HAMILTON, N.Y. – The Navy women's basketball team ran into a high-scoring Colgate squad on the road in Hamilton, N.Y. on Saturday afternoon. Coming into the matchup averaging 71.8 points per contest, tops in the Patriot League, the Raiders (11-4, 3-1 PL) pulled away late from a game Midshipmen (5-10, 0-4 PL) squad that trailed by just 12 points going into the fourth quarter. At the conclusion of the game, Colgate was victorious 80-55 at Cotterell Court.
 
The Mids received nearly 60 percent of its production on Saturday from its bench with the duo of Mimi Schrader (Fr., Plymouth, Minn.) and Jasmine Bishop (Jr., Twinsburg, Ohio) leading the way with respective point totals of 11 and nine. Schrader's final line also included three three-pointers and two rebounds over 28 minutes, while Bishop sank one three-pointer and corralled four rebounds in 21 minutes.
 
"You have to give a lot of credit to Colgate," remarked head coach Stefanie Pemper. "They did a great job of running in transition and keeping pressure on us throughout the game. For us, I thought we did a better job of taking care of the ball in the second half. I was also pleased with a lot of the shots that we got. Their matchup zone forces you to run a different offense. With our team not being super experienced I was pleased with how we executed some new wrinkles and new plays. I thought that we had at least six three-pointers rim out and a couple of transition layups that we didn't finish so if we make some more of those, this could have been a different game because we can slow their transition game when we put the ball in the basket.
 
"I'm really pleased with Mimi's presence and her confidence. She does a nice job of communicating with myself, the staff and her teammates as a point guard. It was nice to see some of her shots fall tonight. I was also impressed that she played as much as she did today and only had one turnover. It was also good to see Jasmine go 4-6 today with a huge three-pointer. We felt that we wanted to go inside versus Colgate and see if we could score. I thought Jasmine did a nice job of doing that. Complements to Colgate, they're physical on defense and they really tried to get in passing lanes and get deflections. They don't make passing easy so you have to make yourself a big target inside and I thought Jasmine did that well."
 
After Colgate started the contest by scoring the first six points, Lindsay Llewellyn (Fr., North East, Md.) got Navy on the board with a three-pointer from the wing. The Raiders' offense kept clicking as the hosts hit seven of their first eight shots to net 17 points over the first six-plus minutes of play. The Mids hung tight during this span as the freshmen trio of Schrader, Llewellyn and Nyah Garrison (Fr., Brookhaven, Pa.) combined for eight points with three-pointers by Schrader and Garrison leading the way. The score was 17-15 when Montana Braxton (Sr., Cape Elizabeth, Maine) hit a turnaround jumper in the paint at 3:11. Colgate didn't let Navy get any closer as the Raiders ran off eight unanswered points to expand its lead out to 10, 25-15. Schrader's second three-pointer of the quarter closed the scoring in the period at 25-18 in favor of Colgate.
 
In the 43-point quarter of play, the Raiders shot 64.7 percent (11-17) from the field, while the Mids were successful at a 46.2 percent (6-13) rate.
 
The quarter break did nothing to slow Colgate's offense as the Raiders came out the gate with a quick 5-0 run. Trailing 30-18, 2:11 into the second quarter, the Mids battled back with two physical baskets on consecutive possessions. Braxton made the first field goal with a layup in the paint before she fought for an offensive rebound and shot a pass out to Sophie Gatzounas (Jr., South Hadley, Mass.) for a jumper at the top of the paint. This hard-nosed effort on the offensive end continued for the Mids as Gatzounas grabbed a rebound and immediately put up a shot at 5:27 to make it a 32-24 game. While Navy had to battle for each of their baskets, Colgate continued its blistering shooting effort with a streak of five makes in six possessions, with an additional two points coming from the foul line. This run helped the Raiders expand their lead out to 18, 44-26 by the 1:52 mark. A Bishop putback layup and a Laurel Jaunich (Sr., Charlotte, Vt.) free throw concluded the first half as the teams retired to their locker rooms with the score 44-29, Colgate.
 
Team captain Mary Kate Ulasewicz (Sr., Doylestown, Pa.) was everywhere for the Mids over the first three minutes of the second half. Trying to will her club back into the contest, Ulasewicz blocked a fast break layup, stripped a Colgate defensive rebound for a quick fadeaway jumper before later hitting a three-pointer off of a Jaunich handoff at 7:28 to make it 48-34. The Raiders responded to Ulasewicz' effort with a 4-0 run to build their lead back out to 18 points by the 5:46 point in the third quarter. The momentum swung back to the Mids with a 7-1 response from 4:52 through 3:14. Garrison found success from three-point range, while Ulasewicz and Braxton netted layups. The final three-plus minutes played out with each team recording five points, including Schrader's third three-pointer of the contest.
 
Coming out in the fourth quarter with the score 58-46 for Colgate, the host Raiders built out a 23-point lead in short order within the first four minutes, 69-46. The Mids were held off the scoreboard until Ciera Hertelendy (So., Martinsburg, W.Va.) found a cutting Llewellyn at 5:01 to make it 71-48. Bishop found her shooting touch late for Navy with five of the team's final seven points down the stretch. Schrader netted the other basket for the Mids as she completed her first double-digit scoring output with a layup at 1:22.
 
In the 80-55 victory for Colgate, the Raiders outshot the Mids, 57.9 percent (33-57) to 35.6 (21-59) from the field and 54.5 percent (6-11) to 25.8 (8-31) from three-point range. Navy converted five of its six attempts for a 83.3 percent mark. Colgate was solid as well from the charity stripe with a 72.7 percent (8-11) effort.
 
Colgate won the rebounding battle 33-30 over Navy. A credit to the Mids' physicality and hustle on the glass, Navy corralled 14 offensive rebounds. Ulasewicz and Bishop each had three o-boards.
 
Defensively, the Mids forced the Raiders into 15 turnovers and were credited with 11 steals. Gatzounas (3), Jaunich (2) and Llewellyn (2) all tallied multiple thefts.
 
"We've been talking a lot about improving; improving our execution, improving our chemistry, improving our confidence and improving our ability to respond," said Pemper. "I thought that M.K. did a good job of that tonight. We're learning every game and limiting the time it takes us to learn from mistakes. Overall, I liked our effort. I think our buy-in is good. We're excited to have a day off and get going again on Monday before hosting Lehigh."
 
The Patriot League action continues for Navy on Wednesday at home when the Mids welcome the Lehigh Mountain Hawks. The tip-off at Alumni Hall is set for 7 p.m.