ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Fresh off a one-point come-from-behind victory over Saint Joseph's on Monday, the Navy women's basketball team will be back in action on Thursday with the first game of its 2018-19 Patriot League schedule. The Mids' (5-5) 20-game Patriot League slate kicks off at 12 p.m. on Thursday in Baltimore as the Loyola Greyhounds (1-10) will host their neighbors to the south in a contest at Reitz Arena. The two squads met three times in 2017-18 with Navy winning two of the three matchups, including a showdown in the quarterfinals of the Patriot League Tournament.

Monday's game will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network. Live stats will be available at NavyStats.com.

Last Time Out
In the final non-conference game of the 2018-19 schedule for the Navy women's basketball team, the Mids turned in a gutsy come-from-behind victory to knock off the Saint Joseph's Hawks, 49-48. After an extended break due to the holidays, the Mids (5-5) came out on Monday and opened the game at a 13-4 disadvantage after the first quarter before slowing scratching away at their deficit. Finally, in the fourth quarter, Navy was able to push ahead of the Hawks (4-9) on their way to the win in front of their home fans at Alumni Hall. 

Trailing 13-4 after one quarter, the contest stayed a 7-10-point margin until 4:07 of the second when Morgan Taylor went two-for-two from the foul line and cut the Mids' deficit to 19-13. Three pointers by Cayla Hannibal and Cailin Duffy made it 21-19 in favor of the visitors before made a layup with four seconds left to send the game into the locker room at 23-19. Navy's comeback was helped by the Mids shooting 40.0 percent (4-10) in the quarter versus a 27.3 (3-11) mark for the Hawks.

The game was close for the majority of the third quarter as Saint Joseph's stretched its lead to seven points (27-20) at 7:33 before Navy fired back with a 5-0 run with a pair of Bianca Roach free throws capping the run at 3:53. Seven of Navy's 11 points in the period came from the charity stripe as the team shot 7-of-11.

Three straight made field goals by the Mids from 8:56 to 7:40 enabled Navy to retake the lead 36-33 over Saint Joseph's. Over the next five minutes of play, Navy's lead bounded between one and three points as the teams traded layups extensively. St. Joe's finally broke the streak of alternating baskets when Kristalyn Baisden made a three-pointer at 2:02 to knot the game at 44-44. After a pair of made free throws at 1:31 put the Hawks back ahead, 46-44, Gatzounas deposited her first trey of the game at 1:10 to make it 47-46. With 13 seconds left on the clock, Mary Kate Ulasewicz calmly sank two free throws to increase the Mids' lead to three points. Baisden made two of three foul shots with six seconds remaining to close the game to its final one-point margin, 49-48.

Sophie Gatzounas led Navy's offensive effort with a game-high 13 points.

For her efforts Gatzounas was selected as the NAAA Athlete of the Week presented by Northrop Grumman on Tuesday.

Navy versus Loyola
The Mids and Greyhounds have met 28 times in a series that began on January 28, 1979 ... All-time, Navy leads Loyola, 20-8 with a 7-6 mark in games played in Baltimore ... Since the Greyhounds joined the Patriot League in 2013-14, the Mids are 8-3, including a 1-1 showing in a pair of Patriot League postseason contests ... Over the last ten matchups, Navy is 6-4.
    Last 5 Games:
    March 5, 2018 (H): Navy 63 - Loyola 55 (PL Quarterfinals)
    Feb. 24, 2018 (A): Loyola 58 - Navy 40
    Dec. 29, 2017 (H): Navy 73 - Loyola 44
    Feb. 8, 2017 (A): Navy 55 - Loyola 43
    Jan. 11, 2017 (H): Navy 77 - Loyola 51

2017-18 Series Recap
Navy and Loyola played three times last season with the Mids earning two victories at home; 73-44 on Dec. 29 and 63-55 on March 5 in the Patriot League Quarterfinals ... The Greyhounds took the lone matchup at Reitz Arena on Feb. 24 by a score of 58-40 ... Looking at the cumulative statistics, Navy outshot Loyola from the field 37.3% to 35.3%, while the Greyhounds had a 6.7-rebound per game advantage (40.7-34.0) in the battle of the boards ... Of the 120 total minutes of action, the Mids were in the lead for 75:01 minutes.

Comparing the Teams

(2018-19 Stats)	Navy	Loyola
Record / League-Only	5-5 / 0-0	1-10 / 0-0
Home / Away / Neut. Record	3-2 / 2-3	0-3 / 1-5 / 0-2
Points Per Game	59.9 PPG	51.6 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	56.9 PPG	65.5 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	35.1 %	31.3 %
3-Point Percentage	24.9 %	29.9 %
Free Throw Percentage	63.6 %	65.9 %
Rebounds Per Game	40.2 RPG	32.4 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	11.1 / 18.0	10.4 / 15.3

Individual Leaders

(2018-19 Stats)	Navy	Loyola
Points Per Game	Coleman, 12.9 PPG	I. Therien, 11.4 PPG
Rebounds Per Game	Gatzounas, 7.2 RPG	S. Karcz, 9.7 RPG
Assists Per Game	Coleman, 2.8 APG	S. Karcz, 3.3 APG
Field Goal Percentage	Gatzounas, 51.8 %	D. Connolly, 43.8 %
3-Point Percentage	Gatzounas, 40.0 %	D. Connolly, 47.1 %
Free Throw Percentage	Green, 81.8 %	B. Betz-White, 79.7 %

Keys to Success
Through 10 games, some patterns are starting to emerge for the Midshipmen ...
Allowing 59 or few points: Navy is ... 4-1
Holding opponents to 38% or less shooting from the field: 5-0
Scoring more points in the paint: 4-1
Out-rebounding the opponent: 4-2

Sophie Gatzounas, NAAA Athlete of the Week
In recognition of her game-high 13 points scored versus Saint Joseph's on Monday, sophomore Sophie Gatzounas was selected as the NAAA Athlete of the Week presented by Northrop Grumman on Jan. 1. Gatzounas' three most important points of the game came with 70 seconds left in the game as she sank a three-pointer to put Navy up 47-46. The Massachusetts native added five rebounds and a steal during her 29 minutes of action versus the Hawks. The Mids' leading shooter with a 51.8 percent field goal percentage through 10 games, Gatzounas was an efficient 5-for-10 from the field in the 49-48 victory.

This is Gatzounas' third NAAA Athlete of the Week honor in 2018-19 as she was previously selected on Nov. 26 and Dec. 24 for her in-game efforts.