ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Buoyed by a career-high 23 points from senior team captain Mary Kate Ulasewicz (Doylestown, Pa.), the Navy women's basketball team defeated the Army Black Knights on Saturday by a score of 57-45 in front of a loud and boisterous crowd at Alumni Hall. In addition to Ulasewicz' individual output, the Mids (7-12, 2-6 PL) showcased an oppressive brand of defense that forced the Black Knights (5-14, 1-7 PL) into 25 turnovers.
 
Ulasewicz highlighted Navy's individual performers as she went 7-16 from the field, 3-6 from three-point range and 6-8 from the foul line to record her personal-best scoring effort. She added six rebounds and two assists to her well-rounded line score over 38 minutes of action. The junior forward duo of Sophie Gatzounas (South Hadley, Mass.) and Jasmine Bishop (Twinsburg, Ohio) were active throughout the contest on both ends of the court as Gatzounas notched nine points and eight rebounds, while Bishop had eight points and seven rebounds.
 
"We talked about winning three quarters today," remarked head coach Stefanie Pemper. "We thought that if we could win three quarters we could come away with a win. For us to grind out that first quarter, hitting a shot late to win it was important. To win all four quarters was huge. I thought Morgan Taylor's defense was really key today. She has been really dialed in the last couple of weeks. For her to not shoot it well today and still be on the floor as many minutes as she was shows a lot of maturity in her. I thought M.K.'s scoring and levelheadedness was really big. Mimi Schrader's play at the point guard position was key too. She showed great poise and made a couple of really timely baskets. It was a really good game. I'm super proud of our players and really happy for them to get this win.
 
"Army is a different type of matchup. The last week or so, you can just tell before the game starts if our team is really in the right place. I'm not surprised by today. I just felt that we were going to play well and have great leadership. Katie Rokus did a great job with the scout. I thought we had a really good game plan. Lindsey Scamman tried to blow that all up and put the game on her shoulders and you can't control all of that. We did a good job of controlling what we can. It feels great as a coach. I'm really happy with some of the adversity that we've had to overcome this year. I'm super happy for the team and especially the seniors."
 
First time down the court on Saturday, Bishop posted up deep in the zone and received an entry pass from Lindsay Llewellyn (Fr., North East, Md.) for an easy layup. Llewellyn was involved in the Mids' next scoring chance as she swished a three-pointer from the wing at 8:15. Navy increased its lead out to 7-3 on the next possession when Bishop pulled up for a mid-range jumper. Army later tied the game at 8-8 as the Black Knights scored five of the next six points. The contest wasn't tied for long as Gatzounas calmly knocked down a pair of foul shots just 16 seconds later. After a brief 5-0 run by Army the newly-inserted Mimi Schrader (Fr., Plymouth, Minn.) put her name in the box score with a jumper from the edge of the paint at 2:15 to make is 13-12 in favor of the Black Knights. Ulasewicz helped the Mids re-take the lead with a successful jumper with less than seven seconds remaining in the first quarter.
 
The second quarter opened with the score 14-13 and stayed at that margin for the first 2:45 before Army's Lindsey Scamman broke the scoreless streak. The back-and-forth action continued as Schrader found Gatzounas with a slick pass for the unabated layup at 6:38. With the game tied at 16-16, baskets by Schrader and Ulasewicz allowed the hosts to take a four-point lead as the clock moved under four minutes. Another Ulasewicz field goal this time at 3:02 made it 22-16 and forced the Black Knights to take a timeout. A mid-range jumper by Bishop extended the Mids' run out to 8-0 before Scamman responded on the ensuing possession. Both teams tallied a pair of points in the final 30 seconds making it a 26-20 game at the halftime intermission.
 
Coming out in the second half up six points, Ulasewicz continued her role as the catalyst of the Mids' offense as she scored the first five points for Navy. Up 31-22, the Mids took their first double-digit lead of the contest when Gatzounas took a lead pass from Bishop for a driving layup at 6:47. Three more points courtesy of Morgan Taylor (Sr., Evans, Ga.) increased Navy's lead to 14 points, 36-22 at 4:59. Each team made just one field goal over the next three-plus minutes, a three-pointer by Scamman and a Schrader jumper from the baseline. Army cut its deficit to 10 with a late Sarah Bonn three-pointer.
 
With the score 38-28 through three quarters of play, the Black Knights continued their comeback attempt as the visitors netted the first four points of the final stanza over a run of 1:10. The Mids had a strong rebuttal to this early run with five unanswered points of their own with a Ulasewicz three-pointer and a Gatzounas fast break layup. The momentum pendulum continued swinging as it became the Black Knights' time to shine with points on back-to-back possessions to make it a seven-point game at 43-36 with 6:40 left in regulation. As easy as Army scored four points, Navy responded with four points of its own when Bishop and Schrader tallied baskets 41 seconds apart. Leading 47-38 with less than three minutes to play, Ulasewicz took over down the stretch with seven points, including a quartet of free throws and an important trey. With this output, Navy was able to slowly expand its lead out to its final 12-point margin, 57-45.
 
For the game, Army slightly outshot Navy, 33.3 percent (16-48) to 32.3 (20-62) from the field. The Black Knights also won the three-point shooting battle 35.0 percent (7-20) to 19.0 (4-21), though the Mids were able to outshoot their opponents at the foul line, 65.0 percent (13-20) to 40.0 (6-15).
 
Army edged Navy in the rebounding battle, 42-40 on the strength of Scamman's career-high 22 boards. Navy's effort was aided by four players with six or more rebounds; Gatzounas (8), Bishop (7), Taylor (6) and Ulasewicz (6).
 
The biggest factor in the Mids' victory was the Black Knights' inability to handle the ball as Army finished with 25 turnovers. Navy was credited with six steals led by Gatzounas' two thefts.
 
"Our mindset was to keep attacking," said Ulasewicz. "Sometimes in our past games we would be passive, but in this game we were constantly reminding each other to just take your shot and keep being aggressive because we know we have a good defense.
 
"Even when we weren't winning games we still had that fire. We never gave up. Our locker room is very tight and we love each other. We never gave up and we knew that we were going to get one; that was the best feeling! We're on the uphill. We're always going to keep trying. It feels good to be a different type of streak!"
 
Navy will be back in action on the road on Wednesday night as the team will be travelling to Worcester, Mass. for a 7 p.m. matchup at Holy Cross.