Navy Women Drop Their First Conference Game This Season Against Colgate

Navy is no longer undefeated in conference play after they lost on Wednesday.
A general view of the Navy Midshipmen logo
A general view of the Navy Midshipmen logo / Scott Taetsch-Imagn Images
In this story:

Coming into their contest on Wednesday afternoon, Navy was at the top of the Patriot League standings, but that is no longer the case after they dropped their first conference game of the season.

Navy (12-4, 4-1 conference) went on the road and lost, 62-54, against Colgate (13-5, 3-2).

This was a tough loss for the Midshipmen who were riding a six-game winning streak before this defeat.

It looked like they were going to pull off some late magic, but ultimately they couldn't do enough to keep their conference record unblemished.

Navy got off to a solid start.

After getting behind 2-0, they took a 4-2 lead and seemed like they were going to steamroll their way through another Patriot League matchup when they finished the first quarter up 19-14.

However, the second period is when they ran into trouble.

The Midshipmen scored only nine points. They committed four turnovers and missed nine shots, giving Colgate the opportunity to come back from their deficit and take a 29-28 halftime lead.

Navy still had some offensive troubles in the third quarter, scoring only 12 total points, but their defense held the Raiders to eight the entire period, giving themselves a three-point edge heading into the final quarter.

But that's when things went south.

Navy went through almost a four-minute scoring drought from 8:38 to 4:45, allowing Colgate to take the lead even if it was just a four-point advantage following the made basket.

That was the difference in the game, though.

The Midshipmen tried to claw their way back multiple times during the final stretches of the contest, but they weren't able to do enough to overcome the deficit.

Maren Louridas was spectacular for Navy, scoring 23 points and grabbing 16 rebounds, but only Kyah Smith joined her in double-digits with 10 off the bench. The rest of the starters combined for 19 points and 13 rebounds.

Their offensive struggles were evident by shooting 39.2% from the field (20-51) and just 29.4% from deep (5-17).

Colgate didn't shoot it well themselves, going 21-56 from the field (37.5%) and 3-17 from 3-point range (17.6%), but they had a major advantage at the free throw line by making 17 of their 20 attempts compared to nine of 11 for Navy.

The Midshipmen will be back in action on Jan. 18 against Bucknell (8-7, 3-1) with tip off set for 1 p.m. ET.


Published