HAMILTON, N.Y. – Suiting up just nine healthy players, including four that played 31 or more minutes on Saturday, the Navy women's basketball team went shot-for-shot with Colgate for all 40 minutes at Cotterell Court. Leading at the half 23-20, the Mids (1-27, 1-16 PL) saw the Raiders (15-13, 9-8 PL) rally in the third quarter before the hosts held onto that advantage over the fourth quarter for the eventual 53-47 victory. Navy tied Colgate once early in the fourth quarter and later drew within one point of the Raiders twice and in a valiant comeback attempt.
 
For the second straight game, Morganne Andrews (Jr., Martinsburg, W.Va.) was the most valuable player of the game for the Mids as she recorded her second career double-double with a personal-best 18-point outing to go along with a game-high 11 rebounds. Lindsay Llewellyn (Sr., North East, Md.) provided Navy with an early offensive spark as she scored nine of her 12 points in 14 minutes of first half action before foul trouble plagued the remainder of her performance. The freshmen post duo of Morgan Demos (Downers Grove, Ill.) and Kate Samson (Richmond, Va.) were strong throughout the game on Saturday as they used their size and skills down low to over-match the smaller Colgate frontcourt to the tune of eight points each.
 
"I thought we played a really solid game offensively and defensively today," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "They [Colgate] caught us with a few miscues on rebounds and close plays late. Our team played hard throughout and executed well today.
 
"Our post play was really good in this game. We were able to take advantage of our size a lot, but they made some great moves to counter us as well. Morganne Andrews continues to get better every game. She is getting more comfortable offensively and is getting to her spots efficiently. It's fun watching her growth. This was Morgan Demos' best game on the offensive end. She gave us a great lift off the bench."
 
The game on Saturday opened with a significant Navy feel to it as the visitors bolted out to an 11-2 lead by the 4:40 mark of the first quarter. Llewellyn was the early catalyst for the Mids as she hit three of her first four shots, including a corner three-pointer. Samson and Andrews added the other two field goals for Navy during this stretch. The teams traded baskets over the next two minutes to advance the score up to 13-4 for the Mids. A 6-0 close to the quarter by the Raiders tightened the game to 13-10 after 10 minutes of play.
 
The action in the second quarter began with a much slower scoring pace as both teams only netted four points each over the first five minutes. Ahead 17-14, Demos recorded her second field of the game at 4:34 when she grabbed an offensive rebound and quickly shot back up for the putback layup. Back-to-back makes by Colgate drew the home team back within one point before Demos' number was called again, this time via a Mimi Schrader (Sr., Plymouth, Minn.) pass over the top for an easy layup at 3:10. The back-and-forth action continued down the stretch as each side added one more make over the final three minutes to send the teams to the locker room with Navy up 23-20.
 
The ultra-competitive and tight contest picked right back up in the third quarter with Navy scoring four points, the same as Colgate. With the score 27-24 at the 7:26 mark, consecutive baskets by the Raiders, a Madison Schiller three-pointer and a Taylor Golembiewski jumper, gave the hosts their first lead of the game, 29-27 at 6:36. Llewellyn's first and only made field goal of the second half knotted the score 50 seconds later. A slowly built 8-3 run over the ensuing four-plus minutes helped Colgate push out to a 37-32 advantage. Navy recorded the final three points of the period to cut its deficit to just two, 37-35 at the conclusion of the third quarter.
 
The Mids initially kept that momentum going into the fourth as Andrews tied the game at 39-39 just 11 seconds into the stanza. Unfortunately for Navy, Colgate had a strong rebuttal to the tied predicament with six unanswered points over the next two minutes. Invigorated on the offensive end, Andrews added to her point total with two more baskets, an athletic o-board putback and a mid-range hook shot, to single-handedly bring her squad back within two. With the score 43-41 at 6:09, the Raiders increased their lead by three points before Andrews kept adding to her career-day with a post-up fadeaway shot at 4:12 and a driving layup at 3:36. Separated by just one point, the teams traded baskets the next two times down the court to make it 48-47 with 2:45 remaining in regulation. An unlucky streak of close calls and ball-handling errors during the final possessions of the game for the Mids resulted in four turnovers and allowed the Raiders to slowly pull away by converting five free throws to seal the 53-47 victory.
 
For the game, Navy outshot Colgate, 44.0 percent (22-50) to 38.9 (21-54) from the field, though the hosts held a significant 71.4 percent (10-14) to 33.3 (2-6) advantage from the foul line. Neither team spent much time beyond the arc on Saturday as the Raiders were 1-7 from three-point (14.3 percent), while the Mids were 1-9 (11.1 percent). The nine attempts were the second-fewest for Navy in a game this season.
 
In the rebounding battle, Colgate edged Navy, 35-29 on the strength of a 10-5 advantage in offensive boards. Andrews led all players with 11 caroms. This marks the ninth time this season that the junior has grabbed 10 or more rebounds. Over the past two games, Andrews has averaged 12.0 points and 15.0 rebounds, while shooting 66.6 percent (12-18) from the floor and playing 79 of 80 potential minutes.
 
Navy will round out its regular season with a home contest versus Lafayette on Wednesday night. Tip-off between the Mids and Leopards is set for 7 p.m. at Alumni Hall.