ANNAPOLIS, Md. – One game after grinding out an exciting two-point victory over Bucknell, the Navy women's basketball team was unable to recreate that same performance on Saturday afternoon and fell to Lafayette by a score of 54-44. After overcoming a nine-point deficit early in the second quarter with a 15-2 run to take a 24-20 lead before halftime, the Mids (4-10, 1-3 PL) struggled after the break and were outscored by the Leopards (6-6, 2-0 PL) 34-20 in the second half.
 
Jennifer Coleman (Sr., Richmond, Va.) was a bright spot for Navy on Saturday as the senior guard became the 22nd player in the history of Navy women's basketball to reach the 1,000-point milestone. Playing in her 67th career game, she tied Connie James (Class of '90) for the fifth fastest trek to the 1,000-point club. Coleman hit the milestone with a layup at 4:38 of the fourth quarter. Additional individual highlights on Saturday included Mimi Schrader's (Jr., Plymouth, Minn.) nine points on three-of-three shooting off the bench and Ciera Hertelendy's (Sr., Inwood, W.Va.) team-high eight rebounds.
 
"We just didn't play well at all today," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "We weren't tough enough and weren't ready to play. From the jump, I didn't feel that we had the effort. We looked distracted. When you're not ready to play, you don't make shots. I'm just really disappointed in our basketball team. I'm disappointed in our effort, our physical toughness and our mental toughness. We didn't look prepared to play and at the end of the day that falls on me. Today's result came down to Navy's effort. Having Jennifer in foul trouble and out of the game in the fourth isn't an excuse. We didn't deserve to win and Lafayette did, simple as that.
 
"We made a heck of a run in the second quarter, but then came out flat in the third quarter. We're not supposed to let them throw it down to the block, but they were able to do just that in the second half. We weren't disciplined enough. This is one of the most disappointing efforts I've seen from our kids in a long time."
 
The action on Saturday was controlled early by the visitors as Lafayette opened on a 6-0 run as the Leopards registered points on each of their first three possessions. After the teams traded baskets over the next two minutes, Navy ran off seven unanswered points between 7:10 and 5:33, starting with a Kristina Donza (So., Jackson, N.J.) three-pointer and ending with a Lindsay Llewellyn (Jr., North East, Md.) pull-up. From that juncture with the Mids up 9-8, the hosts were plagued with turnover problems and didn't score for the remainder of the quarter. Forcing Navy into eight turnovers, Lafayette was able to scrap its way back into the lead slowly with six points over the final 2:30 of the period.
 
Down 14-9 after one quarter of play, the Mids saw their deficit grow to a then- game-high nine points as the Leopards scored on two of their first three times down the court in the second quarter. After Taylor took a timeout to gather his team, Navy came out refocused and locked in for the task at hand. The Mids overwhelmed the Leopards in all facets of the game as the visitors scored just two points over the final 8:50 of the quarter, a Makayla Andrews layup at 3:48. That defensive effort spurned Navy's offense as the Mids countered with 15 points. Navy's well-balanced attack in the second quarter saw five different players score led by Coleman's six points. Down 20-19 with less than two minutes left in the quarter, Schrader flipped the score in Navy's favor with a dynamic drive to the hoop and 'and-one' conversion at 1:56. Morganne Andrews (So., Martinsburg, W.Va.) closed out the scoring in the quarter with a successful jump shot in Navy's next possession.
 
With the score 24-20 at the intermission, Lafayette started the second half similar to the first half with an 8-2 run over the first 2:05. Down 28-26, Sydne Watts (So., Canton, Ga.) drew Navy even with a lengthy jumper following a Coleman offensive rebound at 6:09. Over the next four minutes both teams recorded just one basket a Coleman layup at 5:35 and a Jessica Booth jumper at 2:43 for Lafayette. Tied at 30-30 and less than two minutes remaining, the Mids and Leopards matched each other with five points each down the stretch.
 
The many changing faces of the game, a Lafayette lead after one quarter, a Navy lead after two quarters and a tie after three quarters led the home fans at Alumni Hall to hope for an exciting conclusion. Unfortunately, the final 10 minutes of action saw the teams combine to shoot 28.0 percent (7-25) from the field and a large disparity at the foul line make the difference. The Leopards were slowly able to break into the lead as they scored seven of the quarter's first nine points over the opening 2:18. With the score 42-37 in Lafayette's favor, the scoring dried up for the next three-plus minutes as the Leopards added just one foul shot, while the Mids' effort consisted of two Coleman free throw makes. Needing 14 points coming into the game to reach the 1,000-point plateau, Coleman reached the milestone with a driving layup at 4:38 to make it a two-point game, 43-41. A 9-0 run by Lafayette over the next 3:10 gave the visitors an insurmountable 11-point lead as it held on for the 54-44 victory.
 
For the game, Lafayette outshot Navy, 32.3 percent (20-62) to 31.0 (18-58) from the field and 92.3 percent (12-13) to 85.7 (6-7) from the free throw line. Neither team had much success from three-point range as the Mids held a nominal 14.3 percent (2-14) to 13.3 (2-15) advantage.
 
In the battle on the glass, the Leopards grabbed 14 more boards than the Mids, 49-35 with a 21-13 edge in offensive rebounds. A direct result of those offensive rebounds was 18 second-chance points for Lafayette versus eight for Navy. Hertelendy grabbed a team-high eight caroms for the Mids.
 
Defensively, Navy forced Lafayette into 16 turnovers and was credited with seven steals. Lindsay Llewellyn (Jr., North East, Md.) had a team-high two steals on Saturday.

"We had a great win Wednesday and didn't follow it up," said Taylor in closing. "We were disciplined in our defensive approach that night and we had none of that today."
 
Navy will continue Patriot League action on Wednesday with a road tilt at Colgate. The Mids and Raiders will tip-off extra early with an 11 a.m. start at Cotterell Court.