ANNAPOLIS, Md. - After a 15-day break for final exams, the Navy women's basketball team will be back in action on Thursday night with a home tilt versus the George Mason Patriots. The Mids (5-4) will be looking to take advantage of their home court versus a Patriots (4-5) team that has lost its last four games. During the non-conference portion of Navy's 2019-20 schedule, the Mids are 4-0 in games played at Alumni Hall. The contest on Thursday is set for a 7 p.m. tip-off and will be streamed online via the Patriot League Network. Additionally, the game will be available over-the-air (OTA) via the Stadium Channel with a radio broadcast for listeners on WNAV (AM-1430, FM-99.9, 1430wnav.com). Live stats will be hosted on NavyStats.com.

Last Time Out
Navy, winners of three straight games ran into a hot shooting Fairfield team on Wednesday, Dec. 4 in Connecticut. In the first-ever meeting between the Mids (5-4) and Stags (2-4), a 23-11 advantage in the second quarter spurred Fairfield onto victory. The Mids were led by a pair of individuals in double figures as Morgan Taylor posted a team-best 14 points on 5-9 shooting from the floor and a 4-5 mark from three-point territory. Jennifer Coleman joined Taylor with a double-double performance of 12 points and 11 rebounds.

The action started off back-and-forth with Fairfield opening with an initial 5-2 lead over its first two possessions. Navy responded in short order and took the lead at 6-5 by the 6:51 mark on the strength of a Mary Kate Ulasewicz layup. The Mids' 4-0 run grew up to 9-0 with a Sophie Gatzounas layup at 5:45 and a Ulasewicz trey from the top of the arc at 4:45. That basket forced the Stags to burn a timeout to try and stop the Mids' momentum. The hosts did just that with seven unanswered points in a matter of 2:25 to re-take the lead, 12-11. Another Fairfield basket, a Callie Cavanaugh jumper at 1:33 extended its lead out to 14-11 before Gatzounas came down the court on the ensuing possession and knotted it with her first three-pointer of the game. A late Stag field goal helped the team take a 16-14 lead into the first quarter break. While shooting 50.0 percent (5-10) from the field, Navy was held back in the first period by seven turnovers.

Invigorated by its late run, Fairfield came out in the second quarter and scored nine of the first 11 points to go up 25-16 over Navy with the first 3:03 of play. After a pair of successful free throws by Montana Braxton, a run of three-pointers, two for Fairfield and one for Navy, a Taylor trey, increased the score to 31-21 in favor of the Stags by the 3:13 mark. Fairfield closed out its strong quarter with eight more points, while Navy countered with four to make it 39-25 at the expiration of the first half. The Stags shot 61.5 percent (8-13) in the second quarter, while the Mids were just three of 13 from the field for 23.1 percent.

Coming out in the second half down 14 points, Navy slowly carved a point off its deficit culminating with a Coleman layup at 4:17. From that point on when it was 44-31, Fairfield went on a 7-0 run to increase its advantage out to 51-31. A hard-fought rebound and put-back by Coleman put an end to this run at 0:44. Another Coleman basket, a jumper at 0:11 concluded the quarter with the score, 51-35.
 
The Mids continued trying to break through offensively with a lengthy run in the fourth quarter, but unfortunately for the visitors their largest span of unanswered points was six between 6:56 and 3:31 when Gatzounas netted a pair of layups, while Coleman registered her tenth point with a layup at the end of the run. With the score 57-44, Fairfield came right back with a brief 5-0 run to extend its lead back out to 18 points with 2:50 left in regulation. Taylor re-established her three-point shot down the stretch with a pair of treys over the final two and a half minutes. Her fourth trey of the game at 1:21 gave her 14 points. Wednesday was the fourth time in five games, that the senior guard had netted 14 or more points.
 
In the 66-52 decision in favor of Fairfield, the host Stags outshot the Mids from both the field and the foul line with a 46.4 percent (26-56) to 38.9 percent (21-54) advantage in field goal shooting and a 77.8 percent (7-9) to 40.0 (4-10) margin in free throw shooting. Navy edged Fairfield in three-point shooting, 46.2 percent (6-13) to 43.8 percent (7-16).

