ANNAPOLIS, Md. – With annual bragging rights and the Star on the line for the sport of women's basketball, the teams from Army and Navy were up for the challenge in front of a national television audience on Saturday afternoon in Annapolis as both teams battled for 40 minutes. As the scoreboard clicked to all zeroes at the end of regulation, the visiting Black Knights (10-14, 5-8 PL) were victorious by a score of 60-48 over the Midshipmen (9-14, 4-9 PL). Up 26-20 at half, Navy was unable to hold off a hard-charging Army squad that netted 40 points in the second half.
 
The Mids were led by a trio of players with double-digit point outputs. Freshman point guard Jennifer Coleman (Richmond, Va.) was atop the scoring column with a team-high 14 points on 6-14 shooting. She added to her stat-line with eight rebounds and a season-best six assists. Her classmate Kolbi Green (Baltimore, Md.) and senior team captain Bianca Roach (Virginia Beach, Va.) each contributed 10 points each. 
 
"We obviously didn't shoot well enough and always have the best ball movement and timing," remarked head coach Stefanie Pemper. "We talked as a team that we don't always have four or five people that want the ball and want to shoot it. We're trying to make strides with that in practice; you can't just flip that switch on gameday. We did turn the ball over a little bit too much, as well as some basic things that we normally do well like when we drive baseline and get a shooter in the opposite corner; we didn't do that a couple of times today.
 
"In the second half you just have to credit Army, their offensive rebounds went from three in the first half to 11; their free throws went from 10 to 17; their three-pointers went from one to five in the second. We lost some mojo at the end of the second quarter. We had a lead and then Jennifer got her second foul. In hindsight it hurt us to have Jennifer and Bianca on the bench at the same time for the last five minutes of the quarter with that lead. We just needed to finish that quarter."
 
The action on Saturday started slowly as the game was knotted at 3-3, 3:45 into the contest. After Sophie Gatzounas (So., South Hadley, Mass.) received a slick Coleman pass along the baseline for an easy layup at 6:15, the Black Knights responded with a brief 4-0 run before Sierra Swanda (So., Jacksonville, Fla.) found her way into the box score with a layup at 4:00 to even the score at 7-7. The back-and-forth action continued over the final four minutes as Coleman put the Mids up only to see the Black Knights come back on the ensuing possession with a three-pointer. After Swanda put Navy up 11-10 with her fourth point of the quarter, Army netted four unanswered points. Down 14-11, Green converted a pair free throws with 1.2 seconds on the clock. The story of the first quarter was the Black Knights' ability to get to the foul line as the visitors were 7-10 from the charity stripe.
 
Trailing 14-13, Green immediately put the Mids back in front as she swished a trey from the right wing 51 seconds in. Navy's freshmen backcourt continued paying dividends as Coleman scored four points on her own to put the Mids up 20-14. A layup by Roach at 6:31 extended Navy's run out to 11-0 and forced Army to burn a timeout. Baskets by Roach and Laurel Jaunich (Jr., Charlotte, Vt.) kept the streak going and helped Navy build a 26-14 lead. Held scoreless for 7:09 to start the period, Madison Hovren broke the drought for Army with a jumper at 2:51. Going back to the first, the Black Knights went 10:04 without a made field goal. This started a 6-0 run by Army to conclude the first half as Navy was scoreless for the final 4:03. For the quarter, Navy outscored Army, 13-6.
 
For the half, Navy outshot Army, 37.9 (11-29) percent to 27.3 (6-22). 
 
Coming out of the locker room up 26-20, Coleman quickly netted four points within a matter of 100 seconds. Army's Kate Murray was equally as proficient with four points of her own to make it 30-24. The Black Knights continued slowly scratching away on their six-point deficit as they scored five of the next six points. With the score 31-29 in favor the Mids, Green extended the host's lead back out to five with three-pointer at 5:04. Back-to-back baskets by Army re-tied the game at 34-34 with 3:42 remaining in the quarter. From that point in time, the Black Knights closed the quarter by outscoring the Mids, 7-4, to build a three-point lead of 41-38 into the quarter break.
 
On the first possession of the fourth quarter, the Black Knights took their then-largest lead of the game of six as Sarah Bohn made her first shot of the game after opening it 0-7. Up 44-38, Army found success once again from distance as Jess Lewis sank another trey at 8:21. The Black Knights stretched their lead out to 12 with yet another three-pointer at 7:05. Unfazed, Coleman came right down the court and responded with a three-pointer of her own at 6:43. That basket sparked a 7-0 run by the Mids to cut it down to a five-point deficit, 50-45. Unfortunately for the 5,548 fans in attendance at Alumni Hall this would be as close as Navy would shrink its deficit down to over the final 5:20 as the team was held to just one made field goal during this last stretch of action. Army countered this with two field goals and six made free throws to send the game final at 60-48.
 
For the game, Navy outshot Army, 39.2 (20-51) percent to 34.7 (17-49). A 37.5 (6-16) percent to 22.7 (5-22) percent edge in three-point shooting and a decisive 74.1 (20-27) percent to 50.0 (3-6) advantage in free throws helped turn the final score in the Black Knights' favor.
 
"We definitely have some challenges this season and they aren't going away," said Pemper. "In some aspects we're improving on them. It's amazing that we shot better than them today and made more field goals than they did. The free throws were a difference and the offensive boards were a difference. A big story of the game was them going to the foul line 27 times and us six." 
 
The battle on the boards was fairly even as Army recorded 36 rebounds with 14 coming on the offensive end opposite of Navy's 33 total rebounds and 11 offensive caroms. Coleman and Morgan Taylor (Jr., Evans, Ga.) buoyed the Mids' rebounding production with totals of eight and six respectively. 
 
Defensively, Army turned Navy over 21 times on eight steals, while the Mids forced 13 miscues on eight steals. Roach led Navy with three thefts.
 
"We've got to get over this game quickly because we have to start thinking about Lafayette at home on Wednesday," said Pemper. "It's important that we have good energy at practice on Monday, that there's positivity in the gym, and that there's a great plan. I'm excited for practice on Monday, on Tuesday and the game on Wednesday."
 
Saturday's game was for the 2019 Women's Basketball Star and part of the greater Army-Navy 2018-19 Star Series presented by USAA.

The Mids will next be in action on Wednesday evening at home at Alumni Hall with a matchup versus Lafayette. Tip between the Mids and Leopards is set for 7 p.m.