WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Navy women's basketball team saw its 2022-23 season come to an end on Saturday in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament with a 78-71 loss versus American. Leading at the half by three over the Eagles (9-21), the Mids (1-29) fell victim to a slow third quarter before falling short with a valiant fourth period comeback that saw them score 24 points.
 
Navy's second-best scoring output of the season was fronted by four Mids in double-figures on Saturday. Lindsay Llewellyn (Sr., North East, Md.) rounded out her collegiate career with a game-high 19 points. Sydne Watts (Jr., Canton, Ga.) and Sam Schofield (Jr., Maumee, Ohio) provided Navy with strong production off the bench with point totals of 17 and 11, respectively. Maren Louridas (Fr., Delmar, N.Y.) completed her standout freshman with 10 points. Together this high-scoring quartet combined for 10 three-pointers with Watts and Schofield both leading the way with a trio of three-pointers.  
 
"That third quarter was the story of our season," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "We come out, miss a few shots, turn the ball over and the other team gets momentum. Outside of a down stretch in the third and early fourth, we did some good things in this game. Overall, I thought we played well. Hats off to American, I felt that they took advantage of what we were giving them. We wanted to pack it in, take away Lauren Stack and Emily Johns, and make them hit some shots. They did that; they played really well, but I thought our kids fought the entire time. That was one of our better offensive games all year. Syd came out in the first half and was really good. We got some great minutes from Sam. I thought there were a lot of positives in this game. We can build on this."
 
The game opened evenly as the score was knotted 7-7 at the five-minute mark. Llewellyn sparked Navy early with five of her squad's points, including a straight away three-pointer at 6:06 when Louridas drove the lane and whipped a kick-out to the senior sharp-shooter. Llewellyn was on the end of another drive and kick-out a little over two minutes later to jolt the Mids back into the lead, 10-9 at 3:49; Schofield was the facilitator in this instance. That trey jump started an eventual 10-0 run that pushed Navy up, 17-9 by the 2:18 mark. Watts was instrumental in the run with five points. American was able to claw its way back into the contest down the stretch with seven of the final 11 points of the quarter.
 
Ahead 21-16 through one quarter of play, Navy gave up quick back-to-back baskets to see its lead fade to just one point before coming back with a Watts three-pointer and Schofield layup to rebuild its advantage to six points, 26-20 by the 6:34 mark. Over the ensuing five minutes, the teams traded field goals as the score advanced to 32-27 in favor of the Mids. A 5-0 run by Eagles drew them even, 32-32 with just 39 seconds left. In its final possession of the half, slick ball movement resulted in another three-pointer as Schofield worked the ball around the arc to a waiting Watts for her third trey of the half.
 
Coming out of the locker room with the score 35-32 in favor of Navy, American opened the half with seven unanswered points to go up 39-35 at 7:29. Bending, but not breaking, Navy immediately answered back with a Schofield three-pointer to draw within one. By the 4:04 juncture of the period, the Mids had tied the Eagles, 43-43. Once again, Schofield was the catalyst as she swished her second trey of the period. The offensive action picked up over the final four minutes as American caught fire and went 6-6 to break out to a 56-47 lead through 30 minutes of action.
 
The Eagles' success continued into the fourth quarter and built up a 14-point edge, 66-52 by the 5:00 mark. Over the next two minutes, the Mids rattled off eight consecutive points with Llewellyn netting the final four. With the score 66-60, American tallied the next four points to bubble its lead to 10 with 87 seconds left in regulation. The senior duo of Mimi Schrader (Plymouth, Minn.) and Llewellyn bolstered Navy's comeback attempt as Schrader picked Sadie Stetson's pocket and threw a lead pass up to Llewellyn for a breakaway layup at 1:04. Llewellyn's shot continued falling as just 17 seconds later she converted a jumper and 'and-one' to make it 72-65. The Mids kept swinging and had Louridas and Schofield bang home three-pointers on two of the last three possessions to make it a 78-71 final score.
 
For the game, American outshot Navy, 53.4 percent (31-58) to 43.5 (27-62) from the field, though the Mids held advantages in three-point shooting, 33.3 percent (10-30) to 26.7 (4-15) and from the foul line, 87.5 percent (7-8) to 80.0 (12-15).
 
The host Eagles out-rebounded the Mids, 33-31, though Navy grabbed three more offensive rebounds, 10-7. Kate Samson (Fr., Richmond, Va.) led the visitors' effort on the glass with eight rebounds.
 
The Mids' ball-handling was solid on Saturday with a 15-to-13 assist-to-turnover ratio. All Navy players that saw more than six minutes of action had an assist with Schofield registering a career-high four helpers. Four other Mids had two assists in the contest.

"It's been a tough year from a wins-loss perspective with injuries and different things like that, but you can't make excuses," said Taylor. "You just have to continue to put in the work and get better. The biggest thing is that we consistently played 32 to 34 pretty effective minutes every game. We just need to get better and be more focused to take that next step to put together 40-minute efforts. We will have to improve on is our defense this offseason. We need to get better at guarding the ball."
 
Saturday's game was the final in the career of Imani Edmonds (Hopewell, Va.), Lindsay Llewellyn and team captain Mimi Schrader. Llewellyn's 19-point effort versus American helped her set a new single-season career-high with 183 points. Overcoming an off-season shoulder injury, Llewellyn suited up in the final 15 games of Navy's campaign and averaged 12.2 points per contest. Schrader also ended her career with season-bests in points, rebounds, assists and steals in 2022-23.
  
"My hat's off to Mimi, Lindsay and Imani," remarked Taylor. "They showed up every single day with an amazing attitude. A lot of times when you're going through a season like this, your leadership will determine whether your team will show up focused and doing the right things. I feel our team showed up every day. For example, this past Thursday, we gave the team the day off and they lifted and had an opportunity to get in extra work with the coaches; every single kid showed up. That tells you that they still wanted to improve and get better. I think that says a lot about our seniors and the way that they lead.
 
"For Imani, I wish we could have had her play this year because I think she could've been a big difference maker, especially on defense. I tell people that I'm a better person for knowing Mimi. I feel she took her leadership role very seriously and she helped a very young team tremendously in becoming good basketball players, good teammates and good Midshipmen. That's something that is really important to her; being a great Naval officer. Lindsay did a great job of fighting back through injuries. She had a great end to her career. I'm so proud to know these young ladies and thankful to have coached them."