Navy vs. George Mason
The Mids and Patriots have met 13 times on the hardwood in a series that dates back to Dec. 9, 1977 ... All-time, Navy holds an 8-5 advantage in the series with George Mason ... Prior to Thursday night's matchup, the teams have met just two times in the past 30 years (Nov. 25, 2014 & Dec. 20, 2016) ... The Mids hold a 6-1 edge in games played in Annapolis with victories in 1977, 1979, 1983, 1985, 1988 and 2014 ... George Mason will be the third Atlantic 10 opponent Navy will play in a span of four games as the Mids defeated La Salle, 61-46 on Dec. 1 and close out the 2019 calendar year with a Dec. 30 contest at Saint Joseph's.

Most Recent Matchup - December 20, 2016
Sarita Condie made a three-point field goal with 1.2 seconds left in regulation to cap a rally by the Navy women's basketball team that forced overtime, but the Mids were held to just four points in the extra session to fall, 68-64, to George Mason on December 20 at the Recreation Athletic Complex in Fairfax, Va. The loss by the Mids (7-4) to the Patriots (7-5) snapped a four-game winning streak for Navy.

The teams traded the lead 16 times in the first half, which ended with the Mids taking a slim 34-32 lead at the break. Navy extended its advantage to six points at 40-34, but George Mason outscored the Mids 17-2 over the remainder of the frame to build a 51-42 lead through three quarters.

Navy sliced the deficit down to three points at 53-50, but the margin grew to seven points at 57-50 and was again six points at 59-53 with 2:10 left to play. Taylor Dunham drained a three-point shot on the next Navy possession to halve the lead. Defense dominated the next 90 seconds as neither team scored until Justice Swett made the first of two free throw attempts with 21.2 seconds remaining to cut the margin down to 59-57.

After a 1-2 showing at the foul line by George Mason's Kara Wright made it 60-57 with 8.6 seconds left, Condie came through in the clutch as she caught the ball in the right corner and shot it while falling out of bounds back toward the baseline. Her shot arced over the upper-right corner of the backboard and fell through the rim with 1.2 seconds left to tie the game and force overtime.

George Mason scored the initial four points of the extra session before a Condie layup cut it back down to a two-point game. The margin was back to four when Dunham scored on a layup with 49 seconds left to make the score 66-64. Down the stretch, Navy's defense forced a shot clock violation, which gave the ball back to the Mids with 19 seconds left. After a timeout by the Mids allowed them to inbound in front of their bench, the ball soon found its way into Dunham's hands. She shook free of her defender and tried a 12-foot shot from the lane that was off its mark. Wright grabbed the loose ball for the Patriots and was fouled with 6.4 seconds still to play. She would make both foul shots to account for the final scoring.

Current seniors Laurel Jaunich (1 reb./1 blk, 14 minutes) and Morgan Taylor (2 pts/2 reb. in 4 minutes) saw action in this matchup three years ago.

Comparing the Teams

(2019-20 Stats)	Navy	G.Mason
Record	5-4	4-5
Home / Away / Neut. Record	4-0 / 1-4	2-3 / 2-1 / 0-1
Points Per Game	59.3 PPG	64.8 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	56.8 PPG	65.1 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	38.4 %	37.5 %
3-Point Percentage	32.5 %	28.4 %
Free Throw Percentage	62.0 %	68.3 %
Rebounds Per Game	35.1 RPG	38.6 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	13.8 / 14.0	12.3 / 14.0

Individual Leaders

(2019-20 Stats)	Navy	George Mason
Points Per Game	Gatzounas, 10.6 PPG	N. Cardano-Hillary, 17.8 PPG
Rebounds Per Game	Gatzounas, 6.1 RPG	J. Bolton, 6.8 RPG
Assists Per Game	Ulasewicz, 3.6 APG	A. Grate, 3.4 APG
Field Goal Percentage	Gatzounas, 56.9 %	C. Gatling, 50.8 %
3-Point Percentage	Coleman/Taylor, 42.9 %	S. Kaminski, 32.7 %
Free Throw Percentage	Ulasewicz, 73.3 %	N. Cardano-Hillary, 81.3 %

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.

Promotions (Toy Drive/Teddy Bear Toss & Free Ornament)
Navy will be hosting a toy drive at the game and all fans who donate at least one toy will receive free admission to the game. Additionally, any fan who donates a stuffed animal will be able to take part in the teddy bear toss at halftime.

The first 100 fans in attendance will receive a free Navy holiday ornament.