By Seth Mendelson/CaMMVets Media
3-24-2025
The Army women’s basketball team could have folded when they trailed host Rutgers 18-4 less than four minutes into the first quarter.
They could have been content making the second round of the WNIT and facing a larger and faster Scarlet Knight team, which includes Destiny Adams, viewed by many as a surefire first round pick in the upcoming WNBA draft.
But, that is not the way this Army team was made. Instead of mailing in the final game of the season, the Black Knights slowly fought their way back into the contest, coming as close as three points, 56-53, when sophomore Camryn Tade hit a layup with about 6:25 left in the game.
But that was as close as Army would get. Rutgers, out of the Big 10 conference, just took command of the final minutes of the game, held Army to just seven more points, while controlling the inside game and making key foul shots. The final score was 71-60, moving Rutgers on to the third round of the tournament and sending the Black Knights home after a season that featured a lot more positives than negatives.
“I just cannot say enough about the career (guard) Trinity (Hardy) had here and what she did for this program,” said Army coach Missy Traversi. “We finished with a 25-8 record, beat Navy twice and had an overtime win over Air Force. We also got to the championship game of the Patriot League, then coming here to Rutgers and getting our first postseason with against Bryant (in the first round of the WNIT last Thursday.)
“The experience in the post season is going to propel us in future seasons. Obviously, losing Trinity is a huge loss but we have other players ready to step up and do what they can to help the program take another step next year.”
“They best part about this team is that they are a team,” Traversi noted. “It is always been about us, never about we. That is my biggest takeaway from this season.”
Tade was Army’s leading scorer with 13 points. Sophomore Fiona Hastick scored 12 points and sophomore Kya Smith had 11 points for the Black Knights, while, in her last game for Army, Hardy scored eight points and had eight rebounds.
They could have been content making the second round of the WNIT and facing a larger and faster Scarlet Knight team, which includes Destiny Adams, viewed by many as a surefire first round pick in the upcoming WNBA draft.
But, that is not the way this Army team was made. Instead of mailing in the final game of the season, the Black Knights slowly fought their way back into the contest, coming as close as three points, 56-53, when sophomore Camryn Tade hit a layup with about 6:25 left in the game.
But that was as close as Army would get. Rutgers, out of the Big 10 conference, just took command of the final minutes of the game, held Army to just seven more points, while controlling the inside game and making key foul shots. The final score was 71-60, moving Rutgers on to the third round of the tournament and sending the Black Knights home after a season that featured a lot more positives than negatives.
“I just cannot say enough about the career (guard) Trinity (Hardy) had here and what she did for this program,” said Army coach Missy Traversi. “We finished with a 25-8 record, beat Navy twice and had an overtime win over Air Force. We also got to the championship game of the Patriot League, then coming here to Rutgers and getting our first postseason with against Bryant (in the first round of the WNIT last Thursday.)
“The experience in the post season is going to propel us in future seasons. Obviously, losing Trinity is a huge loss but we have other players ready to step up and do what they can to help the program take another step next year.”
“They best part about this team is that they are a team,” Traversi noted. “It is always been about us, never about we. That is my biggest takeaway from this season.”
Tade was Army’s leading scorer with 13 points. Sophomore Fiona Hastick scored 12 points and sophomore Kya Smith had 11 points for the Black Knights, while, in her last game for Army, Hardy scored eight points and had eight rebounds.
All photos: ARMY ATHLETICS - Chris Shannon photography