ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Navy's daunting stretch of six of its first seven Patriot League games against teams in the top-five of the women's basketball standings continues on Wednesday when the Mids head to Pennsylvania for a mid-week tilt against the Lehigh Mountain Hawks. The reigning conference champions and the preseason favorite in 2021-22, the Mountain Hawks (11-5, 3-2 PL) are currently tied for fourth in the Patriot League. The Mids (5-11, 2-4 PL) are coming into Wednesday night's action on a two-game road winning streak after knocking off Bucknell and Colgate in road contests over the past two weeks. Navy saw the duo of Jennifer Coleman and Sydne Watts break out in its previous game at home against Boston University on Saturday as the pair netted 52 of the Mids' 63 total points. The action on Wednesday is scheduled to tip off at 6 p.m. at Lehigh's Stabler Arena.

Navy vs. Lehigh
The Mids and Mountain Hawks have met 65 times in a series that began on December 8, 1981 ... All-time, Navy leads Lehigh, 33-32 ... The tight series is also split near evenly amongst venues as the Mountain Hawks are 18-15 at home versus an 18-14 mark for the Mdis in Annapolis ... Since the Mids joined the Patriot League in 1991-92, the series is slanted in Lehigh's favor, 31-30 ... Over the last ten matchups, Lehigh has a slight 6-4 edge over Navy, with the Mountain Hawks sweeping the two most recent season series in 2019 and 2020 ... Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the two programs didn't meet during the 2021 portion of the Patriot League season.
    Last 5 Games
    Jan. 15, 2020 (H): Lehigh 60 - Navy 53
    Jan. 2, 2020 (A): Lehigh 70 - Navy 40
    Feb. 2, 2019 (A): Lehigh 66 - Navy 55
    Jan. 6, 2019 (H): Lehigh 56 - Navy 38
    Jan. 27, 2018 (H): Navy 53 - Lehigh 50

Most Recent Navy-Lehigh Matchup ~ January 15, 2020 in Annapolis
Navy turned in its most complete Patriot League game of the season on Jan. 15 when it hosted the Lehigh Mountain Hawks at Alumni Hall. 13 days after dropping a 70-40 contest versus the Mountain Hawks on the road, the Mids came out with a hard-nosed attitude and an effort that had the hosts ahead going into the fourth quarter before Lehigh overtook them late for a 60-53 victory. In an extremely competitive game neither team held a lead of more than five points until Lehigh went to the foul line a handful of times in the final minute of play.

Navy's senior trio of Morgan Taylor ('20), Mary Kate Ulasewicz ('20.) and Montana Braxton ('20) was at the forefront of Navy's performance on Wednesday night as they combined for 39 points and 14 rebounds. Taylor led the way with a season-high 19 points on 8-13 shooting. Additionally, she had five rebounds and three assists in 36 minutes of action. Ulasewicz also reached double figures with 11 points, six rebounds and six assists. Braxton rounded out the Class of 2020's night with a career-high nine points.

The game opened extremely even as the teams played out the first quarter to a 14-14 score. The back-and-forth one-possession action carried over into the second quarter. Lehigh took the game's first four-point lead at 5:20 when Megan Walker hit a jumper. The Mids didn't let the scoreboard stay 20-16 for long as Taylor came right down the court on the ensuing possession with a jumper in the paint. After a Camryn Buhr three-pointer at 4:45 made it a 23-18 game, Navy shutout Lehigh the rest of the half. Energized by its defense holding the Mountain Hawks to an 0-4 shooting performance and forcing four turnovers, the Mids closed out the second quarter on a 9-0 streak. Mimi Schrader ('23) sparked this run with a banked in three-pointer at 2:51. Braxton tied it at 23-23 with a jumper from the foul line before Taylor went back-to-bank with layups at 1:34 and 1:15; the second coming off of an intercepted pass and fast break basket.

Beginning the second half with the score 27-23 in favor of the Mids, the Mountain Hawks registered the first four points to knot the game by the 7:36 mark. The teams rotated made baskets for next two-plus minutes with each club adding five points to their total. Tied 32-32 at 5:02, Navy began a 7-2 run over the next 3:30 of play to obtain its largest lead of the game, 39-34. Ulasewicz put the exclamation point on this span of action with a three-pointer from the top of the arch with the shot clock flashing less than three seconds. A pair of Lehigh treys in the final 1:20 of the period helped the visitors close its deficit to just one point by the expiration of the third quarter.

The fourth quarter opened with Navy holding a slim one-point lead, 41-40. Similar to the third period Lehigh started with a short run of unanswered points, this time to the tune of a 6-0 stretch over 2:06. Trailing 46-41, Taylor came through again for the Mids with a three-pointer at 7:12. Navy's comeback attempt continued when Braxton found a streaking Ciera Hertelendy ('22) for a fast break layup at 6:09 to make it 47-46 Lehigh. That was as close as it would get for the Mids as the Mountain Hawks immediately answered this threat with a 5-0 run. With the clock ticking under four minutes, Navy's final push saw the host team receive four unanswered points from the duo of Braxton and Taylor to tighten the game to two points, 52-50 at 2:30. Lehigh slowly rebuilt its lead out to a game-high seven-point cushion with 42 seconds remaining. Braxton cut it to a four-point contest with her first career three-point basket, but unfortunately Navy was unable to hit either of their final two shots and Lehigh went 3-4 from the foul line to conclude the game with a 60-53 score.

For the game, Navy outshot Lehigh, 43.4 percent (23-53) to 38.5 (20-52), though the Mountain Hawks held advantages in both three-point 32.0 percent (8-25) to 22.7 (5-22) and foul shooting 75.0 (12-16) to 66.7 (2-3). Navy won the rebounding battle with 37 boards versus 28 for Lehigh. Llewellyn gathered a career-high seven caroms. She was one of four Mids with five or more rebounds on the night.

Comparing the Teams

(2021-22 Stats)	Navy	Lehigh
Record / League-Only	5-11 / 2-4 PL	11-5 / 3-2 PL
Home /Away/Neut. Record	2-8 / 3-3	8-2 / 3-3
Points Per Game	56.9 PPG	71.9 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	64.3 PPG	60.9 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	36.4 %	41.6 %
3-Point Percentage	28.4 %	33.2 %
Free Throw Percentage	65.8 %	78.0 %
Rebounds Per Game	36.7 RPG	38.9 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	10.9 / 15.4	16.2 / 14.6

Individual Leaders

(2021-22 Stats)	Navy	Lehigh
Points Per Game	Coleman, 23.5 ppg	M. Kramer, 15.5 ppg
Rebounds Per Game	Coleman, 10.6 rpg	E. Grothaus, 8.9 rpg
Assists Per Game	Coleman, 4.6 apg	C. Steele, 5.2 apg
Field Goal Percentage	Coleman, 43.1 %	E. Grothaus, 46.6 %
3-Point Percentage	Coleman, 43.5 %	M. Kramer, 41.3 %
Free Throw Percentage	Coleman, 73.3 %	F. Hottinger, 87.5 %

Last Time Out: Navy vs. Boston University, Saturday, January 15
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 eventually fell to the Terriers 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 and Sydne Watts 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.

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 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 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 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.