Mids learn more lessons in home opener
Every game is a growing experience for an extremely young and inexperienced Navy women’s basketball team.
More lessons were learned by the Midshipmen during Wednesday night’s home opener against a veteran opponent with a championship pedigree.
Graduate student guard Ellen Hahne scored 19 points as Albany built a big first-quarter lead then cruised to a 64-50 victory over Navy at Alumni Hall. Senior guard Fatima Lee contributed 11 points to a balanced offense by the Great Danes, who grabbed a 17-6 advantage after one period and led by double digits the rest of the way.
Albany is the defending America East Conference champion and was picked to repeat in the preseason poll. The Great Danes have seven players listed as redshirt juniors or older.
“Albany is a really good basketball team. They’re very experienced and were one of the best defensive teams in the country last season,” Navy coach Tim Taylor said. “We just didn’t make shots tonight. We had good looks — some open layups, some open 3s — and just couldn’t connect. I think we started off 0-for-9 and you just can’t dig that deep of a hole against a team like that.”
FreshmanguardMarenLouridasscored16 points and grabbed five rebounds to lead Navy (0-3), which suffered its third straight doubledigit loss to start the season. Freshman forward Gia Pissott narrowly missed a double-double with eight points and 10 rebounds.
Junior forward Sydne Watts also scored eight points on 3-for-11 shooting, which was symptomatic as the Midshipmen shot just 33.9% (20-for-59) for the game.
“We’re young and still learning, but you saw tonight that these kids compete,” Taylor said. “We’re trying to figure some things out, but this team has a lot of fight and is getting better every time out.”
Navy is so inexperienced that several of the plebes started walking off the court toward the locker room following the game.
It was their first time playing at Alumni Hall and they did not know that “Blue and Gold” is always played immediately after the final buzzer.
“It’s all totally new to these plebes and that’s why we knew there would be growing pains. I toldpeopleitwasgoingtobelikearollercoaster — up and down, up and down,” Taylor said.
Navy started three freshmen for the third straight game and played a total of five. Starting center Kate Samson, a 6-foot-4 Richmond, Virginia native, fouled out after contributing five rebounds and a blocked shot, but only two points.
“What really hurt us tonight was Kate being in foul trouble. We couldn’t take advantage of her size as far as throwing the ball into the block,” Taylor said.
Navy lost its most impactful plebe, talented point guard Toni Papahronis, to a season-ending injury during the first quarter of the opener at William & Mary. Louridas, who is a natural wingguard,hasbeenforcedtoplaythepointto compensate for the loss. Louridas took the ball strong to the basket and finished several times and also drained consecutive 3-pointers late in the fourth quarter to reduce the final deficit.
“Maren is looking to score. We were trying not to play her at the point because that’s not the strength of her game,” Taylor said. “I’m excited about where Maren is going to be in four years Pissott, who played limited minutes against William & Mary and Air Force due to illness, showed she could make an impact inside. She had five rebounds on both the offensive and defensive ends while making 3 of 6 field goals.
“Gia brings length, toughness and smarts; She’s a kid who hasn’t played a lot because she got hurt in high school, so her growth is going to be exponential,” Taylor said.
Between Pissott and Samson, the Mids have size in the post that has been severely lacking in recent seasons. Samson, who was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week after averaging 11 points and 7 rebounds in the first two games, also has a high upside.
“I think Samson is going to be a stud player in this league,” Taylor said. “We don’t get her the ball enough. She got three shots tonight. She needs to get 10 or more per game.”
Team captain Mimi Schrader is the only senior currently in the rotation. Schrader started at point guard against Albany and scored eight points on 3-for-12 shooting while dishing off one assist and committing four turnovers.
Albany (3-0) still held its largest lead of 23 points with 3:48 remaining in the game, but Navy kept battling and outscored the visitors 13-4 the rest of the way.
“You saw the kids fight to the end and they never quit, so that’s another positive,” said Taylor. “We just keep talking about playing hard. We don’t play to the scoreboard at this point; Whether we’re up 20 or down 20, we want to play to a standard as far as effort and energy.”