Playing in arguably its biggest game so far this season, the Army women’s basketball team stepped up to the challenge with a 49-37 win at Bucknell on Sunday afternoon at Sojka Pavilion. The victory secured the No. 4 seed for the Black Knights, who could have finished as No. 8 with a loss on Sunday, and a meeting with host No. 5 Holy Cross in next Saturday’s opening round of the 2010 Patriot League Tournament in Worcester, Mass.
Army (11-17, 5-9 Patriot League) finished in a three-way tie with Holy Cross and Colgate for fourth in the final regular season standings, but the Black Knights won the tiebreaker to secure the fourth seed.
Behind an explosive second-half effort, junior G Jessie Coiffard led all players with 16 points - 14 of which came after the break. She shot 5-of-10 from the field and led all players with four three-pointers on the afternoon. The Lynchburg, Va., native also dished out a game-high four assists. Junior F Erin Anthony registered her league-leading 13th double-double of the season with 12 points and 13 rebounds. She was two points shy of reaching the 1,000 career point mark. She added three blocks in 40 minutes of work. Junior G Nalini Hawkins finished with seven points, while sophomore F Kait Goodall, junior G/F Laura Baranek and freshman G Liz Benedict chipped in with four points apiece.
Turnovers plagued Army in the early going as the Bison held the Black Knights scoreless over the opening five minutes of action. Coiffard drilled a pair of free throws at the 14:49 mark to cut the Bison lead in half (4-2).
Hawkins’ baseline three-pointer (10:11) gave Army its first lead of the afternoon (11-9) and ignited an 8-2 Black Knight run. Army led by as many as five (16-11) on three-pointer courtesy of Benedict at the 5:16 mark. The Bison, meanwhile, worked through a 6:26 scoring drought to lose the lead.
The Bison chipped away at the deficit and sophomore G Morgan Wrightson drilled back-to-back triples (3:24, 1:17) to keep the score tight in the waning minutes of the first half. Neither team would score over the final minute as Army entered the locker room clinging to a 20-19 advantage. Army shot 32 percent (8-of-25) and committed 11 turnovers in the first half. The Black Knights’ defense did force 12 Bucknell miscues off of which Army tallied 11 of its points. Both teams grabbed 16 boards.
Army netted the first seven points of the second half unanswered, four of which came thanks to Goodall, while Coiffard drilled her first three of the game (19:07) to help the cause as Army took a 27-19 lead with 18:15 to play.
Army continued to build its lead, charging in front by 11 (36-25) on a pair of Molly Yardley free throws at the 10:47 mark. The Black Knights were scoreless over the next three minutes as the Bison used a quick 8-0 run to pull back within three (36-33) with 7:44 on the clock.
Coming out of an Army timeout, Coiffard answered the Bison run and ignited a decisive 11-2 Army run to put the Black Knights in control by 12 (47-35) with 2:22 to play. Coiffard nailed her fourth three of the half during the spurt, while accounting for seven of Army's 11 points during the run.
Junior F Cosima Higham led the Bison with 11 points and six rebounds.
The 2010 Patriot League Tournament will start with quarterfinal games on Saturday, March 6th, at Holy Cross’ Hart Center.
