The Eagles will advance to the Patriot League after defeating the Navy Mids on March 9. The AU women’s basketball team has the opportunity to make program history and advance to the NCAA Tournament.
The Eagles have advanced to the Patriot League tournament final three times since the 2005-2006 season but are 0-3 in Patriot League Championship games. The first seeded Eagles will hope to change their record when they take on sixth seeded Lehigh March 14 in Bender Arena.
This will mark the second time in AU history that both the men’s and women’s basketball team will compete for the Patriot League championship.
Eagle players expressed a mixed sense of excitement and uncertainty about the upcoming championship game.
“We’ve [any member of the Eagle team] never been there [to the Patriot League Tournament Championship], but we’ve had some heartbreaking years before,” senior guard Jen Dumiak said. “I think its finally our turn to get there. This team wants it really really bad, and it helps having one through 12 want it just as bad as the seniors. Obviously being a senior you have a sense of urgency because this is it for us.”
The Eagles earned the opportunity to make its first NCAA Tournament after defeating the fifth seeded Navy Mids 60-53 Monday at Bender Arena. AU stayed calm after seeing its 12 point lead turn into a one point deficit early in the second half to advance to their first Patriot League Championship game since the 2010-11 season.
Dumiak led the way for the Eagles with 16 points, five assists and four rebounds. Third-team Patriot League selections junior forward Michelle Holmes and Arron Zimmerman contributed 12 points and eight rebounds and 11 points respectively for the Eagles.
To start the game, AU picked up where it left off in its 79-56 rout of the Lafayette Leopards in the quarterfinals, making seven of its first eight shots while racing out to a 14-2 lead. However, a combination of cold AU shooting and sharp shooting from the Mids allowed Navy to close the gap.
AU was stuck on 20 points for four minutes in the middle of the first half, and, during that stretch, Navy closed the Eagle lead to five. The Mids matched the Eagles shot-for-shot the rest of the half, and the Eagles only led 30-25 at the break, despite shooting 56.5 percent from the field.
The Eagles’ lead vanished early in the second half as Navy made two quick three-point baskets and took a 31-30 lead. The Eagles then rattled off a 10-2 run punctuated by a Zimmerman three-pointer to regain control of the game. Navy closed to within three after a three-pointer from sophomore guard Sarita Condie with 9:50. The Eagles then scored the game’s next six points and never led by fewer than six points the rest of the game.
“Navy put up a terrific fight today, but every time they came, they actually took the lead in the second half, we fought back and retook the lead and went up 10 or 11,” head coach Megan Gebbia said. “They fought back [after we took the lead], and we came back [again], and thats what this group has done all year.”
AU held Navy to 38.9 percent shooting for the game, but the Mids were able to keep the game close by making six of their seven three-point shots in the second half. Despite a 1-for-7 start from the field in the second half, AU still shot 53.3 percent from the field for the game. The Eagles were outrebounded by the Mids 29-27, and the Mids had 14 points off an uncharacteristic 11 AU turnovers.
While the Mids shot well from beyond the arc, the Eagles exerted their dominance down low, outscoring Navy in the paint 24-16. AU also dished out 15 assists on 24 made baskets.
AU relishes the task of making program history by making the NCAA Tournament for the first time, and the players believe having home court advantage will make a difference between this year and previous AU championship game losses.
“We shoot better and play better at home,” Holmes said. So come Saturday we better shoot better and play better [than tonight] on our home court.”
