ANNAPOLIS, Md. - One of the greatest rivalries in college athletics will hit the hardwood this Saturday in West Point, N.Y. when the Navy Midshipmen and Army Black Knights clash at Christl Arena. Coming off sweeps of the Black Knights (7-9, 2-3 PL) in 2016-17 and 2017-18, the Mids (8-7, 3-2 PL) will look to keep their win streak versus their rivalry going in the nationally-televised contest. Both teams head into the matchup after securing victories on Wednesday as Army defeated Lafayette, 65-50, while Navy knocked off Holy Cross, 54-47. CBS Sports Network will air Saturday's game beginning at 12-noon. 

Both a live radio broadcast and live stats will be available for the contest. Fans will be able to tune into WNAV AM-1430 / FM-99.9 starting at 11:45 AM for the pregame show.

Last Time Out
In a matchup of two teams coming off of Patriot League wins over the weekend, Navy and Holy Cross gave the fans at Alumni Hall an ultra-competitive 40-minute women's basketball game in which neither team ever held more than a nine-point lead on Wednesday night. Trailing for the first 18:01 of the game, the Mids (8-7, 3-2 PL) overcame a six-point deficit to take a slim 24-23 lead into halftime before slowly putting some distance between themselves and the Crusaders (9-7, 1-4 PL) in the second half. Clutch play down the stretch helped Navy secure its third Patriot League win of the season and second in a row.

Trailing 15-9 after one quarter of play, Jennifer Coleman single-handedly cut Navy's six-point deficit in half within the first minute as she swished a three-pointer from the top of the arch. Over the next six minutes, the margin between the Mids and Crusaders bounded between two and five points as every time Navy shrunk Holy Cross' lead to one possession, the Crusaders would respond. With score 23-18 at 1:59, Kolbi Green dialed up her second made three-pointer of the contest to make a 23-21 game. Tight defense and the three-ball once again came through as the Mids forced a Crusader shot-clock violation and immediately came down the court and set Coleman up for the trey. That basket by Coleman gave Navy its first lead of the game and put the squad up 24-23 going into the halftime intermission.

With the score knotted at 27-27 early in the third period, the Mids responded with five points as Laurel Jaunich converted a pair of foul shots and Coleman hit a three within 43 seconds of each other at 5:37 and 4:54. After a brief comeback attempt by Holy Cross saw the visitors cut Navy's five-point lead to two, 34-32, at the 3:07 mark, the hosts closed out the final portion of the quarter on an 8-2 run.

Up 42-34 going into the fourth quarter, the Mids built their lead out to nine points at 44-35 when Coleman made a layup at 8:22. A two-point rebuttal by Megan Swords on the opposite end of the court at 7:59 were the final points for either team for over three-plus minutes. Trailing by seven points, Holy Cross cut six points off its deficit between 4:40 and 2:01 to make it a 46-45 game. With her team up by just one with 1:34 left in regulation, Coleman calmly hit a jumper in the lane to put the Mids up 48-45. Another clutch field goal conversion came from Jaunich at 0:47 to extend Navy's lead out to five. The Mids' perfect day at the free throw line went the entire 40 minutes as Bianca Roach and Green each went 2-2 over the final 16 seconds to close the game at 54-47.

Holy Cross barely outpaced Navy in both the field goal and three-point shooting categories as the visitors shot 32.0 percent from the field and 29.4 percent from three-point range, while the Mids recorded a 30.2 percent mark from the field and a 28.6 percent number from distance. Navy was locked in from the charity stripe as the team was a perfect 10-for-10 in free throw attempts.

Coleman had a hand in all facets of Navy's success on Wednesday as she recorded a game-high 21 points, in addition to 12 rebounds, three steals and two assists. Combined with her freshman backcourt mate Green, the duo totaled 36 of the Mids' 54 points and knocked down all six of the team's three-point baskets. Green finished the contest with 15 points, three three-pointers and three steals.

Navy versus Army
The Mids and Black Knights have met 71 times in a series that began on January 18, 1981  ... All-time, Navy and Army, 37-34 with a 18-14 advantage in games played in West Point ... The Mids have won three straight games at Christl Arena (2015, 2017, 2018) ... In her 11 seasons as head coach Stefanie Pemper is 13-8 versus Army... Last season marked the 10th time in series history that the Mids had swept the regular season, 2-0 over the Black Knights ... Over the last ten matchups, Navy is 6-4 and currently holds a five-game winning streak.
    Last 5 Games:
    Feb. 10, 2018 (A): Navy 55 - Army 46 **2018 Star Game
    Jan. 14, 2018 (H): Navy 70 - Army 44
    March 10, 2017 (N): Navy 54 - Army 53 *Patriot League Semifinals (at Bucknell)
    Feb. 18, 2017 (H): Navy 67 - Army 62 **2017 Star Game
    Jan. 21, 2017 (A): Navy 63 - Army 58

2017-18 Series Recap
Navy and Army played twice last year during the regular season ... The Mids secured comfortable wins in both matchups as the ran away from the Black Knights in Annapolis on Jan. 14 by a score of 70-44 before going up to West Point on Feb. 10 and winning 55-46; Navy was up 14 midway through the fourth quarter before Army tightened it to the final margin  ... Looking at the cumulative statistics, Navy held significant advantages in most categories including scoring (62.5 - 45.0 ppg), field goal percentage (47.0% - 24.8%), three-point shooting (34.5% - 17.2%) and assists (17.0-7.0 apg) ... Of the 80 total minutes of action, Navy led for 58:18 minutes versus 10:43 for Army ... Large advantages in the second and third quarters helped the Mids in the 2017-18 series as they outscored the Black Knights, 28-16 in the second and 38-24 in the third.

Comparing the Teams

(2018-19 Stats)	Navy	Army
Record / Patriot League	8-7 / 3-2	7-9 / 2-3
Home / Away Record	4-4 / 4-3	5-4 / 2-5
Points Per Game	57.1 PPG	56.6 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	55.0 PPG	57.3 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	34.2 %	36.4 %
3-Point Percentage	24.9 %	29.5 %
Free Throw Percentage	65.5 %	62.5 %
Rebounds Per Game	40.5 RPG	41.5 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	11.1 / 17.3	11.3 / 14.9

Individual Leaders

(2018-19 Stats)	Navy	Army
Points Per Game	Coleman, 13.1 PPG	M. Hovren, 18.4 PPG
Rebounds Per Game	Coleman, 8.1 RPG	M. Hovren, 12.8 RPG
Assists Per Game	Coleman, 2.8 APG	J. Lewis, 4.5 APG
Field Goal Percentage	Gatzounas, 47.1 %	M. Hovren, 44.0 %
3-Point Percentage	Gatzounas, 34.6 %	J. Lewis, 33.0 %
Free Throw Percentage	Green, 80.8 %	K. Murray, 84.2 %

Keys to Success
Through 15 games, some patterns are starting to emerge for the Midshipmen ...
Allowing 57 or fewer points: Navy is ... 7-1
Holding opponents to 39% or less shooting from the field: 8-2
Leading at Halftime: 6-1
Scoring more points in the paint: 7-1
Out-rebounding the opponent: 7-3