BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Navy women's basketball team started the Patriot League portion of its 2019-20 schedule on Thursday on the road at Lehigh University. Taking on the preseason favorite for the Patriot League, the Mids (5-7, 0-1 PL) started out strong, but were held back by a 16-point advantage in favor of the Mountain Hawks (9-3, 1-0 PL) during the second quarter. At the conclusion of play at Stabler Arena on Thursday, Lehigh was victorious by a score of 70-40.
 
The Mids' effort was led by quartet of Lindsay Llewellyn (Fr., North East, Md.), Laurel Jaunich (Sr., Charlotte, Vt.), Morgan Taylor (Sr., Evans, Ga.) and Mary Kate Ulasewicz (Sr., Doylestown, Pa.), who all tallied between seven and nine points during the contest. Llewellyn was Navy's top scorer with nine points, including a trey and a 2-2 showing at the foul line., while Jaunich was one back with eight points during a team-high 29 minutes of action. Jaunich added six rebounds and a block to her stat-line on Thursday.
 
"Compliments to Lehigh," remarked head coach Stefanie Pemper. "For an 8-3 team coming into the night, they shot above their averages and competed really well defensively. We got off to a really good start and then made another really good run in the third quarter, but in neither situation were we able to sustain that momentum and keep the game in the single digits to give us a chance at the end. No one in our locker room is happy this result. We have a really good Holy Cross team coming in on Saturday so tomorrow is going to be a big day for prep."
 
The early action in Bethlehem saw the teams trade baskets for the opening five-plus minutes with each squad netting five points. Back-to-back field goals by Montana Braxton (Sr., Cape Elizabeth, Maine) and Ulasewicz at 4:58 and 4:37 helped Navy jump out to a five-point advantage, 10-5. Lehigh had a five-point rebuttal of its own between 4:19 and 3:10 to knot the game at 10-10. On the strength of their third made three-pointer, a trey from the wing by Nyah Garrison (Fr., Brookhaven, Pa.), the Mids went ahead 13-10 with 2:45 remaining in the quarter. From this point through the end of the period the host Mountain Hawks tallied six unanswered points.
 
Coming out in the second quarter trailing 16-13, Navy saw Lehigh extend that 6-0 run out to 15-0 through the 3:57 mark of the stanza. Llewellyn put an end to the Mids' 0-8 shooting effort to start the quarter with a drive along the baseline and layup. This basket invigorated Navy as the Mids they shaved four points off their deficit and made it a 26-20 game by 2:31. As part of this 5-1 run, Llewellyn made a three-pointer from the left corner before Jaunich posted up and sank a short jumper. Unfortunately for Navy, Lehigh caught fire down the stretch with a 13-0 run on the strength of 4-4 shooting, including a trio of three-pointers.  
 
"We've been so pleased with the way Lindsay has been playing for the last couple of weeks," said Pemper when asked about Llewellyn's play. "She continues to get a little bit better each practice and each game. Her understanding of what we're doing and her defensive ability are improving. She's looking for smart scoring opportunities and you saw that tonight. She brings a great attitude every day."
 
At the half, Lehigh was outshooting Navy, 50.0 percent (13-26) to 30.8 (8-26) from the field and 41.7 percent (5-12) to 30.8 (4-13) from three-point range. While the Mids were held without a free throw attempt, the Mountain Hawks went 8-14 from the charity stripe.
 
Down 39-20, Navy immediately started its comeback attempt. Taylor got the Mids off to a good start with a three from the top of the arch on their first possession. That trey kickstarted a 9-0 run with baskets by all four seniors as Ulasewicz, Jaunich and Braxton followed Taylor to make it a 39-29 game, forcing Lehigh to burn a timeout at 6:54. A little over a minute late, Taylor got Navy within nine points with a 1-2 effort at the foul line. An Emma Grothaus layup at 4:43 ended the Mountain Hawks' scoreless start to the second half. Two made free throws by Llewellyn helped Navy get its deficit into the single-digits once again at 3:21, 41-32. Just as the Mids rode a 9-0 streak get back in the game at the beginning of the quarter, the Mountain Hawks closed the quarter with a 9-0 run of their own to make it 50-32 through 30 minutes of play.
 
Lehigh kept its foot on the offensive pedal with the first seven points of the fourth quarter before Taylor found Jaunich for an uncontested layup at 6:55. With the score 57-34, the Mountain Hawks capped their first Patriot League win of the season with a 13-6 close to the game over the final six-plus minutes.
 
In its 70-40 victory, Lehigh outshot Navy, 47.2 percent (25-53) to 28.1 (16-57) from the floor and 33.3 percent (7-21) to 25.0 (5-20) from three-point range. The Mids shot 75.0 percent (3-4) from the foul line, while the Mountain Hawks were 13-23 for a 56.5 percent mark.
 
Lehigh won the battle on the glass by nine rebounds, 42-33. Taylor registered a game-high nine rebounds for the Mids, in addition to her seven points.
 
Defensively, Navy forced Lehigh into 11 turnovers on eight steals. A trio of Mids: Taylor, Ulasewicz and Sophie Gatzounas (Jr., South Hadley, Mass.) all tallied two thefts.
 
"We're in the process of building a new identity with some new personnel," said Pemper. "We needed to finish our good scoring opportunities better, as well as rebound better and to keep them [Lehigh] off the foul line tonight."
 
Navy will have a quick turnaround before its Patriot League home opener on Saturday afternoon versus Holy Cross. Tip-off between the Mids and Crusaders is set for 4 p.m. at Alumni Hall.