For the first time in four years, the AU women’s basketball team dropped its third straight Patriot League contest as they fell to Navy, 52-42, Feb. 20 in Bender Arena.
The Eagles (13-12, 6-5 PL) fell behind almost instantly as the Midshipmen (16-10, 9-2 PL) scored the first bucket of the game and went on to take a 34-21 lead heading into halftime. However, AU fought back in the second half and tied it up at 41 with 5:42 left in the contest before Navy closed out the game on an 11-1 run.
“At one point in the first half, the game could’ve gotten away from us or even after the half,” AU Head Coach Matt Corkery said. “I thought we showed some good poise and stuck to it. Obviously we’re disappointed that we didn’t play a better last five minutes of the game. It’s about making plays at the end of the game and stepping up and we got to do a better job of that.”
Although they struggled offensively throughout the entire game, the Eagles were able to come back because they held the Midshipmen to just 12 percent shooting from the field in the second half. They also held the best 3-point shooting team in the Patriot league to just 1-for-9 from beyond the arc and cut down on Navy’s second chance points in the second half.
“I think taking away threes was big, and we rebounded the ball a little bit better [in the second half],” Corkery said.
The Eagles struggled shooting the ball for much of the game and finished with just a 30 percent field goal rate. They were unable to hit point-blank shots around the bucket as no one who attempted more than three shots made the majority of their attempts.
Junior guard Alexis Dobbs led AU in scoring with 12 points, including a 3-for-8 mark from beyond the arc, as senior center Stephanie Anya led the way with seven rebounds and three Eagles dished out three assists.
However, AU also turned the ball over 20 times to Army’s 15 as the Midshipmen scored nearly double the amount of points off turnovers.
The Eagles will next travel to West Point, N.Y. Feb. 23 as they take on Army (19-7, 8-3) at 3 p.m. and hope to replicate their earlier 45-42 win over the Black Knights when they faced off Jan. 26 in Bender Arena.
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