Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
13-5, 5-3
American
12-7, 7-1
Army Tops First-Place American, 68-60
January 24, 2015 | Women's Basketball
Army improves to 13-5 overall and 5-3 in the conference, while American slips to 12-7 and 7-1.
Junior Kelsey Minato led the way for Army with 26 points to include a 9-for-18 performance from the field and a 7-of-7 showing on free throws, while also grabbing six rebounds. Classmate Aimee Oertner netted 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting and controlled eight rebounds, while senior Olivia Schretzman posted 13 points to include a 9-of-12 performance from the foul line.
Senior Jen Dumiak paced American with 19 points, while classmate Arron Zimmerman and junior Michelle Holmes also finished in double figures, with 16 points and 15 points, respectively.
Army struggled to shoot the ball early and fell into a 9-2 deficit after the game's opening 5:06. The Black Knights got into a rhythm over the next several minutes and cut the Eagles' lead to three points on four separate occasions, doing so for the final time with 5:55 remaining in the first half.
Minato knocked in three straight free throws to even the score at 19-19 with 5:18 on the clock to cap a 19-10 Army run. The hosts tied it again twice more, at 21-21 and 23-23, before Oertner hit a pair of foul shots with 56.6 ticks remaining in the frame to give Army its first lead, 25-23. American senior Shaquilla Curtis buried a jumper at the 37-second mark to tie the game back up before freshman Destinee Morris hit a driving lay-up as time expired to give Army a two-point lead at the half.
After American tied the score back up at 27-27, Oertner and Minato each scored three points in a 6-0 run to put the Black Knights up by six after 2:37 of action in the second frame. The Eagles were able to cut the lead back to four, thanks to a pair of second-chance baskets from Zimmerman before Minato sank a reverse lay-up to kick start a 6-0 Black Knight run that extended the lead to 10, 41-31, with 11:41 remaining in the period.
American scored five unanswered points to shrink Army's lead to five before the Black Knights scored six straight, including four points from Oertner, to build their lead to 11, 47-36, at the 7:59 mark of the half.
Army sophomore Dani Failor hit back-to-back lay-ins 53 seconds apart to extend the hosts' advantage to 12 points, 55-43 until Dumiak netted five points in a 9-0 run that brought American back to within three points with 3:16 to play.
The Black Knights didn't allow the Eagles to come any closer and pulled away by shooting 11-of-12 from the free throw line in the game's final 1:35, with Schretzman going 9-for-10 during the stretch.
"American had a great game plan," said Army head coach Dave Magarity. "They did a good job of taking us out of our rhythm early, but I thought our defense had a big impact on our success in the second half. Aimee Oertner was terrific in the second half and we got more out of Dani Failor, and Olivia Schretzman was terrific from the foul line late in the game."
Army begins a two-game road trip at Boston University on Wednesday, Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. The road swing will take the Black Knights away from Christl Arena for five of their next six games.
GAME NOTES: Army becomes the first Patriot League squad to defeat American this season and grabs its fifth straight win over the Eagles to improve to 14-17 in the all-time series between the schools ... the Black Knights improve to 8-1 this season at Christl Arena ... Kelsey Minato scored a game-high 26 points to extend her Patriot League-record double-digit scoring streak to 67 games ... Aimee Oertner finished two points shy of her career high with 17 points ... Army Hall of Famers Melody Smith (USMA '84), Julie Del Giorno (USMA '86) and Katie Macfarlane (USMA '04) had their jerseys retired during a ceremony at halftime.
