ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's basketball team concluded its six-game homestand on Thursday night with a 71-50 loss to Morgan State at Alumni Hall. After dropping a nail-biter last year in Baltimore to the Bears (4-4) by four-points, the Mids (2-6) were unable to get their offense going throughout most of the action on Thursday and were held to just six made field goals and forced into 15 turnovers in the first half. Down by double-digits early in the second quarter, Morgan State's consistent pressure and physicality helped the road squad to the victory.
 
Jennifer Coleman (Sr., Richmond, Va.) led Navy with 23 points and nine rebounds over 39 minutes of action. Mimi Schrader (Jr., Plymouth, Minn.) and Sydne Watts (So., Canton, Ga.) were second on the team with six points each.
 
"We weren't ready to play tonight," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "I thought we had two good days of practice leading up to this game. We didn't set the tone early. Morgan State did a really good job of disrupting what we were trying to do. They were tougher than we were and were more physical throughout. That's what is so frustrating to me. That's not who we are. This is the first game since I've been the coach here that I was really upset at halftime. I didn't feel like we were matching their toughness or their energy. That falls on me.
 
"We have to go back to the drawing board to figure out a way to match our opponent's physicality. Jenn's averaging 23 points a game so teams are going to start denying her a little bit more moving forward so other people are going to have to pick it up. We were making a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes tonight; their pressure made us speed up and not play our brand of basketball. I'm flat out disappointed in my team."
 
Morgan State set the tone early as the visitors netted the game's first seven points and held Navy off the scoreboard until the 5:25 mark. Trailing 7-0, the Mids received six straight points over the next 1:28 beginning with a driving layup by Lindsay Llewellyn (Jr., North East, Md.) and concluding with back-to-back pull-up jumpers by Watts. The momentum swung back in the Bears' direction over the next three-plus minutes with a 7-2 run. With the score 14-8 and just seconds left in the quarter, Schrader grabbed a long rebound and raced down the court for a fast break layup at 0:03 to send the game into the break at 14-10.
 
After shooting 26.3 percent (5-19) with six turnovers in the first quarter, Navy's offense was challenged further in the second period by a tenacious Morgan State defense. As the Bears increased their lead from four points to 12 over the first two minutes of the quarter, the Mids were unable to get on track as they turned the ball over five times before Watts notched the team's first field goal at 5:34. Unfazed by the basket, Morgan State continued clicking offensively and ran off another 8-0 run to charge ahead 30-12 at 2:00. Navy added five points over the final minutes of the quarter courtesy of free throws.
 
Coming out of the locker room down 34-17, the Mids did a better job with their ball-handling and shot-making in the second half as they cut their turnovers down from 15 to nine and increased their field goal percentage from 23 percent (6-26) to 38 percent (10-26), but the Bears never allowed them to get closer than 14. The two times Navy pulled within 14 points were on the first possession of the third quarter when Coleman converted an and-one situation and a little over a minute later when once again Coleman slashed to the hoop and sank a layup. Coleman and Savanna Lewis (Fr., Los Lunas, N.M.) led the Mids' scoring effort in the third quarter as the duo registered 13 of the team's 14 points on 6-8 shooting with Coleman going for nine and Lewis for four.
 
In the fourth quarter, Coleman spearheaded Navy's offense with eight points with Ciera Hertelendy (Sr., Inwood, W.Va.) seconding her effort with five points, all from the foul line. As a team, the Mids netted 19 points in the final quarter, while the Bears countered with 20 to round out the contest with a 21-point victory at 71-50.
 
For the game, Morgan State outshot Navy, 46.0 percent (29-63) to 30.8 (16-52) from the field and 27.3 percent (3-11) to 11.1 (1-9) from three-point range. Neither team had much success from the foul line as the Mids shot 65.4 percent (17-26) versus 62.5 (10-16) for the Bears.
 
In the rebounding battle, Morgan State grabbed three more caroms, 41-38. The Mids held a slight edge, 15-14 in offensive rebounds. Coleman led Navy with nine rebounds.
 
Defensively, Navy was credited with seven steals on Morgan State's 17 turnovers. Vice versa, the Bears tallied nine steals and forced the Mids into 24 turnovers.
 
"We going to take these next few weeks before Patriot League play starts to better ourselves individually and work on understanding the game of basketball a little better," said Taylor in closing. "We've got to raise our basketball IQ. We've had opportunities where players are open, but we're just not making the play; we're late on decision-making. I think that's what we need to get better at. We need our players to get more comfortable with the ball. Mimi and Jenn are having to do a lot of ball-handling so we need to find ways to get them off the ball more."
 
Navy will now head out on the road for the first of two consecutive games away from Alumni Hall. First up is a Sunday afternoon matinee at Maryland Eastern Shore. Tip-off between the Mids and Hawks is set for 2 p.m. at Hytche Arena in Princess Anne, Md.