WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Navy women's basketball team saw its 2019-20 season come to an end on Saturday afternoon in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament at American University. In a matchup between the seventh-seeded Eagles (13-16) and the tenth-seeded Mids (7-23) a late 13-4 run over the final three minutes turned a one-point advantage by American into its final 63-53 margin of victory. A near flawless 24-of-27 showing at the foul line by the Eagles helped the hosts overcome a pesky Midshipmen defense that forced them into 19 turnovers in the contest at Bender Arena.
 
Navy's senior backcourt duo of Morgan Taylor (Evans, Ga.) and Mary Kate Ulasewicz (Doylestown, Pa.) spearheaded the team's effort on Saturday with a combined 37 points, five three-pointers and eight rebounds. Taylor had a season-high 21 points, including 15 in the first half, while Ulasewicz had 12 of her 16 points over the third and fourth quarters.
 
"This was a really competitive game; it was everything you'd want from a Patriot League Tournament matchup," remarked head coach Stefanie Pemper. "American did a good job of getting to the foul line today. We wanted to limit their and-ones, that was something we needed to change from Wednesday's game. Credit to them because we made that a point of emphasis and they still got to the line 27 times. 
 
"We did a good job of staying in it. The second quarter today was like our fourth quarter on Wednesday. We told the team at halftime to stay with it because we have two more quarters to play. We tried a few new offenses that we hadn't run much during the season. They were excited to run it. It didn't necessarily keep us in it; our shot-making, smart decisions and good defense did that. We had a couple of nice stretches today, but I want to say congratulations to American. They kept their intensity throughout the game, especially at the end." 
 
Taylor got the Mids' offense clicking early with seven of the visitor's first nine points over the opening 3:40. Ulasewicz tallied Navy's first basket before Taylor rattled off her seven straight points. With the score 9-4, the Mids extended their lead out to six, 11-5, when Ulasewicz knocked down a pull-up jumper at 4:43. After a brief break on the bench after hitting the floor hard, Taylor immediately re-inserted herself into the action with an offensive board and putback at 3:09. Both teams' offenses slowed down exponentially over the final three-plus minutes as American netted two foul shots, while Navy was scoreless.
 
Coming out of the first quarter intermission with the score 13-7 in favor of Navy, American grabbed the momentum with six points over its first two possessions. The Mids countered with two points of its own, a Laurel Jaunich (Sr., Charlotte, Vt.) layup, to make it 15-13. The Eagles' continued their fast start with four more points to jump ahead 17-15 by the 7:11 mark. That lead was short lived as Taylor came right down the court and sank a three-pointer from the wing. The back-and-forth action continued as American took a 19-18 lead before Navy received layups on consecutive possessions from Mimi Schrader (Fr., Plymouth, Minn.) and Taylor. The senior's driving basket culminated with an 'and-one' conversion and the Mids were back up four, 23-19 with 5:26 remaining. Over the next 4:14 American rattled off an 13-2 run to pull ahead by seven, 32-25. Neither team scored over the last 72 seconds of the second quarter. The Eagles shot 80.0 percent (8-10) from the field in the stanza.
 
After scoring 15 points in the first half, Taylor quickly found her rhythm coming out of the locker room with a steal and fast break layup to draw Navy within four, 32-28 just 24 seconds into the third quarter. The Mids continued its comeback as they evened the score, 35-35, at 6:02 when Taylor knocked down her third three-pointer of the game. American briefly moved into the lead 37-35 before Ulasewicz and Jasmine Bishop (Jr., Twinsburg, Ohio) responded with baskets to go ahead 39-37 by the 3:26 mark. Similar to the end of the second period, the Eagles tightened up their defense and shut out the Mids, while netting the final seven points.
 
Trailing 44-39, Navy was unable to re-engage its offense easily as American scored the first four points of the quarter through the initial 4:09 of play. A pair of free throws by Ulasewicz ended the drought and made it a 48-41 game. The Mids' team captain pulled her squad even closer with an isolation three-pointer from the wing at 5:22. Ulasewicz and the three-ball was a theme that continued a little over a minute later she took a high hand-off from Jaunich and immediately swished another trey. With the score 48-47 with 3:54, the teams traded baskets and the game advanced to 50-49 as the clock ticked under three minutes to go in regulation. From that point on, the Eagles made three of their next four shots, while the Mids were held off the scoreboard. With an additional seven made free throws American secured the victory by a score of 63-53. 
 
At the end of 40 minutes of play at Bender Arena, the Mids' Class of 2020 finished with 41 combined points as Taylor tallied a season-high 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting and 3-of-5 from three-point range. Ulasewicz collected 16 points on a 6-for-13 shooting with a pair of three-pointers. In the frontcourt, Jaunich finished with a line of four points, two rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot.
 
"Our seniors are special; today was special," said Pemper. "We talked before the game about bringing it and having those special postseason performances. It was awkward to play the same team twice in four days in the same exact arena, but Morgan and M.K. really brought it. We wouldn't have been in the game without Morgan, especially in the first half, and then with M.K. late. They made smart plays throughout. Laurel Jaunich was true to her career; making a lot of plays that don't necessarily show up on the stat sheet. The three of them did a great job of leaving it out there today. It was a shame that Montana Braxton was sidelined today. Together they've been a great class who really accomplished some great things over their four years.
 
"Additionally, Sophie [Gatzounas] did well in the second half for us. Things weren't coming easy for her up to that point, but she stayed with it, made some good plays and got some tough rebounds. I was really happy with her in the second half."
 
For the game, Navy outshot American nominally, 38.9 percent (21-54) to 37.8 (17-45) from the field and 31.3 percent (5-16) to 27.8 (5-18) from three-point range. The key number in shooting categories was American going to the foul line 27 times and making 24 shots for a 88.9 percent clip. Navy was six-for-six from the charity stripe on Saturday.
 
In the battle on the glass, the Eagles out-rebounded the Mids, 35-26. Sophie Gatzounas (Jr., South Hadley, Mass.) and Ulasewicz each finished with six rebounds a piece. 
 
Defensively, Navy forced American into 19 turnovers and was credited with eight steals. Taylor (3), Jaunich (2) and Ulasewicz (2) all finished with multiple thefts.
 
Saturday's loss concludes Navy's season.