ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's basketball team turned in its most complete Patriot League game of the season on Wednesday night when it hosted the Lehigh Mountain Hawks at Alumni Hall. 13 days after dropping a 70-40 contest versus the Mountain Hawks (13-3, 5-0 PL) on the road, the Mids (5-11, 0-5 PL) came out with a hard-nosed attitude and an effort that had the hosts ahead going into the fourth quarter before Lehigh overtook them late for a 60-53 victory. In an extremely competitive game neither team held a lead of more than five points until Lehigh went to the foul line a handful of times in the final minute of play.
 
Navy's senior trio of Morgan Taylor (Evans, Ga.), Mary Kate Ulasewicz (Doylestown, Pa.) and Montana Braxton (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) was at the forefront of Navy's performance on Wednesday night as they combined for 39 points and 14 rebounds. Taylor led the way with a season-high 19 points on 8-13 shooting. Additionally, she had five rebounds and three assists in 36 minutes of action. Ulasewicz also reached double figures with 11 points, six rebounds and six assists. Braxton rounded out the Class of 2020's night with a career-high nine points.
 
"We had a real good response to playing them [Lehigh] a second time in two weeks," remarked head coach Stefanie Pemper. "Ryenn Micaletti did a really good job with the scout. Our team was dialed in. We have to be good defensively to get a win and overall tonight we were. When we're good defensively, sometimes we force opponents to go all the way to the end of the shot clock; we have to really settle in and play all 30 seconds of that possession. We talked about playing forty one-minute games. To be tied after one quarter, leading at half and leading by one after three; this was a really good effort. We made some timely shots tonight.
 
"Credit to Lehigh, they did a really nice job of changing defense and frustrating us in the backcourt, especially in the second half. Lehigh came out with a good game plan; a lot of their stuff comes really quick. We played some kids big minutes tonight. It was a great battle. You saw at the end both coaches would've called timeouts if we had more because the women on both teams were just staggering. Their size helped them get some important rebounds; that can be a challenge for us, but I liked the way we fought."
 
The game opened extremely even as the teams traded makes for the first 3:01 of play. With Lehigh holding a slight 7-6 advantage, Navy took its first lead when Jasmine Bishop (Jr., Twinsburg, Ohio) found a cutting Taylor for an easy layup at 6:01. The tight action continued as the Mountain Hawks and Mids played out the next minute with the guests netting a pair of baskets surrounded by another Taylor field goal. The score stayed at 12-10 for over four minutes until Ulasewicz corralled an offensive rebound and immediately put up a jumper in the paint. Two baskets, one for Lehigh and one for Navy helped send the game into the first quarter break tied at 14-14.
 
The back-and-forth one-possession battle carried over into the second quarter as the Mountain Hawks netted a pair of free throws only to see Taylor drive and find a wide-open Maggie Moore (Fr., Ruffs Dale, Pa.) for the lengthy corner jump at 7:42. Lehigh took the game's first four-point lead at 5:20 when Megan Walker hit a jumper. The Mids didn't let the scoreboard stay 20-16 for long as Taylor came right down the court on the ensuing possession with a jumper in the paint. After a Camryn Buhr three-pointer at 4:45 made it a 23-18 game, Navy shutout Lehigh the rest of the half. Energized by its defense holding the Mountain Hawks to an 0-4 shooting performance and forcing four turnovers, the Mids closed out the second quarter on a 9-0 streak. Mimi Schrader (Fr., Plymouth, Minn.) sparked this run with a banked in three-pointer at 2:51. Braxton tied it at 23-23 with a jumper from the foul line before Taylor went back-to-bank with layups at 1:34 and 1:15; the second coming off of an intercepted pass and fast break basket.
 
Beginning the second half with the score 27-23 in favor of the Mids, the Mountain Hawks registered the first four points to knot the game by the 7:36 mark. The teams rotated made baskets for next two-plus minutes with each club adding five points to their total. Lindsay Llewellyn (Fr., North East, Md.) hit her first three-pointer of the game during this stretch. Tied 32-32 at 5:02, Navy began a 7-2 run over the next 3:30 of play to obtain its largest lead of the game, 39-34. Ulasewicz put the exclamation point on this span of action with a three-pointer from the top of the arch with the shot clock flashing less than three seconds. A pair of Lehigh treys in the final 1:20 of the period helped the visitors close its deficit to just one point by the expiration of the third quarter.
 
The fourth quarter opened with Navy holding a slim one-point lead, 41-40. Similar to the third period Lehigh started with a short run of unanswered points, this time to the tune of a 6-0 stretch over 2:06. Trailing 46-41, Taylor came through again for the Mids with a three-pointer at 7:12. Navy's comeback attempt continued when Braxton found a streaking Ciera Hertelendy (So., Martinsburg, W.Va.) for a fast break layup at 6:09 to make it 47-46 Lehigh. That was as close as it would get for the Mids as the Mountain Hawks immediately answered this threat with a 5-0 run. With the clock ticking under four minutes, Navy's final push saw the host team receive four unanswered points from the duo of Braxton and Taylor to tighten the game to two points, 52-50 at 2:30. Lehigh slowly rebuilt its lead out to a game-high seven-point cushion with 42 seconds remaining. Braxton cut it to a four-point contest with her first career three-point basket, but unfortunately Navy was unable to hit either of their final two shots and Lehigh went 3-4 from the foul line to conclude the game with a 60-53 score.
 
For the game, Navy outshot Lehigh, 43.4 percent (23-53) to 38.5 (20-52), though the Mountain Hawks held advantages in both three-point 32.0 percent (8-25) to 22.7 (5-22) and foul shooting 75.0 (12-16) to 66.7 (2-3).
 
Navy won the rebounding battle with 37 boards versus 28 for Lehigh. Llewellyn gathered a career-high seven caroms. She was one of four Mids with five or more rebounds on the night.
 
Defensively, Navy forced 12 Lehigh turnovers on five steals. The Mountain Hawks countered by forcing 19 Midshipmen turnovers, including 12 in the second half when they relied on more full court pressing and trap-like defenses.
 
Taylor's well-rounded line on Wednesday consisted of 19 points, five rebounds, three assists and a steal.
 
"This is her senior year, she knows what she needs to do," remarked Pemper about Taylor's performance. 'You walk out on this court, it's Alumni Hall. She's been on the team for four years. She knows what she's capable of; she's had some great performances in this arena. This could be the last time she plays Lehigh and we've really had a great rivalry with them over her four years. We've been talking to her all year, we didn't say anything different to her tonight. I think she just understood the urgency and what our team needs out of her as a senior with the experience that she has. We have a couple of seniors without a lot of experience. We were without Laurel Jaunich tonight and we really missed her. That's a complement to her. She really wanted to play Lehigh again. It was nice to see another senior step up when Laurel couldn't be here due to illness."
 
Navy will head back on the road as it continues its Patriot League slate with an away bout at Lafayette on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off between the Mids and Leopards is set for 2 p.m. at the Kirby Sports Center.