EASTON, Pa. – In a game with two very different halves, the Navy women's basketball team was unable to respond to Lafayette's hot-shooting second half as it fell by a score of 79-52 at the Kirby Sports Center on Saturday afternoon. After an even first half in which the Leopards (7-9, 3-3 PL) took a scant 31-30 lead into the locker room, the Mids (5-12, 0-6 PL) could not recreate that performance in the second 20 minutes as the hosts shot 66.7 percent from the field and 75.0 percent from three-point range on their way to victory.
 
Mary Kate Ulasewicz (Sr., Doylestown, Pa.) stood out for Navy on Saturday as the team captain led the Mids in points with 14, three-point field goals with four and assists with three over 30 minutes of action. Morgan Taylor (Evans, Ga.) and Montana Braxton (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) backed up their fellow senior's effort as Taylor tallied nine points and seven rebounds, while Braxton notched eight points and three rebounds.

"I thought we battled really well in the first half," remarked head coach Stefanie Pemper. "Honestly, we did enough to earn a lead. We kind of picked up were we left off from Wednesday night versus Lehigh and had good intensity to start the game. In the second half, Lafayette, give them credit, they went inside against us. We might have missed Laurel Jaunich today in those matchups. [Jaunich was sidelined due to illness] We missed her savvy in post defense and her knowledge of [Natalie] Kucowski and [Alexis] Santarelli. Their [Lafayette's] inside game opened up the outside game for them; they really shot the ball well today. We weren't able to hit enough shots on the other end to keep the game close. It just got away from us in the third quarter."
 
After Lafayette scored on its first possession of the game, Navy came down and netted seven points the first three times it had the ball. Ulasewicz spearheaded this fast offensive start with five points over the initial 1:35 of play. With the score 7-2, the Leopards came down the court 15 seconds later and pulled it to within two points with a trey. Ulasewicz' scorching effort continued as she answered Lafayette's three-point basket with one of her own 32 seconds later to make it 10-5 at 7:38. Navy's offense hit a cold stretch over the next three-plus minutes as Lafayette crept back on the scoreboard. With the score knotted 10-10, Taylor broke the tie with a steal and fast break layup at 4:32. A Natalie Kucowski jumper evened the score once again before Lindsay Llewellyn (Fr., North East, Md.) had an immediate rebuttal with a corner three-pointer. Down 15-12, the host Leopards closed the first quarter with baskets on its final two possessions.
 
The tight back-and-forth action continued in the second quarter as the teams were tied or within one possession of each other for the first five minutes. Navy scored nine points during this portion of the period, while Lafayette countered with eight. The duo of Taylor (5) and Braxton (4) scored all nine points for the Mids. After a Braxton jumper tied the game at 24-24 at 5:49, the Leopards went 4-4 at the foul line over their next two possessions. Navy kept grinding away as Braxton found the bottom of the basket next time down the floor. Over the closing 2:08 of the period, the Mids held the Leopards to just one make, a Drew Freeland three-pointer, while their offense was aided by a pair of success Llewellyn shots.
 
Coming out of the locker room following halftime with the score, 31-30 the teams found their offensive flow early with makes on each of their initial possessions. Lafayette continued that fast start with six unanswered points to take its then-largest lead of the game at seven points, 39-32 by the 6:41 mark of the third quarter. Following a timeout, the Leopards kept streaking to the tune of an eventual 11-0 run. Ulasewicz put an end to Lafayette's effort with a three-pointer from the top of the arc at 5:28. Right after, a Maggie Moore (Fr., Ruffs Dale, Pa.) basket helped the Mids cut further into their deficit as they trailed by just seven, 44-37. Ulasewicz tried willing her team back into the game, but she netted Navy's only field goal for the final five minutes of the period, a three-pointer at 3:07. During this offensive lull for the Mids, the Leopards were able to score 14 points to take a 58-40 lead into the final quarter intermission.
 
Navy's cold second half carried over into the fourth quarter as the Mids made just one of its first four field goal attempts. This hindered the visitor's comeback attempt as the Leopards added three points to their lead to go up 64-43 before Mimi Schrader (Fr., Plymouth, Minn.) fought her way into the box score with a jumper off the glass at 5:51. Three-pointer shooting was the common theme of the next three-plus minutes with Lafayette tallying a trio of treys; all three combined made field goals in this span were threes. Nyah Garrison (Fr., Brookhaven, Pa.) scored the last four points of the game for the Mids of the final 1:40 of play.
 
In the 79-52 victory, Lafayette outshot Navy, 52.9 percent (27-51) to 36.8 (21-57) from the field, as well as from three-point range, 43.5 percent (10-23) to 30.0 (6-20) and the foul line, 88.2 percent (15-17) to 57.1 (4-7). As a team, the Leopards shot 66.7 percent (16-24) from the field and 75.0 percent (6-8) from three-point range in the second half as they pulled away from the Mids.
 
The rebounding battle was nearly even as the Mids edged the Leopards, 32-31 on the strength of 15 offensive boards. Taylor led Navy's effort with seven caroms.
 
Defensively, Navy forced 13 turnovers and were credited with seven steals. Ulasewicz had a team-high two thefts. On the opposite side of the ledger, the Leopards turned the Mids over 19 times.

"We're a team with such a small margin for error," stated Pemper. "It's wild to go from such a seemingly positive of playing well on the road for a half against a good team to our second half. If you look in the scoring column, M.K. was a warrior and made some really big shots in the third quarter to keep us close. We just need more contributions from more people on the offensive end. We got some good looks from three, that's for sure. We just didn't shoot it great in the second half. Our confidence is not super high right now. Those emotional three-pointers that Lafayette was hitting can really rattle a team that isn't playing with a lot of confidence. With every game some of our newer players are gaining more experience. We're trying to focus on making strides in practice and in the film room and seeing that translate into games."
 
Navy will begin a brief two-game homestand next week when it welcomes Boston University and Army in back-to-back contests at Alumni Hall. First up is a Wednesday night tilt versus the Terriers at 7 p.m. before the Black Knights head to Annapolis for a nationally-televised 11 a.m. matchup on Saturday morning.