ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy women's basketball team will conclude the non-conference portion of its 2021-22 schedule on Sunday with a road matchup at Rider University. After dropping a close and competitive five-point decision at Maryland Eastern Shore last Sunday, the Mids (2-7) will look to go into their holiday break with a win as they aim to knock off the Broncs (2-6) in Lawrenceville at Alumni Gymnasium. Sunday will be the final time that Navy steps on the hardcourt before beginning Patriot League action on Dec. 29 versus Holy Cross in Annapolis. The action between Navy and Rider is set for for a 2 p.m. tip-off with live streaming available through ESPN3.

Scouting the Competition
Rider
The Broncs come into Sunday's game with a 2-6 record ... After a tough start to their 2021-22 season, in which the Broncs lost their first five games, the team has won two of its past three games, including wins over NJIT (Dec. 1, 64-59) and at Army (Dec. 4, 59-57) ... Most recently, Rider dropped a 62-58 decision at Wagner on Tuesday, Dec. 7. A 25-point fourth quarter helped the Broncs close their final deficit to just four points. A trio of Broncs tallied double figures led by Lenaejha Evans, who went for 23 points over 36 minutes of action ... Rider has played a pair of Patriot League squads in its non-conference schedule as they fell on the road at Lehigh, 69-44 on Nov. 27 and won by two at Army on Dec. 4, 59-57 ... In the 2021-22 MAAC preseason poll, Rider was picked to finish fifth in the 11-team conference. Of note in that same announcement, Makayla Firebaugh and Raphaela Toussaint were voted to the All-MAAC Preseason Second and Third Teams, respectively.

Navy vs. Rider
The Mids and Broncs have met five times in women's basketball action in a series that begin on Nov. 18, 2007 ... That matchup at Alumni Hall in Annapolis ended with a 10-point victory for Navy, 68-58 ... All-time, Navy is 5-0 versus Rider with three of the five games being decided by 10 points or less, including both contests at Rider's Alumni Gymnasium, Dec. 19, 2008 (71-64) and Dec. 2, 2018 (66-60) ... All-time versus Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) opponents, Navy is 20-16 in 36 previous meetings. Saint Peter's is Navy's most common foe, playing seven times. Against teams from the MAAC, Navy is ... 4-3 vs. Saint Peter's, 5-0 vs. Rider, 3-2 vs. Iona, 2-3 vs. Monmouth, 3-1 vs. Siena, 2-2 vs. Marist, 1-1 vs. Niagara, 0-2 vs. Fairfield and 0-1 against Canisius and Manhattan ... During the non-conference portion of the Mids' 2021-22 season, Navy has lost to Monmouth (Nov. 12, 57-46) and Fairfield (Nov. 23, 76-52).
    All-time Matchups:
    Dec. 2, 2018 (Lawrenceville): Navy 66 - Rider 60
    Nov. 12, 2017 (Annapolis): Navy 63 - Rider 44
    Nov. 30, 2013 (Annapolis): Navy 75 - Rider 64 (Navy Classic Tournament)
    Dec. 19, 2008 (Lawrenceville): Navy 71 - Rider 64
    Nov. 18, 2007 (Annapolis): Navy 68 - Rider 58   

Most Recent Matchup ~ December 2, 2018 at Rider
The Navy women's basketball team overcame a cold-shooting first half to collect a six-point win on the road at Rider University on Sunday. Playing its first contest as part of a four-game road trip, the Mids (3-3) scored 45 points after halftime to knock off the Broncs (3-5) in their home arena, Alumni Gymnasium. Navy's effort was buoyed by double-doubles from Jennifer Coleman and Sophie Gatzounas ('21). Reaching the 20-point plateau for the third time in four games, Coleman led the Mids with game-high marks of 23 points, 14 rebounds and five steals. After a slow start, Coleman netted 19 points in the second half as Navy grew its lead to as much as 14 points. Gatzounas aided the Mids' performance with 12 points and 13 rebounds of her own. Bianca Roach ('19) gave Navy three players in double figures as she scored 10 points, including five successful free throws.

With the score 10-9 at the end of the first quarter, three straight made three-pointers spotted the host Broncs a 19-13 lead a little over two minutes into the second quarter. Laurel Jaunich ('20) kept the Mids in the game with a pair of jumpers during that span of play. Trailing by six, Navy shutout Rider for the final 7:47 of the period. While their defense was revving in high gear, the Mids' offense slowly scratched away at its deficit and netted four baskets over that stretch to take a 21-19 lead. Roach put Navy ahead at the 1:27 mark of the second quarter. As part of the scoreless streak, the Mids' defense forced 10 straight misses by the Broncs, including five from three-point range.
 
At halftime, Navy was outshooting Rider 29.4 percent (10-34) to 24.2 (8-33), though the Broncs held an advantage in made three-pointers, 3-0. 
 
Coming out of the locker room with an added sense of urgency, the Mids immediately rattled off nine unanswered points over a stretch of 1:23 to force the Broncs into a quick timeout. A free throw by Rider's Stella Johnson at 8:22 capped the Broncs' drought at 17-0 over a 9:25 run of play and made it 30-20 in favor of Navy. The Mids continued holding its lead in the eight-to-12 point margin over the majority of the third quarter. After starting the game 2-9 individually, Coleman found her stroke in the third and made five of seven field goal attempts. With the score 43-31 with 2:04 remaining, Rider ran off a 7-0 streak to cut it to 43-38 before Coleman beat the buzzer with a three-pointer. That trey was the 11th point of the quarter for the freshman from Richmond.
 
