ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Tasked with taking on the Patriot League-leading Boston University Terriers for the second time in 13 days, the Navy women's basketball team re-grouped from an earlier loss to the Terriers and put forth a hard-fought 40-minute effort on Saturday afternoon in front of their home fans at Alumni Hall. Leading at the half and down by just three points after three quarters of play, the Mids (5-11, 2-4 PL) eventually fell to the Terriers (9-7, 5-0 PL) by a score of 74-63. Shooting nearly 50 percent from the field through the third quarter, Navy was overpowered by Boston down the stretch as the Terriers outscored the Mids, 19-11 in the final period.
 
A pair of sterling career-high performances from Jennifer Coleman (Sr., Richmond, Va.) and Sydne Watts (So., Canton, Ga.) led Navy on Saturday as Coleman netted a career-best 32 points and tied a career-high with 16 rebounds, while Watts reached the 20-point scoring plateau for the first time in her young career as she went nine-for-17 from the field with two three-pointers on her way to 20 points. She added six rebounds to her individual statline versus Boston. Both Coleman and Watts played every second of Saturday's contest.
 
"I'm very pleased with today's performance," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "I thought our kids competed and played really hard. I thought we executed most of our game plan and were able to get some easy shots. It's hard to beat a team when they're making three-pointers like that. They [BU] average five a game and then come out and hit 12 today. We were hitting baskets, but we just couldn't match them at the end. That was a one-to-two possession game deep into the fourth quarter and we just had to stretch our defense and trap them more so they got some easy baskets, the final score isn't indicative of how close of a game it actually was. They're so balanced; that is what makes them such a good basketball team.  
 
"Jenn was in such a good flow today. She was extremely patient with her decision-making. She was making smart passes and when she was driving to the basket she was under control and wasn't throwing up wild shots. She was under control the entire game it was really fun to watch. Sydne is starting to find that consistency and confidence. She's been in double figures three of her past four games. I also thought Ciera had a really good game passing the ball and competing. She was where we needed her to be and she was making the correct choices."
 
Coming off an 82-58 loss to Boston the first time these two teams met, Navy was locked in from the start and jumped out to a 12-9 lead over the first four-plus minutes of action. Coleman and Watts sparked this early run of play as Coleman had six points, while Watts added four. Working from the high post, Ciera Hertelendy (Sr., Inwood, W.Va.) was a leading facilitator during this stretch as she had three assists on the Mids' first four baskets. From the point of the first quarter at 5:42, Boston University flexed its muscle and closed the period on a 13-0 run.
 
With the score 22-12 to start the second quarter both teams started slowly as each only added four points to their side of the ledger over the first six minutes of action. Down 26-16 at 3:50, Navy caught fire from three-point range as the Mids shot four-of-five from beyond the arc to race back into the game. The combination of Watts and Coleman netted the first two three-pointers to make it a four-point game of 26-22 by the 3:04 mark before Watts answered a Boston field goal on the next possession with her second successful trey in a row to draw Navy within three points, 28-25. A solo 4-0 run by Coleman on consecutive trips down the court flipped the score back in the Mids' favor with 46 seconds left to play in the stanza. Lindsay Llewellyn (Jr., North East, Md.) put the finishing touches on this 18-5 streak with a corner three-pointer as time expired for the half. Overall, Navy outscored Boston, 20-9 in the second quarter to take a 32-31 lead into the locker room.
 
Ahead by one after 20 minutes of play, the Mids immediately extended their lead out to three within the first minute of the second half when Kristina Donza (So., Jackson, N.J.) drove the lane and dropped in a layup. After the Terriers swung the lead back in their favor on a brief 5-0 run, Coleman answered with a steal on defense and a fast break pull-up three-pointer on the other end of the court. With the score, 37-36 for Navy at 7:32, the game continued at its basket-for-basket pace for the majority of the quarter as no team made more than two unanswered field goals in a row. Coleman was the engine of the Mids' offense in the third quarter as she scored 14 of the team's 20 points on six-of-eight shooting. Concluding on Coleman's sixth make of the period, the action wrapped up with Boston in the lead by a 55-52 score at the end of three quarters.
 
Navy stayed within that two-possession range for the first 3:30 of the fourth quarter. Down 60-54, the Mids ran into a dry spell, scoring just two points over the next three-plus minutes, while the Terriers were ramping up their dangerous offense, including a pair of three-pointers on back-to-back trips. Trailing 68-56, Navy continued fighting and was able to get its deficit down in single-digits (68-60) on a Coleman jumper in the paint at 1:44, but the combination of the Terriers' free throw shooting and ability to break the Mids' trapping defense resulted in the final score of 74-63.
 
For the game, Boston outshot Navy, 44.3 percent (27-61) to 40.9 (27-66) from the field. Although both teams shot 35.3 percent from three-point range, the Terriers made twice as many treys as the Mids as the visitors went 12-34 from distance versus 6-17 for the hosts. Navy shot 100.0 percent (3-3) from the foul line, while Boston shot 61.5 percent (8-13).
 
In the battle on the glass, both squads mirrored each other with 38 rebounds, though the Mids had the 11-10 edge in offensive rebounds, while the Terriers gathered one more defensive rebound, 28-27. Coleman tied her career-high with 16 caroms. Her 12 defensive rebounds are tied for the 11th-most ever in a game by a Midshipmen. Ironically, her 32-point scoring output is also tied for 11th all-time in the single game record books for the program.
 
Navy's ball-handling was sharp on Saturday as they finished with a 14-to-12 assist-to-turnover ratio. Spearheaded by her fast start, Hertelendy led the Mids with five assists. Coleman was second on the team with four helpers.

"We're getting better," said Taylor in closing. "This game was a measuring stick. We have to build on today's game. BU is a really, really good basketball team and we went toe-to-toe with them. If we keep growing and people continuing to contribute we're going to be alright moving forward."
 
Navy will continue Patriot League play on Wednesday with a mid-week road tilt at Lehigh University. Tip-off between the Mids and Mountain Hawks is slated for 6 p.m. in Bethlehem, Pa.