Career game boosts Navy
Ulasewicz’s 23 points help avenge Mids loss to Army last year
As dark days descended upon the Navy women’s basketball team, it could have let the clouds roll in, clog the remainder of its season with defeat.
But even as the Midshipmen surrendered their ninth consecutive game, the players filled their locker room with their team anthem: Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.”
Winning their first Patriot League game on Wednesday set the bar. Handily defeating Army by double digits raised it to the rafters Saturday.
Spearheaded by a career performance from senior Mary Kate Ulasewicz (23 points), the Mids avenged last year’s disappointment and dispatched their school’s most bitter rival, 57-45. With the win, Navy (7-12) leaves the Black Knights alone in last place in the league.
Entering Saturday, the Mids led Army in
the all-time series (37-36) that hearkens back to 1981, after the visitors from West Point claimed two-straight games last year.
After the afternoon’s outcome, of course, Navy has a little more breathing room.
“It feels great as a coach. I’m really happy,” Navy coach Stefanie Pemper said. “Some of the adversity we’ve gone through this year, I’m really happy for the team, the seniors especially.”
Pemper, who is 14-10 against Army, can always sense whether her team’s mentality is in the right place before a game. In the last week, she’s felt that with her Mids.
“I’m not surprised by tonight,” Pemper said. “I was less nervous about this game than I (had been) before the last few against Army. I’m not saying I knew we were going to win, but I knew we would play well and have good leadership.”
Much of that leadership flowed through Ulasewicz. The senior eclipsed her previous scoring high early in the fourth quarter, popping up always, it seemed, when her teammates needed her most.
“It was just the ‘keep attacking’ mindset. Sometimes, in our past games, we would get passive,” Ulasewicz said. “This one, we were always reminding each other to go for it, just take your shot, keep being aggressive. We knew we had good defense. We just had to score.”
By Jasmine Bishop’s and freshman Lindsay Llewellyn’s hands, the Midshipmen flew out to a smooth start that kept them afloat with an Army squad feeling the same kind of energy. But quickly, that energy dispersed, bogged down in a flurry of missed field-goal shots (five) on Navy’s side and turnovers on Army’s.
Despite their slippery grip, the squad of cadets managed to register a small lead over their Annapolis rivals, fueled by Hope Brown’s 3-pointer and Lindsey Scamman, who’d go on to lead Army with 21 points.
Just like in Navy’s rally win against Boston University on Wednesday, the Mids needed a little freshman mojo.
Mimi Schrader wheeled up to the box and leaped, bringing the deficit to one. Then, just before time expired, Ulasewicz drove from half-court, brushing off guards Sarah Bohn and Kate Murray to score the go-ahead basket.
“We talked about winning three quarters. We thought if we could win three quarters, we could come away with a win,” Pemper said. “So for us to grind out that first, and then to win all four, was huge.”
Entering the second quarter, the hosts seemed to shut their eyes again. Their three-and-half minute drought was broken up only by Schrader, with a steal and a layup that ultimately handed the advantage to Navy for good.
By putting faith into their pair of rookies, Schrader, who ultimately finished second behind Ulasewicz with nine points, and fellow rookie Llewellyn have begun to flower.
“Lindsay had a big one against BU, and Mimi’s been solid at the point position. (Saturday) I think her scoring was a little different,” Pemper said. “We were in a drought, and she hit that crazy pull-up off the bench. We were like ‘bad shot — Nice
shot!’ … (Saturday), we mostly needed Mimi, and she was huge.”
For a spurt, Navy seemed to have found its scoring groove again. Ulasewicz sped out of a timeout with back-to-back jumpers, which Bishop then complimented with her own.
However, the Midshipmen were fresh green kindling, quick to burn. Once again, shooters fell silent, leaving Army plenty of room to catch their breath, and catch up, within four.
But this was Ulasewicz’ night. The captain, bound for a career as an officer in the Marines, had learned something about leadership through adversity.
She jumped up at the perimeter to open the third quarter with a 3-pointer. Then, as Llewellyn batted a rebound away from Black Knight hands, the freshman flicked a pass to Morgan Taylor through traffic. As Army descended upon Taylor, bringing her to the ground, she hurled the ball to her nearest teammate, Ulasewicz, before she was swallowed whole.
“That’s such a hype play. It’s oh shoot — and then you score? That’s just awesome,” Ulasewicz said. “It’s good to have people on your team that make these big moments, these sneaky little things that change the momentum of a game.”
Ulsasewicz carried that through, lifting in the field goal priming Sophie Gatzounas to punch out the first double-digit lead over her gradually waning rivals with her own.
Though just one of Taylor’s shots survived the net, her impact quietly engineered the whole game, a heavy defense that helped facilitate Army’s 25 turnovers and snuff its best shooters.
“The biggest compliment to Morgan Taylor is she’s been really dialed in the last couple weeks,” Pemper said. “For her to not shoot it well tonight and to still be on the floor as many minutes as she was (35) — if not for foul trouble I would have left her in the whole game. That shows some maturity.”
Likewise, Gatzounas operated from behind the scenes as effectively, racking up a team-high eight rebounds and second-best nine points.
“Sophie hasn’t played 40 minutes all season; there’s been games where she’s played 12,” Pemper said.
Meanwhile, Army points were solitary buoys in a vast, unforgiving sea. Riddled by turnovers, the Black Knights couldn’t string anything together offensively. But Navy could. Ulasewicz dished to Schrader just before the end of the third, stamping out a 12-point gap before the buzzer.
Two players in black and gold wouldn’t let go of hope. After a made 3-pointer, Scamman drained a putback and Brown scored a layup that slashed Navy’s lead in half.
“Lindsey Scamman tried to blow it all up, put the game on her shoulders, but you can’t control all that,” Pemper said. “We controlled what we can.”
Ulasewicz wouldn’t let the opponent’s run materialize. She settled behind the arc and fired her first of two treys that would shatter her old single-game scoring mark and help the Mids rebuild their comfortable margin they’d carry to the end.
After the Mids gathered to sing the “Blue and Gold” second, they broke into hugs, smiles spreading across their faces.
“Even when we had our dry spell, we still had that fire. We never gave up. … That locker room’s very tight. We love each other,” Ulasewicz said. “We knew we were going to get one. That we finally got one is the best feeling. We’re on an uphill. We’re always going to keep trying. It just feels good to be on a different kind of streak this time.”