LEWISBURG, Pa. – Faced with the difficult task of taking on a Bucknell Bison team that came into Wednesday's game in first place in the Patriot League and 8-1 at home, the Navy women's basketball team was also saddled with the news that two more of its starters would be sidelined due to illness and injuries. Coming into the contest at Sojka Pavilion with just eight healthy players, the Mids (7-16, 2-10 PL) battled for 40 minutes and came within six points late of defeating the Bison (17-6, 10-2 PL). Four free throws by Bucknell in the waning seconds helped the hosts earn the ten-point victory, 75-65.
 
Team captain Mary Kate Ulasewicz (Sr., Doylestown, Pa.) willed Navy throughout the game as she played 37 of a possible 40 minutes and scored a career-high 29 points on 9-14 shooting from the field and a 9-9 performance from the foul line. Jasmine Bishop (Jr., Twinsburg, Ohio) added 11 points and four rebounds in 35 minutes of action.
 
"For us being down three starters and coming on the road to the top team in the league just feeling like we were out-gunned, out-manned and out-numbered and then we're up one after one quarter; that showed a lot about who we are," remarked head coach Stefanie Pemper. "I thought Ciera Hertelendy came off the bench and gave us two big buckets and showed that right, fearless attitude. Bucknell turned up its defense a little in the second quarter and then turned up its offense in the third, but then M.K. just showed some real valiant leadership and scoring. Honestly, our entire team fed off of that. Jasmine Bishop shot the ball well tonight, so did Lindsay Llewellyn and Nyah Garrison. We've been saying that we've been a little unpredictable this year and hopefully we can take from this what kind of team we can be against a good man-to-man team."
 
Falling behind 10-0 over the first three minutes of the contest on Wednesday night, Montana Braxton (Sr., Cape Elizabeth, Maine) got Navy onto the scoreboard at 6:33 with a driving layup. The Mids made it four points over two possessions as Ulasewicz followed up her classmate's basket with a pair of successful free throws. With the score 12-4, Ulasewicz called her own number with a slick pull-up jumper from the top of the key to draw the Mids within six points at 5:33. The Bison had an immediate response to this score to go up 14-6. Navy slowly crept closer as its defense held Bucknell without a point for the final 5:07 of the quarter. Bishop sparked the Mids' offense with four straight points before Ciera Hertelendy (So., Martinsburg, W.Va.) found her way into the box score with a lengthy baseline jumper. With the score 14-12 and Bucknell with the ball, Hertelendy swiped an Ellie Mack dribble and started a fast break with Mimi Schrader (Fr., Plymouth, Minn.). The freshman point guard from Minnesota hit a step-back three-pointer from the wing to beat the buzzer and give Navy its first lead of the game, 15-14. The Mids shot 50.0 percent (5-10) from the field and forced the Bison into five turnovers.
 
Coming out trailing by one, the host Bucknell squad re-took the lead on its first possession on a Tessa Brugler layup. Brugler helped the Bison extend their advantage out to three points 60 seconds later, 18-15. Hertelendy drew the Mids back within one on a post-up and hook shot at 7:21. The back-and-forth action continued as the teams traded field goals on three consecutive possessions between 6:18 and 5:32. After Bucknell netted a Taylor O'Brien field goal to start the streak Navy's Lindsay Llewellyn (Fr., North East, Md.) knotted the game at 20-20 with a three-pointer from the wing off of a Schrader pass.  Llewellyn's trey was the last for the Mids for the next 3:54 as the Bison slowly edged ahead by eight, 28-20. Ulasewicz ended this cold stretch with an elbow jumper at 1:53. Bucknell scored the final three points of the half to take a 31-22 lead into the locker room. The Bison shot 66.7 percent (8-12) on their way to a 17-7 second period scoring advantage.
 
Similar to the first half, Bucknell opened the second half off fast with six unanswered points over the first 35 seconds. Once again, Ulasewicz facilitated the end of a Bucknell scoring streak as she converted a pair of free throws at 8:14. With the score 37-24 both offenses clicked over the next five-plus minutes with 27 combined points, 15 for Bucknell and 12 for Navy. Ulasewicz and Nyah Garrison (Fr., Brookhaven, Pa.) scored all 12 of these points for the Mids as Ulasewicz made a layup, three-pointer and three free throws, while Garrison netted a pair of jumpers. The breakneck pace of offense continued as Bucknell scored eight points in the last 2:10 of the quarter, while Navy tallied six. A Garrison three-pointer and a Ulasewicz layup highlighted the Mids' final push in the third. In total, both teams shot 66.7 percent in the third quarter, though five turnovers by the Mids helped the Bison win the period, 29-20.
 
With the score 60-42 through three quarters of play, the offenses continued clicking for both teams as Navy scored seven points over the opening three minutes, while Bucknell recorded five of its own. Ulasewicz tallied the first four points for the Mids before Llewellyn put the exclamation point with a three-pointer, her second of the day. Llewellyn's trey at 7:06 kick started a 10-0 run by Navy that drew the visitors within nine points, 65-56 by the 5:02 mark. The Mids made four consecutive baskets during this span with Bishop going back-to-back and Ulasewicz finding her range from three-point territory. Navy kept its comeback effort going and eventually cut its deficit to six, 69-63 at 1:30 when Bishop posted her tenth and eleventh points of the game. Ulasewicz added two more points to her career-best scoring performance with a jumper with 22 seconds remaining to make it a 71-65 contest. The host Bison converted four free throws in the final seconds of the game to hold on for the 75-65 victory.
 
For the game, Bucknell narrowly outshot Navy 58.3 percent (28-48) to 51.1 (23-45) from the field and 55.6 percent (5-9) to 54.5 (6-11) from three-point range. The Bison also recorded a marginal advantage in free throw shooting 77.8 percent (14-18) to 76.5 (13-17).
 
"We talked before the game to let it fly, but make good decisions and let it fly," said Pemper. "We had four freshmen playing big minutes and a fifth Ciera, who played a career-high 19 minutes. We had eight healthy players tonight. That wasn't easy to play loose and fearless, but it became easier once M.K. really got going. She refused to give in, she gave us her absolute best. Her confidence was just so high tonight. M.K. is such a versatile scorer. She's our best shooter in terms of accuracy. She found the windows tonight."
 
With such high field goal percentages from both sides there weren't many rebounds to go around on Wednesday night as Bison notched 25 boards versus 15 for the Mids. Bishop and Schrader each registered four rebounds for Navy.
 
Defensively, the Mids forced the Bison into 16 turnovers. The visitors were credited with seven steals. Ulasewicz (3) and Hertelendy (2) each had multiple thefts for Navy.
 
Navy will complete its two-game road trip on Saturday with action at Boston University. The Mids and Terriers are set for a 1 p.m. tip-off in Beantown.