Bucknell University
23-8,12-6Patriot
Navy (PL Semifinals)
10-21,5-13Patriot
Women's Basketball Advances to PL Championship Game With 64-44 Win Over Navy
3/10/2022 8:04:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Tickets to Sunday's Patriot League Championship game at Bender Arena in Washington D.C. are on sale NOW! Visit Bucknell's campus box office to purchase.
A fan bus will be leaving from Bucknell at 7 a.m. Sunday morning. Seats on the bus are $20 per person and are first come, first serve. Tickets to the game itself are not included. The bus will depart from the loading dock located behind Sojka Pavilion. To reserve seats on the fan bus, email Todd Newcomb at tnewcomb@bucknell.edu.
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Taylor O'Brien scored 21 points, Cecelia Collins registered five points, eight rebounds and eight assists, and the Bucknell women's basketball team defeated Navy 64-44 Thursday evening at Sojka Pavilion to advance to the Patriot League Championship game for the sixth time in program history. The fourth-seeded Bison will face second-seeded American in Washington, D.C., Sunday at noon.
Bucknell (23-8) limited the eighth-seeded Mids (10-21) to seven points in both the first and third quarters. The Bison held Navy without a point for the first five minutes of the third stanza to extend a 36-19 halftime lead to a game-high 27 points at 46-19 after an Isabella King 3-pointer.
Jennifer Coleman led Navy with 27 points, but the Mids did not draw closer than 20 points the rest of the way.
Navy reached the semifinal round after upsetting top-seeded Holy Cross (20-10) during the quarterfinals on Monday.
Bucknell held a 45-28 edge in rebounds, with Carly Krsul pulling down a game-high 10 boards. The Bison grabbed 13 offensive boards that led to 10 second-chance points. Bucknell assisted on 17 of its 22 made field goals in the game.
Bucknell shot 50 percent (12-for-24) in the first half and finished 22-for-54 (40.7 percent). Navy shot 29.8 percent (17-for-57) in the contest, with Coleman making 11 of her 29 shots.
The Bison were 7-of-19 (36.9 percent) from 3-point range in the game, including a 5-of-8 showing in the first half. Meanwhile, the Mids connected on just one of their nine attempts from beyond the arc. King accounted for three of the Bison triples, while O'Brien added two more.
Bucknell was able to build a 14-7 lead over the first 10 minutes with strong defensive play and a pair of early threes. O'Brien scored seven of her 21 points in the first, and the Bison limited Navy to just 2-of-10. The Mids held their only lead of the game at 2-0 before Bucknell went on a 7-0 run that was capped by a fast-break 3-pointer from King.
1st | Bucknell 10, Navy 4
— Bucknell WBB (@Bucknell_WBB) March 10, 2022
King gets a friendly bounce, and the Bison are on a 10-2 run! O'Brien also knocked down a triple. The Mids are 1-of-6 to start.
Watch: https://t.co/rHxXhYqjFY pic.twitter.com/ZmoQABzduy
Bucknell was outstanding shooting the ball in the second quarter, going 7-for-10 from the field and 3-for-3 from long range. O'Brien's 3-pointer with 2:10 to go in the frame gave Bucknell its first double-digit lead of the contest at 31-19 and came in the middle of a 10-0 run that last until halftime.
2nd | Bucknell 33, Navy 19
— Bucknell WBB (@Bucknell_WBB) March 10, 2022
O'Brien from long range!
Watch: https://t.co/rHxXhYqjFY pic.twitter.com/HEITYzjcec
Krsul ended the half by drawing a foul on a layup with eight seconds left and completing the and-1 to give the Bison a 36-19 lead going into the locker rooms.
Just nine seconds into the third quarter, King knocked down another three, and O'Brien followed it up with a mid-range jumper to force an early Navy timeout. The 10-0 run that ended the first half turned into a 20-0 run as the Bison held the Mids off the scoreboard for the first 5:10 of the third quarter.
Bucknell never allowed Navy to get closer than 24 in the third, as the Mids shot just 23.1 percent (3-for-13).
Navy played its best over the final 10 minutes, shooting 37.5 percent (6-for-16) and outscoring the Bison 18-13. Still, Bucknell kept the deficit at 20 or more throughout the frame.
Bucknell led by as many as 26 in the fourth. Navy finished the game on an 8-2 run as Coleman, the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year, made the final shot with 52 seconds left to arrive at the 64-44 final.
Other notable performances by the Bison included eight points, six rebounds and three assists from senior Marly Walls, and six points, six rebounds, a steal and an assist from junior Emma Shaffer.
Bucknell's last trip to the title game came in 2019 when it defeated American 66-54 at Sojka Pavilion. Walls and O'Brien were both members of the 2019 championship team as freshmen. O'Brien grabbed two steals and a pair of rebounds in the game, while Walls finished with a rebound and an assist. The Bison have won the championship in four of their five attempts.
Sunday's Patriot League final will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network. Jason Knapp and Julianne Viani-Braen will have the call, and coverage begins at noon.