Starting off the fourth quarter with an eight-point lead, 46-38, the Mids slowly increased its advantage out to a game-high 14 points by the 5:55 mark of the fourth quarter. A layup by Jaunich gave Navy that 56-42 lead. Continuing to hold a double-digit advantage, a late run of play between 2:01 and 0:08 saw Rider shave eight points off a 12-point deficit to make it 64-60. A pair of made free throws by Coleman with less than six seconds left closed out the contest with the final score of 66-60. 

For the game, Navy outshot Rider, 40.7 (27-67) percent to 35.5 (22-62). Neither team had much success from three-point range as the Broncs edged the Mids, 19.2 (5-26) percent to 16.7 (2-12). Rider shot 78.6 (11-14) percent from the foul versus a 50.0 (10-20) percent mark for Navy. Navy's stout brand of defense was showcased again on Sunday as the Mids forced the Broncs into 18 turnovers, the fifth game in 2018-19 with 16 or more turnovers. Coleman and Roach led the team in steals with eight combined thefts, five for Coleman and three for the senior team captain.

Comparing the Teams

(2021-22 Stats)	Navy	Rider
Record / League-Only	2-7	2-6
Home /Away/Neut. Record	2-5 / 0-2	1-1 / 1-4
Points Per Game	55.3 PPG	59.3 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	64.4 PPG	66.8 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	34.2 %	38.4 %
3-Point Percentage	27.3 %	23.7 %
Free Throw Percentage	65.5 %	75.4 %
Rebounds Per Game	37.2 RPG	30.1 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	11.2 / 16.2	11.6 / 16.4

Individual Leaders

(2021-22 Stats)	Navy	Rider
Points Per Game	Coleman, 23.3 ppg	L. Evans, 15.3 ppg
Rebounds Per Game	Coleman, 10.2 rpg	R. Toussaint, 8.1 rpg
Assists Per Game	Coleman, 4.6 apg	A. Mobley, 3.8 apg
Field Goal Percentage	Coleman, 43.9 %	L. Evans, 53.6 %
3-Point Percentage	Coleman, 46.9 %	M. Firebaugh, 27.3 %
Free Throw Percentage	Coleman, 79.2 %	L. Evans, 82.9 %

Last Time Out, Sunday at Maryland Eastern Shore
Playing its first road game in three-plus weeks, the Navy women's basketball team put forth a hard-fought effort on Sunday in a tight defeat to Maryland Eastern Shore. Trailing by two points with less than a minute to play, the Mids (2-7) were unable to pull ahead of the host Hawks (4-4), who went 3-4 from the foul line down the stretch at Hytche Arena to earn the 66-61 victory.
 
Jennifer Coleman was everywhere for Navy on Sunday as she tied her career-high with 30 points on 9-19 shooting from the field, 4-5 from three-point range and 8-10 at the foul line. Additionally, she tied her season-high with 14 rebounds and grabbed a season-best seven steals on defense over 38 minutes of action. Starting for the first time this season, Lindsay Llewellyn was the second-highest scorer for Navy with 13 points on three successful three-pointers. Kristina Donza also hit a trio of three-pointers off the bench for the Mids on Sunday.

The action on Sunday began with an up-and-down first quarter, in which both teams went through lengthy scoring droughts. At the end of the first 10-minute period, Eastern Shore was up 12-9. Invigorated by the last three minutes of the first quarter, Coleman continued her efficient scoring pace as she netted five points in Navy's first two possessions to make it a 15-14 score in favor of Eastern Shore. The teams traded baskets over the next two-plus minutes before the Mids pushed ahead for the first time on Sunday with a Coleman jumper at 5:24. Trailing 20-19, the Hawks scored the next 10 of the next 14 points to re-take the lead 29-24 with 2:08 left in the half. Coleman rounded out her 12-point individual quarter with five points over a two-possession stretch to even the score at 29-29 with 1:14 left. A late free throw conversion by Savanna Lewis gave Navy the 30-29 lead heading into halftime.
 
Maryland Eastern Shore opened the second half quickly and made three of its first four shots to jump back into the lead 36-30 by the 8:26 mark of the third quarter. After the Hawks added three more points to increase it's initial run to 10-0, Coleman got Navy back in the scoring column with an offensive rebound and put-back to make it 39-32 at 6:55. Eastern Shore got right back to adding to its lead as it netted five more unanswered points to go up a game-high 12 points. From that point at 5:36, Navy strung together a 12-3 run to draw within three points at 47-44 at 1:02. Three-pointers by Coleman, Llewellyn and Donza highlighted this streak. One free throw by the Hawks with 23 seconds left in the quarter completed the scoring at 48-44.
 
The three-point shot continued falling for the Mids in the early part of the fourth quarter as Donza hit her second trey in as many quarters in Navy's second possession. Less than a minute later at 8:27, Mimi Schrader tied the game at 50-50 as she sank a pull-up jumper. The Mids were unable to re-take the lead as the momentum swung back to the Hawks as the Hawks netted 10 of the next 13 points. Behind 60-53 at 4:19, Coleman found the bottom of the net for her fourth three-pointer of the game. The contest stayed at a four-point margin until Llewellyn went 2-2 at the foul line with 1:22 remaining in regulation to make it a 61-59 score. After a pair of Eastern Shore free throws, Llewellyn cut Navy's deficit back to two points, 63-61 with 56 second left. Unfortunately for the visitors from Annapolis, the Hawks tallied the final three points of the game to lock up the 66-61 non-conference victory.

For the game, Maryland Eastern Shore outshot Navy, 45.3 percent (24-53) to 29.2 (19-65) from the field, though the Mids outshot the Hawks from three-point range, 32.3 percent (10-31) to 28.6 (4-14) and at the foul line, 65.0 percent (13-20) to 53.8 (14-26). The 10 made three-pointers tied the team's season-high that was initially set against Georgetown on Nov. 9.