent (21-53) to 33.3 (19-57). Neither team had much success from three-point range or the foul line as the Crusaders shot 27.3 percent (3-11) from distance and 15.4 percent (2-13) from the charity stripe, while the Mids were 20.0 percent (3-15) from three and 37.5 percent (3-8) from the foul line.
 
The rebounding battle was fairly even as Holy Cross finished with 41 caroms versus 38 for Navy. Coleman notched her seventh double-double of the season with 16 individual rebounds. Her previous career-high was 14.

"I thought Jenn competed really well tonight," said Pemper. "The way she rebounded the ball was pretty special. I thought Bianca and Laurel also competed really well. The fact that Bianca held Avery LaBarbera, Holy Cross' second leading scorer, to just three shots was pretty impressive." 
 
Defensively, Navy forced Holy Cross into 19 turnovers and was credited with eight steals. Coleman and Roach each had two steals.

"We feel like over the last three games we're figuring some things out and heading in the right direction," said Pemper. "We're getting some confidence back. I think we're playing together better and making better decisions as a team. We're certainly looking forward to Saturday."

The Mids will have a quick turnaround before their next game as they fly back to Maryland Thursday morning and immediately turn to prepping for a showdown with Army on Saturday. Tip-off between the service academy rivals is set for 12-noon at Alumni Hall. That game between Army and Navy will be televised nationally on the CBS Sports Network.