By Ajan Caneda

Staff Writer

The women’s basketball team finished the regular season with a 60-51 loss at Navy last Saturday. The Orange and Blue closed the regular season with a 5-24 record, going 3-11 in Patriot League play and claiming the seventh seed in the Patriot League Tournament.

Turnovers stung the Orange and Blue in the first half, as Navy scored 11 points off 10 Bison turnovers. A Navy three-point basket gave the Mids their first double-digit lead of the game at the 8:39 remaining mark of the first half. The Bison countered with threes by Shelby Romine ’14 and Alyssa Dunn ’13 that cut the deficit to five. Rachel Voss ’13 scored a three-point play to close out the half, but Navy still led 30-29.

“Navy played us in mostly zone defenses, which caused a little difficulty for us to get into our offense,” Lindsay Horbatuck ’13 said. “I think that the biggest difference in this game was that Navy wanted to play a half-court game while we liked to play a full-court, fast-paced game.  We pride ourselves on full court, man-to-man defense as well as transition for most of our points.”

Voss hit a jumper to start the second half that gave the Orange and Blue their first and only lead of the game. Navy then built their lead back up to double digits with a 13-2 run. Shooting struggles plagued the Orange and Blue, as the Bison shot 23.1 percent in the second half. They finished at 32.1 percent for the game. Forward Audrey Dotson ’15 hit a jumper that trimmed the lead to six with 4:49 remaining, but that would be the closest the Orange and Blue would come to a comeback, as Navy sank some late game baskets that sealed the win.

Dunn was the leading scorer for the Bison with 12 points, while Romine also scored 10. Horbatuck nearly had a double-double with eight points and 10 rebounds.

“I think that this game fueled us for the tournament,” Horbatuck said. “Anything is possible when tournament time comes. This year the league is so open and we are really excited to face Lehigh.”

The Bison traveled to Bethlehem, Pa. to take on second-seeded Lehigh in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament last night after press time. The Orange and Blue split their regular season meetings against the Mountain Hawks, losing 53-38 at home on Jan. 18, but winning 62-56 at Lehigh on Feb. 15.

“I think that the last few weeks have shown us that we can play with anyone in our league on any given night, so that should give us confidence going into the Patriot League Tournament,” interim head coach Bill Broderick said. “We have beaten or played within three points of all the top four seeds this year, so we know that if we play our game than anything is possible in the tournament.”