BOSTON – Playing with eight athletes for the second straight game, the Navy women's basketball team found itself in another 40-minute fight on the road on Saturday afternoon. The Mids (7-17, 2-11 PL) led after one quarter and were within three points at halftime before the Terriers (14-10, 9-4 PL) took advantage of their fresher legs and shot 58 percent from the field in the second half to earn the 71-56 victory at Case Gym.
 
Nyah Garrison (Brookhaven, Pa.) was at the forefront of Navy's offensive attack on Saturday as the freshman came off the bench and netted a career-high 23 points in 25 minutes of action. Garrison shot 88.9 percent (8-9) from the field, while adding another four free throws as she finished 4-4 from the foul line. Mary Kate Ulasewicz (Sr., Doylestown, Pa.) made it two Midshipmen in double figures as she scored 11 points. Additionally, she tallied six assists and two steals in 38 minutes on the court.
 
"I'm proud of the way we started today," remarked head coach Stefanie Pemper. "We gave up a couple of early threes to Maggie Pina, one of the best shooters in the league, so not everything was going our way, but at the end of the first quarter on the road we had the lead. Ultimately, we just couldn't stop them. Their senior Nia Irving had a season-high and their point guard Katie Nelson had a really solid game too. They had some good inside-out action that caused us trouble and we just couldn't keep them off the scoreboard. We knew that they would come out and play zone against us. Overall, we didn't turn it over a lot and we had a really good organization against it. We moved the ball well and made good decisions; we varied our attack, but we just couldn't keep scoring with them.
 
"I'm really pleased with Nyah. We were down to two posts coming into this game due to all of the illnesses and injuries. She got one day of prep at the high post position and she just was awesome up there today. Our guards had a lot of confidence in her and getting her the ball. It wasn't just her scoring today, it was the way she processed the game quickly. She made the right decisions; she made some really good passes, had some smart drives, and was hitting her jumpers and threes."
 
Making her first career start, Ciera Hertelendy (So., Martinsburg, W.Va.) made her presence felt immediately with a jumper from the top of the paint on Navy's first possession of the game. The Mids' frontcourt continued providing the offense as Montana Braxton (Sr., Cape Elizabeth, Maine) got her name in the line score with a mid-range jumper at 7:20 to make it a 5-4 game in favor of the host Terriers. Navy surged ahead with six more points to go up 10-5 by 5:52 as Morgan Taylor (Sr., Evans, Ga.) and Ulasewicz hit back-to-back three-pointers within 37 seconds of each other. After Boston evened the score at 10-10, the teams traded baskets over the next two-plus minutes as Navy crept ahead 14-12 by the 2:43 mark when Mimi Schrader (Fr., Plymouth, Minn.) attacked the boards for a quick offensive rebound and putback. Each team made one field goal down the stretch and the first quarter concluded with the score 16-15 for the Mids.
 
The second quarter started off slowly for both teams with BU scoring once to go up 17-16 before Garrison answered at 7:49 with a three-pointer from the corner. A Terrier layup and two successful free throws by Garrison advanced the game to a 21-19 score for the Mids by 6:54. Boston tallied nine of the next 11 points to take its then-largest lead of the game, five, 28-23 at 3:48. Coming out of a timeout Navy scored two easy baskets as Garrison drove the lane on the Mids' first possession before Hertelendy benefited from a slick Ulasewicz pass for the wide-out layup. This drew the visitors within three points, 30-27. Both defenses hunkered down for the remainder of the half and the second period closed out with the same score.
 
The second half started inauspiciously for Navy as BU opened on a 6-0 run over the first 4:26. Trailing 36-27, Schrader ended the Mids' close streak with a jumper at 5:34. The freshman's basket was the first of three straight for Navy as Garrison found success with a driving layup and later an elbow jumper to make it 40-33. Boston slowly extended its lead into double digits (45-33) with a Katie Nelson trey at 2:56. Ulasewicz immediately answered that three-point basket with a trey of her own 21 seconds later. The game opened up offensively over the final 67 seconds as the teams combined for nine points, five for BU and four for Navy.
 
Coming out of the third quarter break with the score 51-40, the Terriers scored the first four points to go up 15 points before Braxton was on the receiving end of a pass into the post by Hertelendy at 8:03. Navy continued fighting back as Ulasewicz sank a three-pointer at 5:51 to make it 57-45. Unfortunately for the visitors this would be as close as they would get for the remainder of regulation as the Terriers had an answer for every Midshipmen basket. At one stretch from 4:19 through 2:08, Garrison caught fire for Navy with three straight makes, including a pair of three-pointers. Taylor connected for Navy's fourth successful three-pointer of the quarter with 37 seconds remaining to conclude the game with Boston victorious, 71-56.
 
For the game, Boston outshot Navy 53.8 percent (28-52) to 41.2 (21-51) from the field as well as from three-point range, 40.9 percent (9-22) to 36.4 (8-22). The Mids were a perfect 6-6 from the foul line, while the Terriers finished 6-11 for a 54.5 percent showing.
 
The hosts won the battle on the glass by eight rebounds, 32-24. Taylor and Braxton tied for the game- and team-lead with five rebounds each.
 
Navy took good care of the ball on Saturday as the Mids recorded 15 assists versus 12 turnovers. Ulasewicz finished with six helpers, while her backcourt mate Schrader recorded three assists.
 
"I think we were starting to get some idea of what we were going to look like versus man-to-man," said Pemper. "They [Boston] zoned us the entire game so this was a good experience. We know that going forward teams will play zone against us so I think we picked up good reps today. Obviously, we're looking forward to getting healthier and getting our depth back. We have two big games coming up this week."  
 
The Mids will continue their second half Patriot League action at home on Wednesday with a 7 p.m. tip in Alumni Hall versus American.