ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Playing its first game following a 17-day winter break, the Navy women's basketball team was hamstrung by a slow first quarter on Wednesday in a 63-53 loss to Holy Cross at Alumni Hall. After trailing 22-10 following the first period, the Mids (3-8, 0-1 PL) outscored the Crusaders (7-5, 1-0 PL) by a 43-41 margin in the Patriot League opener for both squads.
 
Jennifer Coleman (Sr., Richmond, Va.) spearheaded Navy's offensive attack on Wednesday as she registered a game-high 25 points to go along with seven rebounds, three assists and three steals over 37 minutes of action. Lindsay Llewellyn (North East, Md.) was a strong second contributor for the Mids as the junior wing matched her career-high with 14 points on a six-of-seven shooting performance.
 
"We looked really flat coming out to start the game," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "We had a couple people that hadn't practiced in a few days so we could have expected some of that. I'm just disappointed in some of the miscommunications that we had out there. You have got to give Holy Cross credit, they had players step up and make open shots. We missed a lot of opportunities on both ends of the court today. I don't know about the layoff, I don't like making excuses, but we just have to play better.
 
"Lindsay's efficiency today was outstanding, six-of-seven and two-of-three from three, that's great. We need her to be in that 14-to-20-point range every game. She has that ability; we just need her to find that consistency. She had a great game today; can she repeat that and be that consistent scorer that we need? I think the biggest problem we have is finding a third scorer. Every time that we've been successful, we've had three or four players with eight or more points. It can't just be Lindsay and Jenn, we need a whole team effort. I felt that we were a little unaggressive early and then when looked for and got those open shots, we just didn't make them. As a team, we're just not consistent enough at this point in the season."
 
The action on Wednesday began with a significant Holy Cross feel to it as the visiting Crusaders scored 11 of the first 14 points over the opening 5:10 of the first quarter. The Mids were held back by five turnovers and a one-for-four showing from the field. Successful field goal attempts by Sydne Watts (So., Canton, Ga.) and Llewellyn helped Navy draw within seven points at 14-7 by the 3:36 mark. The Mids' troubles on both ends of the court continued down the stretch in the first with three more turnovers and only three points on offense, while the Crusaders tallied eight more points to take a 22-10 lead into the first quarter break.
 
The second period opened with an extended scoring drought for both teams as Holy Cross scored the only basket of the initial 3:50 of play. Darryl Langford (Sr., Fayetteville, Ga.) got Navy on the board first in the second quarter with a lengthy jumper at 5:43 off of a Coleman assist. This kickstarted a 6-0 run for the Mids over the next 3:20 to cut their deficit to 26-16. On the strength of a layup and 'and-one' conversion by Coleman with 31 seconds remaining in the quarter, Holy Cross' lead fell into single digits at 30-21. Unfortunately for Navy it was unable to take that momentum into the locker room at halftime as Addisyn Cross hit a corner three-pointer with six seconds left.
 
Coming out in the second half down 33-21, the Mids were unable to string together a substantial run in the third quarter as every time they made it a single-digit contest, the Crusaders responded with a three-pointer within the next two possessions; at 35-26 and 44-35, respectively. Coleman and Llewellyn bolstered Navy's offensive effort in the third quarter as each player registered eight points. Llewellyn's statline was a crisp three-for-three from the field and two-for-two from three-point range. Once again, a three-pointer by Holy Cross in its final possession closed out the period, this time a Kelly Petro trey with 30 seconds to go. That made it a 52-39 contest through 30 minutes of action.
 
Trailing by 13, the Mids opened the fourth quarter on a 6-1 run over the first three minutes to draw within eight at 53-45. Watts, Coleman and Mimi Schrader (Jr., Plymouth, Minn.) all tallied field goals for Navy during this stretch of play. Less than two minutes later, the Mids made it a seven-point margin when Coleman battled for an offensive rebound and converted a physical putback. With the score 56-49 at 5:12, Navy was unable to get closer as it quickly became mired in a 4:08-scoreless streak going down to 1:04. The Mids' defense was up for the task and only allowed three points to the Crusaders so the score slowly edged up to 59-50. In her first action since Nov. 12 at Monmouth, Sam Schofield (So., Maumee, Ohio) netted Navy's final points as she sank a three-pointer with 40 seconds remaining.
 
In Holy Cross' 63-53 victory, the visiting Crusaders outshot the Mids from the field, 42.6 percent (23-54) to 38.5 (20-52); from three-point range, 34.8 percent (8-23) to 26.7 (4-15) and from the free throw line, 75.0 percent (9-12) to 69.2 (9-13).
 
Holy Cross held the edge in rebounding over Navy, 35-31, while both teams tallied 10 offensive rebounds. Coleman and Ciera Hertelendy (Sr., Inwood, W.Va.) led the Mids' effort as Coleman grabbed seven rebounds with Hertelendy adding six boards.
 
Defensively, Navy forced Holy Cross into 14 turnovers and were credited with five steals. Coleman was the leader in that category, as well with three steals.
 
Navy is scheduled to be back in action on Sunday at Boston University. The league contest is slated for a 2 p.m. tip-off in Boston.