By Eric Weiss

Senior Writer

It was a tape-to-tape victory for the women’s basketball team as the Bison defeated Army 54-40 in a dominating Patriot League quarterfinal performance. Unfortunately, the Bison could not hold off a Navy team on a winning streak in their semifinal match-up, falling 55-41 to end their season.

The Bison started off hot in the Army game, opening up the game with a 6-0 lead. With a punishing defense, the Bison did not allow Army a field goal until five minutes into the first half.

However, heading into the half the Bison committed a handful of turnovers that the Black Knights capitalized on as their shots began to find twine. At the half the Orange and Blue clawed to a slight advantage, 22-15.

Coming out of halftime, senior leadership helped the Bison pull away. Joyce Novacek ’11 hit four quick points, and the Bison did not look back from there. The lead for the Bison continued to increase until its peak at 41-24.

Army began to play with a sense of urgency and was able to bring down the lead for the Orange and Blue into single digits. Cosima Higham ’11 was clutch down the stretch for the Bison as she hit four free throws in the final five minutes to keep a commanding ten-point lead for the Bison.

This helped Higham register her second double-double in a row with 10 points and 11 rebounds. First-year phenom Shelby Romine ’14 led all scorers for the Bison as she drained 19 points in the Orange and Blue victory.

Against Navy, the Bison showed the heart and desire that they had been building up to all year with strong play throughout. The Orange and Blue battled throughout the first half, keeping Navy’s prolific scoring in check. With less than four minutes to play in the first half, Navy built a 21-9 lead.

The Bison trailed 23-13 at halftime but came out of the locker room firing and narrowed the Navy lead to seven.

Navy would not be denied and opened its lead to 14 with just over five minutes to play. Navy continued this strong showing and maintained its lead until the end of the game as the Bison were unable to penetrate the stalwart Navy defense.

It was a hard fought season for the Bison team that played well against an impressive Navy team. The Bison finish the season 11-17 overall and 8-8 in the Patriot League.