Fighting through screens, denying passes, wrestling for rebounds, and, most of all, diving for loose balls, Membreno was the pulse of a defense that propelled Navy to a 57-48 victory over Holy Cross, delivering the Midshipmen their second straight trip to the NCAA tournament.

While tournament most valuable player Jade Geif (22 points, seven rebounds) and first-team choice Kara Pollinger (10 points, seven rebounds, five assists) provided the offense, Membreno (13 points, six rebounds, five steals) led a defense that held Holy Cross without a field goal in a decisive 8-minute, 36-second stretch of the second half.

“She gets her hands on passes and she plays great help defense,” Pollinger said. “I would hate to have been Holy Cross in this game because she was literally everywhere.”

Holy Cross (18-14) entered the tournament seeded No. 5 and reached the title game with an upset of No. 1 American. On Saturday, the Crusaders led at halftime 25-18 and were still up 37-36 with 13 minutes left. But the 5-foot-9 Membreno made three steals over the next 10 minutes. Her three-pointer with 9:49 left gave the Mids a 43-37 lead.

“Defense is my role on the team. Sometimes my offense isn’t always there,” said Membreno who also made the all-tournament team. “If I can’t score out there, I’m gonna to what I have to do to contribute, steal the ball, dive on the floor.”

Toughness allowed Navy (18-13) to advance on a night when it hit just two field goals in the first 11 minutes and finished 37.3 percent from the floor. The Midshipmen out-rebounded the Crusaders, 40-30, including 25-13 in the second half. They also forced 15 turnovers and limited Holy Cross to 34 percent shooting overall and 26.1 percent from the arc.

In winning the MVP award for the second straight year, Geif scored her career high, which included 14 points in the second half. With the clock shot expiring, the 6-foot sophomore hit the clinching bucket with 2:05 left, an off-balance, fall-away prayer, which put Navy up 55-48.

Going to Geif was a priority for the Mids after their offense struggled in the first half.

“Their athleticism and their active hands, we had a really hard time getting separation on the perimeter,” Navy coach Stefanie Pemper said. “They just stayed with us everywhere. We really needed Jade to be an inside presence, because we knew they couldn’t stay with her.”

It was a satisfying triumph for a Navy team that graduated its top two scorers and now starts four sophomores. The Mids had a four-game losing streak in December and a three-game skid in late February.  

“We never really got on a roll this year,” Pemper said. “We’re on a roll now. The players deserve so much credit for sticking together and staying poised.”

No one deserved it more than Membreno, who started wearing knee pads at the suggestion of the Navy trainer.

“He had a talk with me saying I need to stop being reckless. I kind of throw my body out there,,” Membreno said. “I kept coming into the training room with all these bruises. And look, now I’ve got all these holes in my knee pads.”

Notes: Navy rallied from a 12-point halftime deficit in the title game last year against American to win its first Patriot League title … The women’s selection show will be on Monday night on ESPN … Holy Cross was led guard Brisje Malone (13 points, four steals) and forward Amy Lepley (11 points, eight rebounds, three steals).

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