The AU women's basketball team rallied from a large first-half deficit for the second game in a row, erasing an eight-point Navy lead before cruising to a 62-48 victory. The win was the second league win in a row for the Eagles, improving their PL record to 4-2 and their overall mark to 9-12.
Entering the first half of play, it was the Midshipmen who took control early. Navy would score the first basket of the game at the 18:50 mark before AU's Liz Hayes responded two minutes later with a three-pointer to put the Eagles up one, 3-2.
However, this lead would not last long, as the Midshipmen would go on a 17-6 run to extend their lead to 19-11.
This would be the largest lead of the game for Navy, as the Eagles would quickly take control of the game. Another three-pointer by Hayes with seven minutes remaining in the first half started a 15-0 run by the Eagles to find the team up 26-20 with four minutes to play before halftime.
The momentum would swing back slightly to Navy to end the half and the Eagles found themselves down by one, 30-29, at the break.
Defensive pressure would be the key to success for the Eagles in the second half, as the team retook the lead and kept it for the rest of the game. The Eagles used runs of 6-2 to open the half and 13-4 to end the game to take a commanding lead. AU also limited Navy to shooting only 27.8 percent in the second half, a stark contrast to the 65 percent the Midshipmen shot in the opening period. The Eagles, on the other hand, were able to improve their shooting from 35.5 percent to 43.3 percent.
Coach Melissa McFerrin said that stepping up the defense was one of the issues she stressed in her halftime speech.
"I told them that we gave up eight easy points to end the half," she said. "We had a goal of only allowing 48 points all game, so we had to only give up 17 in the second half."
Junior Liz Hayes, who led all scorers with 16 points, supported her coach's comments.
"Our focus was really on the defense of it," Hayes said. "The major difference in the second half was the defense."
The Eagles next travel to Easton, Pa., to take on Lafayette on Saturday before returning home to Bender Arena to face Lehigh a week later.
