ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's basketball team collected its first win of the 2020-21 season on Sunday versus American University after taking the lead early in the second quarter and holding on for the next 29 minutes in the eventual 70-67 victory. The Mids (1-5, 1-1 PL, 1-1 PL South) received a career-best 25 points from junior Kolbi Green (Baltimore, Md.) as the team gave first-year head coach Tim Taylor his first collegiate victory. Playing their second game in as many days, Navy turned up the pressure defensively and forced American into 24 turnovers, while sinking 18 free throws, one day after only forcing 13 turnovers and going 4-14 from the charity stripe against the Eagles (1-3 PL, 1-1 PL South).
 
The lethal junior combination of Green and Jennifer Coleman (Richmond, Va.) was all over the place on Sunday as they almost never left the court and affected the game both offensively and defensively. Playing in 40 of 40 minutes, Green scored 25 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter, as well as adding two steals on defense, while her counterpart Coleman was on the court for 39 minutes and tallied 17 points, six rebounds, seven assists and a team-high three steals.
 
"I tell people I've been doing this a long time, honestly I'm more excited about this win for the kids," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "The adversity that they've been through; not being able to go home for such long stretches of time and with all of the COVID protocols that they have to deal with. Earlier this week was the first time we've had 10 healthy players at practice all year. We've been trying to control what we can control each day. I'm really excited for them. We still tried to make it a little too interesting for me at the end there today. It is nice to get that first win though.
 
"The difference in the game yesterday was rebounding and free throws and we flipped that today. We took some big charges at times. When we got to the foul line we made it count. Having Sophie, Jenn and Kolbi all back together gives us more options. We can run more plays and isolate more plays. Sophie didn't make a ton of shots today, but what she did do was loosen things up for other people and open up other driving lanes. We had four players who could score out there today; Lindsay [Llewellyn] can shoot it and Sophie, Jenn and Kolbi can all score it. That's a luxury that we haven't had before today. Teams normally can stop two or three options, but when you run out four options, that stretches them. We moved the basketball better today, we forced American to move instead of playing strong side, as they did very well yesterday."

After watching American run out to a 6-0 lead in the first 1:25, Taylor called a speedy timeout and saw his team make immediate adjustments, especially Coleman who responded with a three-pointer on the Mids' first possession and a slick assist to Ciera Hertelendy (Jr., Inwood, W.Va.) in the post to make it a 6-5 game by the 7:56 mark. Coleman continued being an early catalyst for the Mids as the team's next basket came when she found Green on the wing for a wide-open three-pointer. She kept up her breakneck pace on offense with a driving layup the next time down the court to make it 10-10 at 5:27. The Eagles briefly broke away with a 6-2 run to go up 16-12. Sydne Watts (Fr., Canton, Ga.) single-handly brought the Mids even again with four straight points, including an and-one conversion and another solo free throw. American's only point in the final 3:37 of the quarter was a Karla Vres free throw with 45 seconds left.
 
Coming out of the first quarter intermission with the score 17-16 in American's favor, Navy came out locked in as the hosts forced a shot clock violation on defense before turning around and getting a layup from Sophie Gatzounas (Sr., South Hadley, Mass.) at the end of the possession to give the Mids their first lead of the game (they would hold onto this lead for the next 29 minutes). A layup by Coleman next time down the court made it 20-17. Navy continued this fast start to the stanza on both ends of the court as the Mids registered six straight points to build their lead out to seven, 26-19 at 6:28. Both teams' defense started controlling the next four minutes as American scored the only three points, an and-one conversion by Jade Edwards. Coleman broke Navy's scoring drought at 2:34 when she went 1-2 at the foul line. With the scoreboard showing 27-22, the Eagles finished the first half with four of the final six points to make it 29-26.
 
Leading by three to start the second half, Navy opened the third quarter with an explosive 7-0 run over the first 2:26 to go up 36-26. After the teams exchanged baskets over the next two possessions to advance the score to 38-28, American responded with nine unanswered points to tighten it to one point, 38-37. The back-and-forth action continued as the Mids scored seven of the next nine points over a 1:31 span before the Eagles scored nine of the ensuing 13 points from 3:25 to 0:38 as the ledger showed Navy ahead 49-48. The score at the close of the third quarter was 51-49 for Navy. In their 22-point quarter, six different Mids scored with Coleman and Green each netting six each.
 
The fourth quarter opened with a rush of offense coming from Green as the junior guard sank three straight baskets on consecutive possessions, a three-pointer and a pair of layups to make it 58-49 at 7:49. Green continued her dynamic stretch of play with another jumper a little less than two minutes later. Coleman helped put the Mids up by 11 at 5:38, 62-51 with a steal and fast-break layup. This was the beginning of Navy reigniting its defensive pressure as over the next three minutes the Mids forced two more turnovers and held the Eagles without a successful field goal attempt until Emily Johns scored on an offensive rebound and putback at 2:29. With the score 65-55, Navy closed out its first Patriot League victory of the season with five combined made free throws in the final 95 seconds. In total, Green scored 14 of the Mids' 19 points in the fourth quarter.
 
In the Mids' 70-67 win, the hosts were outshot from the field 50 percent (24-48) to 38 percent (24-63). The Eagles also held a slight advantage in three-point shooting, 29 percent (4-14) to 25 percent (4-16). Navy had a strong showing at the foul line as the team converted 75 percent of their attempts (18-24) versus 68 percent for American (15-22).
 
The rebounding battle was nearly even as the Eagles edged the Mids, 37-35, though Navy held a 14-8 margin in offensive boards. Navy received a well-rounded effort on the glass as Gatzounas led with eight rebounds, but was closely backed up with six caroms from each of Coleman, Hertelendy and Lindsay Llewellyn (So., North East, Md.).
 
One of the most telling statistical breakdowns from Sunday was the Mids forcing the Eagles into 24 turnovers and tallying 10 steals. 13 of those miscues occurred in the second half, including nine in the fourth quarter. Gatzounas and Coleman each recorded three steals in the contest.
 
"We did a lot of really good things today; we looked like a really good basketball team," exclaimed Taylor. "We were getting up and down in transition and reading things really well, but we can definitely get better and have a lot of different areas that we can improve upon. We need to continue to improve and put in the hard work. This is a gritty, resilient group and they're laying the foundation for future success."
 
Navy will now turn its attention to its service academy rival Army. The Mids and Black Knights are set for a two-game series at West Point next weekend. Tip-off for both games at Christl Arena is scheduled for 1 p.m.