WORCESTER, Mass. – The Navy women's basketball team went head-to-head and had the Patriot League leaders, Holy Cross, on the ropes before the host Crusaders put together a late 12-0 run in the fourth quarter to earn the 63-57 victory at the Hart Center on Saturday afternoon. Playing an efficient well-balanced brand of basketball in the first half, the Mids (7-18, 4-11 PL) were plagued by an extended offensive slump in the third quarter and another over a four-minute stretch in the fourth as they fell in a hard-fought contest to the Crusaders (17-9, 11-4 PL).
 
Jennifer Coleman (Sr., Richmond, Va.) did her best to keep Navy in upset territory as she netted a game-high 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds in 39 minutes of action. Additionally, she assisted on six baskets and recorded three steals. Sydne Watts (So., Canton, Ga.) played an important role in the Mids' fourth quarter comeback as she netted back-to-back three-pointers at one point as part of her 15-point outing. Mimi Schrader (Jr., Plymouth, Minn.) gave Navy three players in double-digits as she scored 10 points on 4-of-9 shooting off the bench.
 
"I thought we played really good at times today," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "The third quarter drought hurt us. We had looks that quarter, but couldn't finish at the rim. Sydne Watts did a great job of hitting those three-pointers in the fourth to get us right back into the game. It was a really competitive game right down to the end, but two defensive breakdowns allowed Avery LaBarbera to get free; she's too good of a player to leave open with the game on the line. Those two late possessions really sealed the outcome for us this afternoon."
 
The game began with Holy Cross controlling all aspects of the action and breaking out to an 8-2 lead by the 6:53 juncture of the first quarter. Still held at the two-point mark for another two-plus minutes, Navy finally found its stride and quickly bolted into the lead with a 7-0 run over three possessions between 4:32 and 3:01. Schrader kick-started this run when Watts found her open for a corner three-pointer. With the score now 9-8 in the Mids' favor the teams traded baskets for the two minutes with each hitting a layup followed by a three-pointer. Ahead 14-13, Navy closed out the final 48 seconds with four points on the strength of a Watts three-pointer and Coleman free throw.
 
Up five after one quarter of play, the Mids quickly extended their lead out to seven points on a driving layup by Kristina Donza (So., Jackson, N.J.) at 8:35. Addisyn Cross hit a three-pointer for Holy Cross on the ensuing possession to tighten the game back up to a 20-16 margin. After a two-minute lull in scoring, Ciera Hertelendy (Sr., Inwood, W.Va.) muscled her way through the paint for a physical layup that was followed up by a Coleman steal, and an offensive rebound and put-back by Lindsay Llewellyn (Jr., North East, Md.) at 6:24. That basket by Llewellyn gave Navy its largest lead of the game of eight, 24-16. An 8-4 run by the Crusaders over the next five minutes shaved four points off of their deficit. Each squad registered one field goal over the final 73 seconds of the half as the game concluded the first half with a 30-26 score for the Mids.
 
For the second quarter in a row, Donza was an offensive spark for Navy early as she put her team up six with a layup at 8:43. The Mids reached their game-high of eight once again a little over a minute later when Coleman snagged a defensive rebound and went coast-to-coast at 7:25. Ahead 34-26 at that point of play, Navy's momentum was stunted for the next 5:43 as Holy Cross went on a 10-0 run to re-take the lead. Schrader didn't let her team trail for long as the next time down the court she slipped a screen and was found in-stride by Hertelendy for the easy back-down layup. With the score tied 36-36 at 1:42, the Crusaders rounded out the period with five of the final six points to take a four-point lead of 41-37 into the quarter break. As a team, Navy shot just 3-of-15 in the third stanza.
 
The Mids were quick to flush that poor shooting performance from the third quarter as they used good ball movement to find a host of open shooters as they turned a 44-39 deficit into a 47-45 lead during a 1:15 stretch from 6:42 and 5:27. Coleman found Schrader for a free layup initially before Coleman was the facilitator once again as she swung the ball around the perimeter for an open Watts, who tied it at 44 by finding success from distance next time down the court. The streak concluded when Watts netted her second trey in as many possessions to give Navy the two-point advantage. The Mids kept clicking and scored four of the next six points to go back up four, 51-47 at 4:16. Unfortunately for a Navy squad that was looking to pull an upset over first-place Holy Cross, the hosts showed its home fans what makes them so good as they shut out Navy for the next 3:46 and scored 12 straight points. Trailing 59-51, Schrader helped end the Mids' draught with a three-pointer with 29 seconds remaining. Another trey, this time from Coleman drew Navy within four, 61-57 with 15 seconds left before two more Holy Cross free throws iced the 63-57 victory.
 
For the game, Holy Cross outshot Navy across the board with a 41.2 percent (21-51) to 37.5 (24-64) advantage in field goal shooting, a 39.1 percent (9-23) to 30.4 (7-23) edge in three-point shooting and a 92.3 percent (12-13) to 50.0 (2-4) tally in free throw shooting.
 
In the rebounding battle, Navy grabbed one more carom than Holy Cross, 36-to-35. The Mids finished with 12 offensive rebounds versus six for the Crusaders. Coleman came up just short of her 11^th straight double-double as she recorded eight rebounds, a Navy team-high on Saturday. Schrader was second on the Mids with seven boards, three on the offensive end and four on defense.
 
Navy finished with a 12-to-14 assist-to-turnover ratio against Holy Cross. Coleman led the Mids' ball distribution with six helpers with only two turnovers.
 
The Mids will continue their brief two-game road trip on Wednesday with a short trip to Baltimore for the next edition of the Navy-Loyola rivalry. Tipoff between the Mids and Greyhounds is set for 7 p.m. at Reitz Arena.