ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's basketball team laid it all out on the line and then some in an exciting and emotional Senior Night showdown with Lafayette on Saturday. Trailing by 14 points after one quarter of play, the Mids (7-21, 2-15 PL) inched closer each stanza before an off-balanced three-pointer from the corner by Sophie Gatzounas (Jr., South Hadley, Mass.) with 0.7 seconds left in the fourth quarter sent the fans at Alumni Hall into a frenzy and the game into overtime. At the conclusion of the five-minute overtime period the Leopards (15-12, 11-6 PL) survived and walked away with the 62-59 victory.
 
The Mids' furious comeback came from standout efforts off the bench by Gatzounas and Jennifer Coleman (So., Richmond, Va.) as the duo combined for 38 points, seven three-pointers and five steals. Doing it all over the court, Gatzounas finished Saturday night's game with a season-high 21 points on eight-of-12 field goal shooting, a four-of-six mark from three-point range, seven rebounds and two steals in 34 minutes of action. Coleman added 17 points with three treys, three assists and three steals in 30 minutes. Laurel Jaunich (Sr., Charlotte, Vt.) also played a vital role for the Mids on Senior Night as she finished with nine points, seven rebounds and two blocks.
 
"What could go wrong early, did go wrong and that's a credit to Lafayette," remarked head coach Stefanie Pemper. "They jumped out to a big lead and couldn't miss a shot. Their size and their zone gave us a lot of problems when we had the ball. We didn't get off to the start that we wanted on Senior Night. Everyone's heart was in the right place, it just didn't start the way we envisioned. For us to battle back and take the lead in the fourth quarter that was really cool and a testament to the passion that we played with tonight. Multiple people contributed to our comeback.
 
"I told our staff at halftime that we have to make it rain! We had to let it go from three-point range and we came out and hit four threes in the third quarter. It really looked like we got into a great flow. Our zone helped us better control some of the things that they [Lafayette] were doing well on offense in the first half. You have give credit to Laurel Jaunich with that. She is so good in that zone and the way she denied things in the high post came naturally. She is so experienced. They also got into a little bit of foul trouble with Alexis Santarelli. Everything we made changes to worked in tonight's game even down to the end. We had a wide open look for a three at the end of overtime. We had some good shots. Both teams left it out there tonight."
 
The game opened with the teams trading three-point baskets over the first 75 seconds as Lafayette struck first with a Drew Freeland trey before Mary Kate Ulasewicz (Sr., Doylestown, Pa.) answered her at 8:45 off of a Montana Braxton (Sr., Cape Elizabeth, Maine) assist. The visitors then rattled off 13 of the next 15 points over the next six minutes to go up 16-5 by the 2:51 mark. A series of crisp passes in the paint on the ensuing possession helped Navy pull closer when Jasmine Bishop (Jr., Twinsburg, Ohio) found a cutting Gatzounas. Lafayette scored the final five points of the quarter to take a 21-7 lead into the quarter break. The visitors shot 60.0 percent (9-15) to spark their offensive first period.
 
Coming out to start the second quarter down 14, Coleman was the catalyst for Navy's initial comeback attempt with five points on her team's first two possessions, including a step-back three-pointer from the corner. With the score 21-12, Lafayette went back up by double-digits by the 8:00 mark. The three-ball once again served as a weapon for the Mids as Coleman drove and drew a defender leaving Jaunich wide open for the trey from the wing. Down eight, 23-15 with 7:16 remaining in the quarter Navy continued cutting into Lafayette's lead as the Mids drew within six points by the midway mark when Coleman and Jaunich worked a quick back-and-forth connection that resulted with Coleman sinking her second three-pointer of the quarter. That 25-19 score didn't move for the next 2:36 as both teams were scoreless until Freeland hit a three for Lafayette. The Leopards ran off four more unanswered points to go up 32-19 with 1:24 left. An 'and-one' conversion for Gatzounas closed the scoring in the first half as Navy went into the intermission down 10, 32-22.
 
The second half began a bit inauspiciously for both teams as three minutes clicked away with just three points to show for the Mids' effort and two for the Leopards. With the score 34-25 with under-seven minutes to go the offenses picked up the slack with two field goals a piece over a run of 89 seconds to advance the contest to 38-30 by 5:31. Gatzounas' three-pointer at 5:31 began a streak of three treys in four possessions by the Mids over the next two minutes. Lindsay Llewellyn (Fr., North East, Md.) followed up Gatzounas trey with her first of the day at 4:47 before Gatzounas found success again at 3:11. Navy's propensity for the long ball resulted in the team cutting its deficit down to four, 40-36. The Mids' hot streak continued as the next two times down the court they went two-for-two with makes by Llewellyn and Coleman. With the game now knotted at 40-40 and 1:53 remaining in the third quarter, Lafayette gathered itself and re-engaged its offense, scoring the final five points of the period.
 
