Mids fall to Army on last-second layup
Navy women’s basketball led for all but nine minutes and victory over Army in the annual Star game was theirs for the taking.
However, costly turnovers down the stretch and Trinity Hardy’s layup with two seconds remaining turned a season-defining win into heartache for the Midshipmen, who fell to the Black Knights, 66-64, in front of a packed Alumni Hall on Saturday.
Navy would not have been in the game if not for the performance of senior forward Lindsay Llewellyn, who scored a careerhigh 25 points, collected 10 rebounds and had five assists. However, Llewellyn’s four turnovers in the fourth period proved costly, especially the one that gave Army possession with 9.8 seconds remaining and the score tied at 64.
Army head coach Missy Traversi called a timeout and drew up a play for Hardy.
“We thought they struggled with the matchup with Trinity because of her speed,” Traversi said. “We noticed that [Navy freshman guard Maren Louridas] was guarding Trinity, so we decided to set-up a downhill attack to get Trinity slashing to the basket. The [same] play before that worked, so we went back to it.”
Prior to Army’s winning shot, Navy capitalized on its own designed play to take a late lead. Louridas tied the game at 62 with 59 seconds left and got the ball back after a defensive stop.
“We drew it up exactly the way we wanted to,” Navy coach Tim Taylor said.
The play worked to perfection as Llewellyn was able to break away from the slower defender for an uncontested layup to put Navy ahead 64-62. It seemed as if the Mids were going to be able to add to their lead with 15 seconds remaining when Army’s Hope Brown appeared to take an extra step after collecting an offensive rebound.
Taylor, who is not known for criticizing referees after games, was noticeably agitated with the call when he met with reporters.
“It was a clear travel. I’m sorry, I’m going to be honest. … [It was] backed up by video. One call doesn’t cost the game, but right there in that situation, it’s a tough play. I’m a little bitter right now,” he said.
The controversial no-call turned into a foul on Navy and Brown, who led Army with 14 points, sank both free throws to tie the score at 64.
With the win, Army improved to 10-13 overall and 8-5 in the Patriot League, while Navy fell to 1-23, including 1-12 in the conference. For much of the game, however, it seemed as if the records for the two teams were reversed.
“I thought Navy played us extremely tough. They were the better team for three quarters,” Traversi said. “We threw everything at them defensively. And Lindsey Llewellyn was great. [It seemed like] she didn’t miss a shot.”
Early on neither team was able to establish much offensively, as Navy took a 14-13 lead. Llewellyn came alive on both ends of the floor in the second quarter. Her jump shot at the 7:51 mark gave Navy an 18-16 lead — a lead they kept until there was just over three minutes left in the game.
The Mids’ largest lead was 12 points in the second quarter and they led 35-28 at halftime thanks in large part to 11 points from Llewellyn and 10 from Louridas, who called playing in her first Army-Navy game at home, “surreal” and “super motivating.”
One of the reasons Navy was able to outplay Army for most of the game was because it held onto the ball more than it was accustomed to doing. The Midshipmen, who came into the game averaging 18 turnovers per game, only committed six in the first 20 minutes.
That fact didn’t go unnoticed by Traversi, who changed course and applied a full-court press in the second half.
“I guess not good coaching. I probably should have [pressured Navy] early on. I think they had the pace and the tempo in the first half,” she said.
Army’s pressure started to work and it allowed it to erase Navy’s 57-49 lead. Two Navy turnovers were converted into baskets and Sam McNaughton’s 3-point shot with 3:23 left tied the game at 58.
Traversi credited her team’s leadership down the stretch for helping Army pull out the win. Her counterpart praised his seniors as well, especially Llewellyn.
“I can’t say enough about her. She plays big in Army games. We are not in the position to win the game [without her],” Taylor said. “She did everything in her power … she carried us. She put this team on her back and carried us.”
Louridas, who along with junior Sydne Watts finished with 13 points for Navy, wished the outcome could have been different, especially for Llewellyn and fellow seniors, Mimi Schrader and Imani Edmonds.
“I’m just heartbroken we couldn’t [win] for them. This feeling will definitely stick with us. It will give us more motivation,” she said.