HAMILTON, N.Y. – The Navy women's basketball team held on for a tightly contested three-point win on the road Wednesday over Colgate in a Kid's Day game. Tipping off at 11:00 a.m. at Cotterell Court on the campus of Colgate, the Mids (5-10, 2-3 PL) used efficient shooting all game to knock off the Raiders (2-14, 0-5 PL) on their home court. Navy shot 50.0 percent from the field in each of the first, third and fourth quarters, while knocking down 40.0 percent of its three-point attempts and 83.3 percent of its foul shots on its way to victory.
 
Jennifer Coleman (Sr., Richmond, Va.) and Mimi Schrader (Jr., Plymouth, Minn.) were at the forefront of the Mids' offensive effort on Wednesday as the duo combined for 41 points and six three-pointers. Coleman was the game's leading scorer as she notched her 10th double-double of the season with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Additionally, she tallied a game-high five assists and grabbed two steals. Schrader was nearly perfect from the court in 32 minutes of action off the bench as she posted a career-best 18 points on 5-6 shooting from the floor and a 4-5 mark from three-point range. She was also 4-5 from the foul line. Sydne Watts (So., Canton, Ga.) gave Navy three players in double-figures as she went for 12 points against Colgate. The Mids are now 3-0 in 2021-22 when at least three players reach double figures in scoring.
 
"Road wins and especially conference ones are really hard to come by," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "Our kids showed resiliency today and weathered every one of Colgate's run. Happy Birthday Mimi Schrader! What a performance from her today. She hit some really big time shots at crucial moments for us.
 
"I'm also really proud of the way Jenn and Sydne picked us up. We were a little shorthanded today without Imani and both of them played 40 minutes and made big plays. Jenn hit a couple of huge buckets in the second half. Also a big hats off to Ciera for gritting it out despite not being fully healthy. She made big plays defensively in the fourth quarter when we really needed it. I'm so proud of how she toughed it out for her teammates. Morganne Andrews is another player that needs to be mentioned as she gave us a lift on both ends of the floor today."  
 
The action on Wednesday morning opened evenly over the first four minutes before Colgate connected on back-to-back possessions to jump out to a five-point lead, 9-4 by the 5:28 mark. The host Raiders extended their advantage to six following a Jenna Paul three-pointer at 4:21. That lead was the largest of the game for Colgate before Schrader quickly vanquished Navy's deficit with an 'and-one' conversion and three-pointer on consecutive trips down the court between 3:41 and 3:13. Now tied at 12-12, the Mids scored eight of the final 12 points of the period to take a 20-16 lead into the quarter break. Coleman put an exclamation point on the proceedings with a buzzer-beating pull-up jumper with zeroes flashing on the scoreboard.
 
Riding that momentum, Navy continued to put space in-between itself and Colgate on the strength of an efficient start to the second quarter by Watts and Schrader. Over the first five minutes of action, the duo netted 10 points with Watts scoring the first four points for the Mids before Schrader went back-to-back with made three-pointers. Ahead 30-22 at 4:56, Coleman put Navy up 10 at 3:54 when she rolled off a screen and Morganne Andrews (So., Martinsburg, W.Va.) hit her in-stride for the easy uncontested layup. Colgate didn't take kindly to falling behind by double-digits in front of its home fans and promptly closed the half with a 7-0 run over the final 3:31 of action.
 
Similar to the momentum that Navy felt going from the first to second quarters, Colgate used its run at the end of the second to springboard its comeback attempt in the third quarter. Coming out of the locker room down 32-28, the Raiders raced out to a 40-37 lead by the 4:56 mark of play. Held to just five points over this stretch, Ciera Hertelendy (Sr., Inwood, W.Va.) netted four of those points for the Mids, including an offensive rebound and putback that led to a successful 'and-one' situation. Trailing by three points with less than five minutes to go in the quarter, Navy locked down Colgate defensively and allowed just six point the rest of the stanza, while clicking offensively to the tune of 14 points. Coleman took over this run of play with a pair of three-pointers and two free throws.
 
With the score, 51-46 in favor of the visiting Mids through 30 minutes of action, the Raiders swung the lead back to their side of the ledger with a 7-0 run to start the fourth quarter. Unfazed, Navy mirrored that early outpoint by Colgate with seven points of its own in the form of layups by Lindsay Llewellyn (Jr., North East, Md.), Coleman and another three-pointer from Schrader at 6:58. The game stayed at that five-point margin over the next five-plus minutes as each squad recorded six points. Following Watts' layup at 1:41 that made it 64-59, the Mids withstood a final push by the Raiders and held the hosts to just one made field goal on five attempts, including three looks at a game-tying three-pointer with less than 10 seconds to go in the game. A late free throw by Schrader wrapped up the scoring on Wednesday with Navy victorious by a count of 65-62.
 
Navy outshot Colgate, 47.8 percent (22-46) to 41.1 (23-56) in field goal shooting and 40.0 (6-15) to 21.1 (4-19) in three-point shooting. Both teams shot well from the foul line with the Raiders holding a slight 85.7 percent (12-14) to 83.3 (15-18) edge in free throw marksmenship.
 
In the rebounding battle, bolstered by Coleman's game-high 10 boards, the Mids finished with six more rebounds than the Raiders, 33 to 27. Watts and Hertelendy were also strong on the glass for Navy as Watts grabbed seven rebounds, while Hertelendy got six over 18 minutes of action.
 
The Mids' defense forced the Raiders into 13 turnovers and were credited with four steals, including two by Coleman.
 
Navy will continue its Patriot League schedule this Saturday with a 1 p.m. matchup with Boston University in Annapolis.