BALTIMORE – The Navy women's basketball team was unable to overcome a combined 37-23 advantage by Loyola during the middle quarters of play even as team captain Mary Kate Ulasewicz (Sr., Doylestown, Pa.) went for 13 individual points in the fourth quarter during a valiant comeback attempt at Reitz Arena. The Mids (7-20, 2-14 PL) played the Greyhounds (8-19, 5-11 PL) nearly even during the first quarter before Ulasewicz' effort helped Navy outscore Loyola by seven points in the fourth. Following 40 minutes of action the score was Loyola 64 - Navy 54.
 
Ulasewicz led Navy's individual output on Wednesday night with 26 points on 10-of-15 field goal shooting and a six-of-nine performance from three-point range. She was joined in double-figures by Jennifer Coleman (So., Richmond, Va.), who tallied 11 points and three assists in 21 minutes off of the bench.
 
"As often happens in midweek league games, especially towards the end of the season teams don't start off really sharp; we didn't start off well tonight and neither did Loyola," remarked head coach Stefanie Pemper. "I feel that we were the team that needed that fast start as the road team and coming off a tough loss on Saturday. That said, the game was really close after one quarter and then we struggled to score in the second, while Loyola didn't. We didn't have enough success with our shot tonight against their zone. M.K. got hot late in the fourth and that makes our overall numbers look a little better than when the game was on the line. We're going to need to be better in that facet of the game on Saturday because Lafayette plays a lot of zone. The other area were we could have gotten some points was offensive rebounds against the zone and converting turnovers. Last time we played Loyola, I think we had 14 points in transition and tonight we had four, that hurt us." 
 
Loyola jumped out to a 8-0 lead over Navy as the hosts held the Mids to an 0-6 start from the field and four turnovers. Ulassewicz ended that cold start as she squared up and hit a three-pointer from the top of the arc at 4:19. Navy found success from distance once again as Sophie Gatzounas (Jr., South Hadley, Mass.) sank a trey the next time down the court. Coleman made it three three-pointers in as many trips as she swished a three at 2:41 to draw the Mids within four, 13-9. Navy's comeback continued as a free throw by Coleman and a jumper by Ulasewicz made it a 13-12 game with under two minutes to go.
 
Coming out in the second quarter with the score 15-12 in favor of Loyola, the contest stayed at that one-possession margin for the first four-plus minutes as Navy came as close as two, 19-17 when Coleman went one-for-two from the foul line at 6:13. From that point on, Loyola scored six unanswered points to build out an eight-point lead, 25-17 by the 4:13 mark. The Greyhounds continued knocking down shots as they closed out the period with seven of the final 11 points to take a 32-21 lead into the halftime intermission. Montana Braxton (Sr., Cape Elizabeth, Maine) netted both of Navy's final two baskets of the quarter. For the stanza, Loyola shot 50.0 percent (8-16) from the field and ultimately outscored Navy, 17-9.
 
Leading by 11 to start the second half, Loyola initially increased its lead to a then-game high 13 on its first possession before Navy answered back with a deep Mimi Schrader (Fr., Plymouth, Minn.) jumper. The Mids cut its deficit into single-digits when Ulasewicz hit her second three-pointer of the contest to make 34-26. The Mids' team captain helped draw her squad even closer with another trey next time down the court. With the score 36-29 at 7:37, Loyola tallied the next nine points over a span of 2:55 to build its lead out to 16. Morgan Taylor (Sr., Evans, Ga.) was the catalyst in stopping the run with a jumper at 2:31. Just over a minute later, Coleman found a streaking Gatzounas for a transition layup to make it 48-35. Loyola ended the quarter by scoring the final four points over 51 seconds.
 
Navy looked to get back in the game with three straight baskets over its first four possessions, unfortunately for the visitors their six points were mirrored by six points from Loyola. The back-and-forth play continued until Ulasewicz caught fire with three three-pointers in a span from 3:36 through 1:51 to make it a 64-52 game. She completed her lights-out fourth quarter with a driving layup with 30 seconds to go and conclude the matchup with a 64-54 final score. In total, she closed the game by hitting five of her final six three-point attempts and seven of her last eight field goal tries. She netted 13 of Navy's 19 overall points in the fourth quarter.
 
For the game, Navy was outshot from the field 47.1 percent (24-51) to 41.5 percent (22-53), 42.9 percent (6-14) to 33.3 (8-24) from three-point range and 66.7 percent (10-15) to 50.0 (2-4) from the free throw line.
 
"Loyola shot the ball well tonight and got timely contributions from a few different players," surmised Pemper. "Obviously, Alexis Gray continues to confound us [19 points on Wednesday]. What we could have done better defensively was keep them off the foul line. On Saturday we will also be challenged by Lafayette's size on the inside. We will have to prepare for that and be ready to execute the game plan."
 
Loyola held a substantial 35-23 advantage in the battle on the glass. While six different Greyhounds finished with four or more rebounds, the Mids had just one, Laurel Jaunich (Sr., Charlotte, Vt.), who corralled five.
 
Defensively, Navy forced Loyola into 16 turnovers and were credited nine steals. Both Schrader and Coleman each came away with three steals.
 
The Mids will be back in action on Saturday evening on Senior Night. Following a brief pregame ceremony to honor Ulasewicz, Braxton, Jaunich and Taylor, Navy will host Lafayette in a 7 p.m. contest at Alumni Hall.