Trailing 45-40 at the start of the fourth, Navy kept its eyes on the prize, a come-from-behind victory. The Mids shutout the Leopards for the first 2:48 as they whittled it down to a one-point margin, 45-44. As close as Navy got, Lafayette had a response as Freeland once again found her stroke from long range to put the visitors ahead by four points. That lead didn't last long as Gatzounas continued her impressive second half with a three-pointer of her own 15 seconds later after Coleman set her up. After a quiet two minutes of action, Navy's comeback culminated when the home squad took its first lead of the game at 4:50 when Coleman went two-for-two from the foul line to put the Mids up 49-48. After Alexis Santarelli knotted the game a 49-49 a minute later, Gatzounas called her own number with a dynamic drive to the lane for a layup to put the Mids ahead by two with 3:37 left in regulation. Navy's magic nearly ran out after this point in the contest as the Mids went scoreless for the next 3:35. The buzz that once enveloped Alumni Hall with Navy's thrilling comeback was dissipating as Lafayette ran off a 5-0 run to take a 54-51 lead with under five seconds to play. After grabbing a missed free throw on defense and calling a timeout the stage was set for a wild end to regulation as Llewellyn took the in-bounds pass and swung it to the left wing for Gatzounas, who darted past her defender, gathered herself and hit a off-balanced three-pointer as she faded away with 0.7 seconds left to play to tie it 54-54 and force overtime.
 
The two-man game between Gatzounas and Coleman was the story of the fourth period as the duo scored all 14 of Navy's points. 
 
In overtime, the tight back-and-forth action continued as Lafayette scored the initial two points before Coleman fired back with a three-pointer from the deep corner at 3:10. The visitors responded by shutting down the Mids and slowly pulling away with the next six points to lead 62-57 with 31 seconds remaining in the period. A nifty screen-and-roll between Coleman and Jaunich helped Navy pull within three points at 17.1. The Mids' hopes of surviving the overtime period were helped exponentially as the Leopards came up empty at the foul line. On Navy's final possession, the team had two solid looks from three-point range, but unfortunately both rattled out as Lafayette held on for the 62-59 victory.
 
"I liked our final possession," said Pemper. "Jenn got a good look first and then Sophie came down with the rebound. We were calm, we saw that we had six more seconds so we swung it around and didn't force anything. We ended up with a good look for the game-tying three. That was such a tough bounce."
 
For the game, Lafayette outshot Navy, 37.5 percent (21-56) to 31.3 (21-67) from the field and 70.0 percent (14-20) to 50.0 (6-12) from the foul line. The Mids edged the Leopards in three-point shooting 36.7 percent (11-30) to 35.3 (6-17).
 
In a competitive battle on the glass, the Mids hung with the taller Leopard team throughout. Lafayette finished with 43 rebounds, while Navy had 42 of its own, including 14 of the offensive variety. Both Jaunich and Gatzounas finished with seven rebounds.
 
Navy's ballhandlers were producing high-level results with 17 assists on 21 made field goals on Saturday night. Jaunich and Coleman did the best job of facilitating with respective assist totals of four and three.
 
Defensively, the Mids forced the Leopards into 18 turnovers and were credited with eight steals. Coleman (3), Gatzounas (2) and Morgan Taylor (2) all had multiple thefts.
 
"We felt very alive tonight," exclaimed Pemper. "This was a nice team effort, though a really tough game to lose. When Sophie hit that three to send it to overtime the arena just erupted. That was such a fun atmosphere and I'm happy that our team got to experience that feeling. Sophie got in such a great zone and flow tonight. She was playing in the post; she was playing out on the guard. We missed her when she was out sick the last couple of weeks, but she was back her tonight on a mission.
 
"We need to bring this same energy next week!"
 
Prior to the game, the Class of 2020 was recognized for their efforts over the past four years for Navy. The five-person class consists of Braxton, Jaunich, Taylor and Ulasewicz, as well as student assistant coach Taj Middleton.

Saturday's game was presented by First Command.
 
The Mids will conclude their regular season on Wednesday night on the road at American University. Tip-off between the two local rivals is set for 7 p.m. at Bender Arena.