Stefanie Pemper called it the worst game of the year.

As Navy headed back to the locker room at halftime, the Mids had fruitfully barred Boston to just five field goals despite 21 attempts and nothing from beyond the arc on seven chances.

Freshman guard Jennifer Coleman knew that was never going to last.

“Coach just kept telling us, they’re not here yet,” she said. “I don’t know if it was the travel, but we knew they were going to make a run on us.”

After a 12-0 run that spurred their comeback, the Terriers dispatched the Mids, 49-35, at Alumni Hall on Saturday. With the loss, Navy (8-10) sinks two games below .500 both overall and in the Patriot League (3-5).

Coleman led the Mids with 10 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

“[Boston] only scored 49 points, which is crazy,” Pemper said. “You’d think at home if you give up 49 points, you’re going to win.”

The team that logged back-to-back victories against Saint Joseph’s and Loyola after the holidays had a little more fight, Pemper said.

“We just willed it a little bit more, offensively. I think our ball movement was smoother,” Pemper said. “We certainly might be a team right now that’s just pressing a little bit on offense because maybe people are just trying to be the one to get shots in.”

Defense dominated in the first half, as the Mids successfully held the Terriers from scoring their first field goal until there was less than a minute remaining. The Mids, though, couldn’t truly capitalize on the Terriers’ misadventures, leading just 8-5. Freshman Kolbi Green fired her first of two 3-pointers.

“Our defense, it just keeps getting better. What we need to keep doing is working on our offense, finding different ways to score,” Coleman said. “Putting the ball in the basket has been tough.”

There were inklings that the Terriers were on their way as a pair of layups put Boston ahead momentarily. Laurel Jaunich’s 3-pointer inevitably ensured that wouldn’t keep by halftime, but even so, Navy’s 16-13 lead was just as delicate as a dandelion puff.

It wouldn’t take much to blow it away.

Navy’s greatest success of the evening was pinning down junior Nia Irving, who’d scored in double figures in 13 straight games but had only managed six points in 30 minutes on Saturday.

But that was the number one player. Number two, Katie Nelson, was a different story entirely.

Just as Boston burst into the second half a team anew, so did Nelson, who’d had just five points in the first half but piled up 23 by the end of the latter. Navy divvied up responsibilities on Nelson, but no one was able to stop her from getting in the basket when she wanted to.

“We lost her too many times. Just showing down on Irving, [Nelson] slid behind us, and we weren’t able to find her,” Pemper said. “She knocked those shots down.”

Boston’s lead grew as fast as ivy, stretching a gap of 14 points by the end of the third, 34-20. By scoring 21 points in the quarter, the Terriers had outnumbered their first and second quarter efforts combined.

kfominykh@capgaznews.com

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