No. 4 Army Avenges Regular-Season Losses To No. 5 Navy in Women's Basketball; Advances To Patriot League Tournament Semifinals

3/2/2001 - Women's Basketball
No. 4 Army Avenges Regular-Season Losses To No. 5 Navy in Women's Basketball; Advances To Patriot League Tournament Semifinals

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ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Army starters Halaevalu Helu, Katie Macfarlane and Therese Kelley combined to score 55 of Army's 73 points to lead the Black Knights (19-9) to a 73-61 Patriot League Quarterfinal win over arch rival Navy (10-18) Friday afternoon in the first game of the 2000-01 Patriot League Men's and Women's Basketball Tournament. Navy defeated Army in both regular-season contests this season - 72-61 Jan. 24 at Army and 81-59 Feb. 24 at Navy.

In a game full of runs, Navy opened the contest on a three-pointer by senior Jennifer Bombinski before Army rattled off nine-consecutive points. Meanwhile, after a five-minute dry spell by the Midshipmen, Navy's Courtney Davidson broke the Army run with a three-pointer that led to a Navy 11-0 run. The Midshipmen built the lead to as many as six , before Army cut into and eventually took over the lead, 27-26, on a jumper by Katie Macfarlane with nearly three minutes in the half. Navy, though, scored six straight to build up its lead and took a three-point lead into the half, 35-32.

Navy drove the lead to seven, 41-34, but a layup by Macfarlane coming at the 15:37 mark sparked a 17-2 run over a six-minute span by the Black Knights. Down 51-43, the Midshipmen got to within a point following a three-point play by Bombinski with 6:51 remaining in the game.

Navy then missed seven-consecutive field goals between 6:24 and 2:48 when freshman Maile Shimoda connected on a jumper, as Army led, 62-58.

It came down to excellent free-throw shooting by Army down the stretch, as the Black Knights were 11-of-12 in the final two minutes of action, sealing the victory and the chance to play the No. 1-seeded Holy Cross team Saturday evening.

Kelley led Army with a 22-point performance, shooting 70 percent (7-for-10) from the field and 8-for-8 from the charity stripe. Meanwhile, Macfarlane and Helu both posted double-doubles - Macfarlane tossed in 21 points and grabbed 12 caroms, while Helu produced 12 points and tallied 11 rebounds.

Davidson led Navy with 21 points, hitting three three-pointers and making all eight free throws. Bombinski played the final game of her career and posted 13 points, six rebounds and three assists.

The Black Knights shot 50 percent from the field, hitting 22-for-44 and 71.8 percent from the free-throw line. Meanwhile, Navy made just nine of its 39 shots in the second half which led to 30.8 percent (20-for-65) field-goal shooting for the game.

Fourth-seeded Army will play top-seeded Holy Cross (19-8) in a Patriot League women's semifinal contest Saturday at 7 p.m.