WORCESTER, Mass. – In a game that no one will soon forget, the eighth-seeded Navy Midshipmen knocked off the top-seeded Holy Cross Crusaders with a wild, banked-in three-pointer at the buzzer by senior
Jennifer Coleman (Richmond, Va.) in the quarterfinals of the 2022 Patriot League Championship. Trailing by two points with 1.0 second remaining,
Mimi Schrader (Jr., Plymouth, Minn.) in-bounded the ball to Coleman, who launched a one-legged fadeaway jumper from the corner and watched it bounce high off the glass and angle in for the deciding basket in a 50-49 victory at Holy Cross' Hart Center.
"That's an all-time classic," exclaimed head coach
Tim Taylor. "That's a game, that our kids, our staff and our fans will be talking about when they're old and gray. That was a gutsy performance. We have a shirt that says 'No Quit' on it and it's true. Our kids never quit! We were down 41-31 in the fourth and struggling to get baskets, but we stuck to it. That was a heavyweight defensive battle. I thought that was the best defensive game we've had all year.
"That was a great effort from everyone; all of our players and all of our staff. Sydne hitting two huge threes in the fourth quarter to get us back in it, Morganne [Andrews] took a huge charge; it can go on and on, everyone had a role in this win tonight. This was just a heavyweight fight. As the saying goes 'survive and advance."
Coleman's heroics weren't just defined to the last shot of the game as she hit three three-pointers in the final 63 seconds as part of her 27-point performance on Monday night. The All-Patriot League First Team honoree added 13 rebounds, three assists and three steals to her final statline. The double-double is her 21st of the season.
Sydne Watts (So., Canton, Ga.) provided strong support for Coleman as she finished with 13 points, including a pair of clutch three-pointers in the fourth quarter.
"What else can you say about Jenn Coleman?" remarked Taylor. "She put on another Player of the Year effort. I don't really have the words to describe that kind of performance. To go into Holy Cross and be able to put on that type of performance; hit those shots and hit two threes in the last seven seconds, wow! That's a big-time player making big plays right there. I know how bad she wanted to perform on that stage and she did!"
The action on Monday night opened with a distinct Holy Cross flavor to it as the hosts grinded out a 13-6 lead by the 2:47 mark of the first quarter. Watts netted four of those initial points for the Mids. A late 5-0 run by Navy helped draw the Mids within two points at the end of the period as Coleman sank a step-back three-pointer at 2:30 before
Darryl Langford (Sr., Fayetteville, Ga.) did it all with a steal and breakaway layup with 30 seconds left in the quarter.
Trailing 13-11, Navy extended its run out to eight unanswered points over the first 92 seconds of the second quarter, capped by an offensive rebound and putback by
Kristina Donza (So., Jackson, N.J.). With the score 14-13 for Navy, Holy Cross pieced together a 5-0 rebuttal over the next two-plus minutes to re-take the lead 18-14 by 5:49. Both defenses took over for remainder of the half as the Mids held the Crusaders to just one made free throw the rest of the way. In the true nature of a heavyweight defensive battle, Holy Cross was nearly as successful and limited Navy to just one basket, a Langford jumper from the corner at 2:06 and one free throw from Watts to make it a 19-17 game at the intermission. Both teams scored six points in the second quarter, while going 2-for-12 from the field.
The offense started flowing a little more freely after the break as Navy recorded five points over its first three possessions to jump out to a 22-21 lead by 7:49. Another 5-0 streak by Holy Cross over the next two minutes swung the scoreboard back in its favor 26-22. The hosts extended their run out to 13-2 and were ahead by a then- game-high nine points, 33-24 at 1:24. Coleman put the Mids' offense on her back with five points over the final 61 seconds, including a three-pointer to straight the stretch.
Down 35-29 to start the fourth quarter, Navy was unable to answer Holy Cross early in the period as the top-seeded squad built out a 10-point lead within the first four minutes, 41-31 by the 6:00 mark. Leaning on its entire roster to step-up and extend the season, the bench duo of Schrader and
Morganne Andrews (So., Martinsburg, W.Va.) helped Navy cut its deficit to six by 4:13 as Schrader drove the lane and hit a pull-up floater before Andrews swished an elbow jumper. After Holy Cross re-extended its lead back out to eight, Watts caught fire for Navy and hit back-to-back three-pointers 33 seconds apart at 3:17 and 2:44 to make it a four-point game, 45-41. Down 47-41 with less than 90 seconds to go, the Mids' rode this success from downtown as Coleman hit her fourth trey of the game at 1:03 to make it a 47-44 game. The Patriot League's leading scorer continued to leave her mark on Monday's contest as Coleman rolled off of a
Ciera Hertelendy (Sr., Inwood, W.Va.) screen and launched a deep three-pointer to even the score at 47-47 with seven seconds to go. With neither team willing to go home, the slugfest rolled on and Holy Cross went 2-for-2 from the foul line to go up 49-47 with 1.6 seconds remaining. In a scene that will live on in the lore of Navy Women's Basketball, the Mids threw a long in-bounds pass that was deflected out-of-bounds near mid-court with 1.0 seconds left. After a short review to check the clock, Schrader in-bounded the ball to Coleman allow the near sideline and Coleman launched up a fadeaway that ricocheted high off the backboard just as the clock was expiring. A clean bank through the net sent the program into hysterics and Coleman to the bottom of a joyous dogpile at the foot of her bench as Navy was victorious 50-49.
"Sometimes you got a higher power looking over you," reflected Taylor. "I felt like we got some breaks tonight that we haven't got all year. We've been wondering when we were going to get one or two of those breaks and we finally got one! What a win!"
For the game, Holy Cross outshot Navy from the field, 36.5 percent (19-52) to 33.3 (20-60) and from the foul line, 52.9 percent (9-17) to 50.0 (2-4). Bolstered by a 5-of-6 conclusion to the game, the Mids outshot the Crusaders from three-point range, 34.8 percent (8-23) to 12.5 (2-16).
In the rebounding battle, Holy Cross grabbed five more boards than Navy, 41-36. Coleman tied for a game-high with 13 rebounds. In a well-rounded team effort, five other players had three or more rebounds.
Defensively, Navy forced Holy Cross into 19 turnovers and were credited with nine steals. Coleman (3) and Schrader (2) each had multiple steals versus the Crusaders.
Monday's win for Navy was the first in program history over a number one seed as previously the Mids were 0-6 versus the top-seed in the Patriot League Tournament.
Navy will continue its Patriot League Tournament run on Thursday with semifinal action at Bucknell University. Tip-off between the Mids and the fourth-seeded Bison is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Sojka Pavilion in Lewisburg, Pa.
The last time the two teams met at Sojka on Jan. 5, Navy knocked off Bucknell 57-55.
