WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Navy women's basketball team built off the momentum of their first win of the 2020-21 season last Sunday over American with an emphatic 63-49 victory over service academy rival Army on the road Saturday afternoon at Christl Arena. Trailing 14-12 after the first quarter, the Mids (2-5, 2-1 PL, 1-1 PL South) turned in a dominant run of play over the second and third quarters as the visitors outscored the Black Knights (5-7, 2-5 PL, 2-4 PL North) by 20 points. While Navy's offense was clicking, its defense was just as stout during this run as Army shot just 18 percent (6-33) from the field over the second and third quarters.
 
Jennifer Coleman's (Jr., Richmond, Va.) game was clicking in all facets on Saturday as she registered game-highs in points with 21, rebounds with 14 and steals with four. She rounded out her line score with three assists and a blocked shot over 35 minutes of action. Sophie Gatzounas (Sr., South Hadley, Mass.) provided strong assistance to Coleman's effort as she scored 16 points on 7-12 shooting from the field, with four rebounds and three assists.
 
"We're definitely happy to get this road win today," exclaimed head coach Tim Taylor. "It is tough to win period, but to win on the road at your biggest rival is a great win. I thought we did an outstanding job defensively in contesting shots for the majority of the game. Army is such a hard team to defend especially how they space and cut.
 
"Jenn Coleman was pretty special today. She played under control and set the tempo from the beginning of the game. We also executed our offense and hit some clutch threes. When we can get threes from five different players it helps us space the floor for driving lanes."
 
The game opened evenly as the teams were separated by just one point through five minutes as an early 4-0 lead by Navy was overcome by Army at 5:17 when Kate Murray converted a layup to make it 7-6. The host Black Knights eventually extended their lead out to four, 10-6. The Mids' captain Sophie Gatzounas single-handedly fought to even the score at 10-10 with layups on consecutive possessions, the second coming on a physical offensive rebound and put-back at 2:21. The back-and-forth action continued down the stretch in the first quarter as Army netted a pair of baskets with a Kolbi Green (Jr., Baltimore, Md.) jumper for Navy sandwiched in the middle.
 
Coming out in the second quarter down two points, 14-12, the Mids were unfazed and immediately tied the game up at 8:55 when Lindsay Llewellyn (So., North East, Md.) made a layup. On the ensuing possession, Navy re-took the lead for good as Green broke away for a fastbreak layup. Up 16-14 at 8:17, the Mids kept up their winning ways on both offense and defense as Ciera Hertelendy (Jr., Inwood, W.Va.) found her classmate Coleman in the corner for a three-pointer before Coleman went coast-to-coast with a rebound and layup at 6:14. Navy extended its unanswered run out to 12-0 in the second period when Gatzounas hit Green for a wide-open three-point basket on the wing. With the score 24-14, Army finally recorded its first points of the stanza at 3:41 with a Sam McNaughton jumper. That field goal broke a 6:58 scoreless streak for the Black Knights. From that point through the end of the quarter both teams tallied two points as the game went into the halftime intermission at 26-18. Defensively, Navy held Army to just four points on 11.1 percent (2-18) shooting.
 
Energized by their eight-point lead over their heated rival, the Mids started the third quarter on a quick 4-0 run as Gatzounas and Hertelendy were the beneficiaries of slick ball-movement as they sank wide-open shots to put Navy ahead by 12, 30-18 at 8:36. The Black Knights had a brief rebuttal to this run as the hosts made a layup and three-pointer on back-to-back possessions. With the score 30-23 at 6:34, Coleman pushed the Mids' lead back into double-digits with a three-pointer off another Gatzounas assist. The visitors would hold this cushion of ten-plus points for the rest of the game. Buoyed by its starting lineup for most of the contest the freshman duo of Kristina Donza (Jackson, N.J.) and Sydne Watts (Canton, Ga.) got the bench corps involved in the offensive fireworks as they connected for baskets on consecutive possessions, Donza a trey from the wing and Watts a layup following a Green offensive rebound. These baskets put Navy up 44-26 with just under-four minutes remaining in the third quarter. The stanza concluded with that same 18-point margin with both squads adding three points for their line.
 
Ahead 47-29 through three quarters, the result was in little doubt as the Mids opened the final period on an 11-3 run to go up 26 by the 6:24 mark. Coleman (6) and Gatzounas (5) recorded all of the points for Navy during this initial run. The Black Knights made the final score slightly closer as they posted 17 of the final 22 points to make it 63-49.
 
For the game, Navy outshot Army from the field, 42.3 percent (22-52) to 27.7 (18-65), as well as from three-point range, 42.9 percent (6-14) to 25.0 (6-24). The Black Knights shot a perfect 7-7 from the foul line, though the Mids found success at a 76.5 percent (13-17) rate. Of note, Coleman made a career-best nine free throws as she shot 90.0 percent (9-10) from the foul line on Saturday.
 
In the battle on the glass, Navy out-rebounded Army, 42-37, though the Black Knights held a 15-10 advantage in offensive rebounds. Coleman gathered a season-high 14 caroms, while she was aided by Hertelendy, who tied her career-high with nine rebounds.
 
Defensively, the Mids forced the Black Knights into 10 turnovers on four steals, all coming from Coleman. Navy's defense also accounted for four block shots, including two by Watts.
 
"As pleased as we are with today's result, we have so many areas we can improve upon and grow as a team," remarked Taylor. "We will have to give an even better effort tomorrow as we know Army will bring their A game."
 
The second leg of this weekend's Army-Navy women's basketball series is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Black Knights' Christl Arena.