ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Trailing 52-50 with a little over three minutes left in regulation, the Navy women's basketball team buckled down and closed out Loyola with an 11-2 run to come away with a hard-fought 61-54 victory at Alumni Hall. The Mids (7-14, 4-7 PL) were strong defensively throughout most of the game and held the Greyhounds (4-17, 1-10 PL) under 30.0 percent into the fourth quarter.
 
Navy received a well-balanced team effort and finished with three players in double figures and a fourth with eight points. Jennifer Coleman (Sr., Richmond, Va.) led the Mids with 16 points and 10 rebounds to record her 16th double-double of the season. Quiet from the field, she netted 10 of her points at the foul line as she took just 11 shots in the flow of play. Sydne Watts (So., Canton, Ga.) and Mimi Schrader (Jr., Plymouth, Minn.) tied for second on Navy with matching 13-point stat lines. Watts shot 50.0 percent (6-12) from the field and grabbed five rebounds, while Schrader's effort was bolstered by three three-pointers in 27 minutes off the bench. Lindsay Llewellyn (Jr., North East, Md.) nearly joined the trio in double figures as she finished with eight points. Following a trend that's proven factual throughout the 2021-22 season, Navy improved to 5-0 when three or more players reach the 10-point plateau.
 
"It wasn't the prettiest win, but we'll take it," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "I felt that we were able to get the ball in the right spots today. In the first half, I was a little disappointed that we didn't take the open shots all the time, I felt that we were passing up good opportunities. We started getting the ball down in the block in the second half and we got some easy baskets. We also started getting out in transition a bit more so that led to some more easy baskets. That made a big difference in us coming away with a win today.
 
"We used this week to get better. I challenged our entire team to 'make me play them.' We had numerous people step up and get better. That showed, we played a lot of different people today. Darryl sparked us off the bench in the second half. We ran two plays back-to-back for her and she responded with four points. She also grabbed two defensive rebounds around those plays. That run definitely sparked us. Morganne fought for two huge offensive rebounds for us in the fourth quarter; those boards and putbacks were really important. We did all of this with Jenn only taking 11 shots. That's a testament to everyone chipping in."
 
The action on Saturday opened slowly with the two teams combining for just nine points over the first eight-plus minutes. With the score 5-4 in favor of Navy, after a three-pointer by Schrader and a jumper by Watts, Loyola rattled off four consecutive points at 1:37 and 0:56 to go up 8-5. The teams traded three-pointers in the final two possessions as Schrader tied the game momentarily before Taleah Dixon put Loyola back ahead 11-8 with a trey with two seconds left in the quarter.
 
Another three-pointer by Dixon at 8:46 in the second quarter gave the Greyhounds their biggest lead of the game, 14-8. With the scoreboard stationary for the next three-plus minutes, Coleman helped jumpstart the Mids as she went five-for-five in a pair of trips to the foul line at 5:40 and 5:09. Loyola held a one-possession lead for the next four minutes before another three-for-three performance at the foul line by Coleman flipped the score back to Navy by a 23-21 margin with 52 seconds left in the second quarter. Baskets by both sides before the break sent the game into the halftime intermission with a 25-23 score.
 
Down 25-23 coming out in the third quarter, Loyola netted the period's first four points to re-take the lead 27-25 by the 8:01 mark. A 4-0 response by Navy in the form of a fast break layup by Llewellyn and a stepback jumper by Watts at 6:15 put the hosts up 29-27. The two teams played hot potato with the lead over the next three-plus minutes as there were five lead changes. With the Greyhounds up 36-33 at 1:39, another free throw by Coleman and a Kristina Donza (So., Jackson, N.J.) three-pointer on the Mids' final possession helped Navy round out 30 minutes of action up 37-36.
 
Navy's bench provided an early spark in the fourth quarter as Darryl Langford (Sr., Fayetteville, Ga.), Morganne Andrews (So., Martinsburg, W.Va.) and Schrader netted the team's first nine points over the opening 3:37 of play. With the score 46-44 in the Mids' favor, the Greyhounds recorded eight of the next 12 points to go back ahead 52-50. From that junction at 3:24, Navy dominated Loyola down the stretch to come-from-behind one final time. Coleman kickstarted this winning run with the tying basket at 2:54. A physical offensive rebound and putback by Andrews at 1:26 put the Mids ahead before Watts quickly followed up her sophomore classmate with a jumper the next time down the court. Three successful free throws extended Navy's scoring streak to nine unanswered points. Up 59-52 with 15 seconds to play, each team netted a pair of points to finalize the score at 61-54.
 
For the game, Navy outshot Loyola, 43.5 percent (20-46) to 33.3 (21-63) from the field, as well as 29.4 percent (5-17) to 20.8 (5-24) from three-point range and 88.9 percent (16-18) to 87.5 (7-8) from the foul line.
 
The Greyhounds won the rebounding battle by a 38-to-31 margin. A significant 18-to-7 advantage on the offensive glass bolstered Loyola's cause on Saturday. Coleman tied Loyola's Lex Therien with a game-high 10 rebounds.
 
Navy finished with a 12-to-12 assist-to-turnover ratio with Coleman and Llewellyn finishing with respective totals of four and three assists.
 
"We defended them well throughout the game," said Taylor in closing. "Loyola made a lot of its shots late in the shot clock. When we had the ball, we had eight turnovers in the first half, but we cleaned that up and played under control in the second half. We finished with 12 total. That was really good to see. We're getting better. That's what we're looking for. It's that time of the year."
 
Navy will be back in action with a pair of road games next week. First up will be a matchup with Lafayette in Easton, Pa. on Wednesday at 6 p.m. before the 2022 Star is up for grabs at West Point against Army on Saturday morning beginning at 11 a.m.