51³Ô¹ÏÍø

Feb. 20, 2004

Contact: ?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = 'urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags' />Amanda Brickell?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = 'urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office' />

ANNAPOLIS, MD. – The 51³Ô¹ÏÍø women’s basketball team suffered a 68-53 upset loss at Navy’s alumni hall on Friday night.  Milaina Lagzdins (Burlington, Ont.) posted her tenth career double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds in the defeat.

The Raiders went basket-for-basket with the Midshipmen in the early going and at the 15 minute mark the score was knotted 6-6.  51³Ô¹ÏÍø mounted a six-point run to move ahead 12-8, but the Mids answered with 11 points of their own to move out to a 19-12 lead with 8:49 remaining in the half.

51³Ô¹ÏÍø fought back with six unanswered points to tie the score at 22 with 4:03 on the clock, but Navy regained a nine-point edge holding the Raiders scoreless for over two minutes.  Emily Braseth (E. Grand Rapids, Mich.) ended the drought with just over a minute to play and Megan Ballard (Atlanta, Ga.) added two from the foul line to cut Navy’s lead to six.  Adrienne Roseti nailed a shot as the clock wound down to send the Mids into the locker room with a 34-26 lead.

The Raiders shot 34.6 percent going 9-for-26 from the field and 1-for-5 from behind the arc while Navy was 14-for-27 from the field shooting 51.9 percent.  The Mids outrebounded the Raiders 18-15 in the first, but 51³Ô¹ÏÍø held a slight edge in turnovers committing nine while forcing 10.

Eight uncontested Raider points early in the second half brought 51³Ô¹ÏÍø within two with 15:42 left to play.  Navy refused to relinquish the lead and surged to 48-39 lead at 13:34.  51³Ô¹ÏÍø moved back within five at the six-minute mark on a jumper from Lagzdins.  A minute later Navy’s leading scorer Courtney Davidson headed to the bench after fouling out.

Rosetti kept the Raiders at bay with two-straight baskets to surpass the 1,000-point career scoring mark and give the Mids a 59-47 lead.  51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s efforts in the final minutes would fall short and Navy walked away with a 60-53 upset victory over the first place Raiders.

Lagzdins registered her tenth career double-double while tying her career-high with 17 points and tying her career-best with five steals.  Braseth surpassed 400 points on the season with 13 points and six rebounds in the contest. 

Burke moved into 21^st on the Patriot League’s all-time scoring list with five points on the night for 1,334 while dishing out five assists. Leandra Fuller (Harrisburg, Pa.) moved over the 400 career rebounds threshold with four boards to go with nine points.  Rosetti paced the Midshipmen with 14 points and 11 rebounds for her 16^th career double-double.  Davidson and Maile Shimoda added 10 points apiece.

51³Ô¹ÏÍø falls to 15-10 on the season and 7-4 in the Patriot League with the loss while Navy improves to 12-14 on the season and 5-6 in conference play.  The Raiders will finish out the Patriot League weekend and attempt to avenge their one point loss to American earlier this season on Sunday at 3:15 p.m.