The AU women’s basketball team fell to a Patriot League opponent in the regular season for the first time since February of 2011 as they lost to Navy, 61-42, Jan. 23 in Annapolis, Md.
The Eagles shot just 29 percent from the floor, including 9 percent from beyond the arc and less than half from the free-throw line. Only two players – juniors Geleisa George and Sarah Kiely – posted double-digit points, and Kiely was the lone Eagle to make more than half of her field goal attempts.
“I thought Navy defended us really well,” AU Head Coach Matt Corkery said. “They took away space from our good shooters. Alexis didn’t have a lot of good opportunities to get shots up. Everything was contested, and we didn’t get anything easy.”
One reason AU (10-8, 3-1 PL) struggled to get better shots off against Navy (10-9, 3-1 PL) was because of their inability to open up the floor and position players in a way to open up more scoring opportunities, Corkery said. The Eagles were too bunched up at times and didn’t shoot the ball with much confidence.
“I think it’s spacing the floor and it’s also having the kids in the right spot,” Corkery said. “Whether we have pitch-out opportunities or perimeter three [point] looks, I felt like we were hesitant to shoot them or we didn’t have the right kids in the right spot. We gotta do a better job of spacing the floor and then getting ready to shoot it when the ball finds us.”
One area of the game that AU excelled in was offensive rebounding, in which they recorded 20 offensive boards versus Navy’s 14. However, the Eagles weren’t able to convert on those opportunities and their shooting woes persisted even at point-blank range.
“We missed a bunch of lay-ups,” Corkery added. “There were a lot of shots at the rim that we didn’t finish and I think that affected our psyche.”
George led all AU scorers with 13 points on 5-for-14 shooting while also chipping in three rebounds. Dobbs posted five points and a game-high seven assists as freshman forward Abigail Fogg recorded four points and a career-high seven rebounds.
The Eagles trailed for nearly the entire game, with the lone exception coming off of an Arron Zimmerman jumper to start the contest, and they went into the half facing a 24-15 deficit. Although AU nearly tripled their half time point total in the second half, they were never able to cut Navy’s lead to less than eight points.
“I think it’s about attitude,” Corkery said. “We got to show up tomorrow and really learn the lessons from Navy. We got to be more physical, play through contact better and be tougher. Army is going to present the same kind of challenge. They’re a very physical team and a very tough team, so it’s just going to be about re-focusing quickly and looking forward and not behind.”
Going forward, the Eagles will have to put this tough loss behind them as they take on Army next in Bender Arena at 2 p.m. Jan. 26.
sports@theeagleonline.com
