ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Following a three-week stretch of action away from home, the Navy women's basketball team came back to Alumni Hall on Wednesday and defeated Air Force, 67-59. After a brief break for Thanksgiving the Mids will be right back at it as the team hosts the 2019 Navy Classic this Saturday and Sunday in Annapolis. In a bracketed two-day tournament, La Salle and UMBC begin the competition on Saturday at 1 p.m. before Navy goes head-to-head with Kennesaw State at 3:15 p.m. On Sunday, Kennesaw State will play in the 1 p.m. game, while Navy will conclude the event at 3:15 p.m., the two teams will be matched based on Saturday's outcomes in either a championship or consolation game.

Both of the Navy contests will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network. Live stats will be available for all four games at NavyStats.com.

Last Time Out
Playing its first home game since Nov. 5, Navy was invigorated and efficient as the Mids (3-3) led for over 34 minutes and shot 50.0 percent from three-point range on their way to a 67-59 victory over the Air Force Falcons (1-6) in a pre-Thanksgiving service academy showdown at Alumni Hall.

The Mids' effort on Wednesday was spearheaded by the trio of Morgan Taylor, Jennifer Coleman and Lindsay Llewellyn as all three players reached double figures. Taylor tallied a season-high 16 points on 6-11 shooting, in addition to corralling seven rebounds and three assists. Coleman was the team's second-leading scorer with 15 points, while Llewellyn notched a career-best 11 points, including a trio of successful three-pointers versus the Falcons.

Both teams started out Wednesday's contest cold from the floor as Navy opened 1-7, while Air Force was just 1-6 over the first five-plus minutes. With Air Force holding a 3-2 lead, Sophie Gatzounas put Navy ahead for the first time at 4:09 as she received a slick bounce pass from Taylor for the easy layup. Consecutive three-pointers by Llewellyn helped the Mids build out their lead to 10-3. Coleman closed the period with a pull-up three-pointer at the buzzer to make it 13-5.

For all of the offensive struggles that plagued the game in the first quarter as Navy shot 31.3 percent, while Air Force 18.2 percent, the second quarter featured explosive outputs from both squads as the teams combined for 37 points, 21 for Navy and 16 for Air Force. In a trend that carried over from the first quarter, the Mids found success from three-point range with five treys. With the score 23-13, Coleman and Taylor hit three pointers in back-to-back possessions at 3:27 and 2:58 to give Navy its first 16-point lead of the game, 29-13. Air Force went on to score eight of the next 10 points to cut its deficit to 10 points with under a minute to go in the quarter. Navy's fifth and final three-point of the period, a Llewellyn shot from the wing at 0:18 sent the contest to the locker room, 34-21 in favor of the host Midshipmen.

Air Force came out in the second half with a concerted effort to cut into Navy's 13-point lead. The Falcons opened the third quarter on a 14-4 run over the first 4:43 of play. With the score 38-35 at 5:17, the Mids slowing extended its lead back out to seven points by the 2:43 mark as Taylor and Kolbi Green notched layups, the only two made baskets during that span.

Down 47-39 at the start of the fourth quarter, a quick layup by the Falcons' Kaelin Immel got Air Force within six points 1:23 into the stanza. That was the closest that Air Force would get for the remaining 8:37 of the game as Navy immediately responded with 10 unanswered points. The trio of Gatzounas (3), Coleman (4) and Jasmine Bishop (4) scored all 10 points for the Mids to match their largest lead of the game of 16, 57-41 at the 6:37 point of the fourth. The Falcons attempted to get their deficit within reach over the rest of the quarter, but their effort proved insufficient as they were only able to cut Navy's lead to seven points, 66-59 with 10 seconds remaining. A Ulasewicz free throw with three seconds left closed the scoring the 67-59.

For the game, Navy outshot Air Force, 43.6 percent (24-55) to 40.4 percent (21-52). The Mids also held advantages in three-point shooting, 50.0 percent (10-20) to 30.8 percent (4-13) and in free throw shooting, 69.2 percent (9-13) to 56.5 percent (13-23).

Navy versus The Field
The Mids and Owls of Kennesaw State have never met on the hardwood ... Saturday's game between Navy and KSU will be the 15th-ever matchup against an Atlantic Sun opponent for the Mids, all-time Navy is 9-5 (Liberty 9-5; NJIT 2-0; Stetson 1-1; Jacksonville 1-2) ... Amongst their potential day two opponents, Navy has never played La Salle, while UMBC is the most popular non-conference foe for Navy in program history with 27 matchups dating back to Jan. 11, 1978 (the series is 14-13 in favor Navy) ... Most recently, the Mids and Retrievers met in Annapolis on Dec. 20, 2011 and UMBC was victorious, 54-46 ... UMBC has played in the Navy Classic twice before going 0-2 at the 2017 competition (versus St. Bonaventure & North Dakota State) and 0-2 at the 2013 event (versus Rider & Brown).

Mids in the Navy Classic 
All-time at the Navy Classic, the Mids are 38-14 over 26 events dating back to 1990 ... the event has rotated between a tournament format with a bracket and a classic with predetermined matchups ... the Classic has been an annual event in Annapolis since Head Coach Stefanie Pemper took the reins of the Navy program in 2008-09 as the event was tabled in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 ... Navy has won eight of the last 10 games in the Classic dating back to 2014.

The Mids went 1-1 in action at the 2018 Navy Classic with a 65-61 loss to Penn on Saturday before coming back on Sunday and dominating North Carolina A&T, 72-49 ... Sophie Gatzounas was named to 2018 Navy Classic All-Tournament Team after compiling a stat-line of 14.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game, while shooting 59.1 percent (13-22) from the field ... Morgan Taylor was also strong throughout the Classic as she averaged 13.0 points and 10.0 rebounds in the pair of matchups ... Kolbi Green (11.5 ppg) and Jennifer Coleman (10.0 ppg) also averaged double-digits for the Mids.

As a team, Navy posted a 38.6 (49-127) field goal percentage, a 35.0 (14-40) three-point percentage and a 70.0 (21-30) percent mark from the foul line ... The Mids had a 44.0 to 41.5 advantage on the boards and averaged 13.0 steals per game.

Comparing the Teams

(2019-20 Stats)	Navy	KSU	La Salle	UMBC
Record	3-3	4-2	5-1	2-4
Home / Away / Neut. Record	2-0 / 1-3	2-0 / 2-2	2-1 / 3-0	2-1 / 0-3
Points Per Game	56.5 PPG	70.2 PPG	70.7 PPG	65.5 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	56.2 PPG	64.5 PPG	61.2 PPG	64.0 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	36.3 %	42.7 %	38.4 %	45.4 %
3-Point Percentage	30.1 %	27.3 %	34.2 %	36.8 %
Free Throw Percentage	65.0 %	79.3 %	68.9 %	67.0 %
Rebounds Per Game	33.8 RPG	38.5 RPG	44.3 RPG	37.7 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	12.5 / 13.2	9.8 / 17.3	13.7 / 23.3	12.5 / 19.7

Individual Leaders

(2019-20 Stats)	Navy	Kennesaw State	La Salle	UMBC
Points Per Game	Green, 9.8 PPG	A. Poole, 15.7 PPG	C. Jacobs, 12.3 PPG	T. Oliver, 21.3 PPG
Rebounds Per Game	Gatzounas, 5.7 RPG	A. Poole, 8.0 RPG	S. Miller, 9.0 RPG	J. Summers, 7.5 RPG
Assists Per Game	Ulasewicz, 3.0 APG	A. Johnson, 3.0 APG	D. King, 3.7 APG	P. Rubio, 5.5 APG
Field Goal Percentage	Gatzounas, 57.1 %	A. Poole, 56.7 %	S. Miller, 44.8 %	E. Fisher, 56.5 %
3-Point Percentage	Coleman, 50.0 %	G. Piccolino, 28.6 %	C. Jacobs, 42.9 %	T. Oliver, 45.9 %
Free Throw Percentage	Coleman, 63.6 %	C. Gianolla, 92.3 %	D. King, 77.8%	T. Oliver, 77.8 %

Parking/Shuttle Ticket Information
Vehicle access to the U.S. Naval Academy is limited to those with a Department of Defense identification card ... It is suggested that everyone else park at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium ($5 per vehicle) and ride the free shuttle bus to and from the game ... Shuttle bus service will begin one hour prior to tip. Note that a government issued identification card must be carried and presented by visitors ages 18 and older to the USNA prior to being allowed onto The Yard.

Tickets
Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for youth online in advance of the game at NavySports.com. The Alumni Hall Ticket Office will open one hour prior to the start of the game.