ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Fresh off of an exciting 12-point win over Army in a service academy showdown on Saturday the Navy women's basketball team will go head-to-head with the Holy Cross Crusaders in Worcester, Mass. on Wednesday night. The matchup will be the second of the 2020 series between the Mids (7-12, 2-6 PL) and Crusaders (12-7, 5-3 PL) as the teams met earlier this month on Saturday, January 4. Holy Cross won that initial contest by a score of 58-49. The action at the Hart Center is set for a 7 p.m. tip-off with live video streaming available on the Patriot League Network and live stat links on NavySports.com.

Last Time Out
Buoyed by a career-high 23 points from senior team captain Mary Kate Ulasewicz, the Navy women's basketball team defeated the Army Black Knights on Saturday by a score of 57-45 in front of a loud and boisterous crowd at Alumni Hall. In addition to Ulasewicz' individual output, the Mids showcased an oppressive brand of defense that forced the Black Knights into 25 turnovers.
 
Ulasewicz highlighted Navy's individual performers as she went 7-16 from the field, 3-6 from three-point range and 6-8 from the foul line to record her personal-best scoring effort. She added six rebounds and two assists to her well-rounded line score over 38 minutes of action. The junior forward duo of Sophie Gatzounas and Jasmine Bishop were active throughout the contest on both ends of the court as Gatzounas notched nine points and eight rebounds, while Bishop had eight points and seven rebounds.

Navy jumped out to an early 7-3 lead with four points by Bishop spearheading the action. Army later tied the game at 8-8 as the Black Knights scored five of the next six points. The contest wasn't tied for long as Gatzounas calmly knocked down a pair of foul shots just 16 seconds later. After a brief 5-0 run by Army the newly-inserted Mimi Schrader put her name in the box score with a jumper from the edge of the paint at 2:15 to make is 13-12 in favor of the Black Knights. Ulasewicz helped the Mids re-take the lead with a successful jumper with less than seven seconds remaining in the first quarter.
 
The second quarter opened with the score 14-13 and stayed at that margin for the first 2:45 before Army's Lindsey Scamman broke the scoreless streak. With the game tied at 16-16, baskets by Schrader and Ulasewicz allowed the hosts to take a four-point lead as the clock moved under four minutes. Another Ulasewicz field goal this time at 3:02 made it 22-16 and forced the Black Knights to take a timeout. A mid-range jumper by Bishop extended the Mids' run out to 8-0 before Scamman responded on the ensuing possession. Both teams tallied a pair of points in the final 30 seconds making it a 26-20 game at the halftime intermission.
 
Coming out in the second half up six points, Ulasewicz continued her role as the catalyst of the Mids' offense as she scored the first five points for Navy. Up 31-22, the Mids took their first double-digit lead of the contest when Gatzounas took a lead pass from Bishop for a driving layup at 6:47. Three more points courtesy of Morgan Taylor increased Navy's lead to 14 points, 36-22 at 4:59. Each team made just one field goal over the next three-plus minutes. Army cut its deficit to 10 with a late Sarah Bonn three-pointer.
 
With the score 38-28 through three quarters of play, the Black Knights continued their comeback attempt as the visitors netted the first four points of the final stanza over a run of 1:10. The Mids had a strong rebuttal to this early run with five unanswered points of their own with a Ulasewicz three-pointer and a Gatzounas fast break layup. The momentum pendulum continued swinging as it became the Black Knights' time to shine with points on back-to-back possessions to make it a seven-point game at 43-36 with 6:40 left in regulation. As easy as Army scored four points, Navy responded with four points of its own when Bishop and Schrader tallied baskets 41 seconds apart. Leading 47-38 with less than three minutes to play, Ulasewicz took over down the stretch with seven points, including a quartet of free throws and an important trey. With this output, Navy was able to slowly expand its lead out to its final 12-point margin, 57-45.
 
For the game, Army slightly outshot Navy, 33.3 percent (16-48) to 32.3 (20-62) from the field. The Black Knights also won the three-point shooting battle 35.0 percent (7-20) to 19.0 (4-21), though the Mids were able to outshoot their opponents at the foul line, 65.0 percent (13-20) to 40.0 (6-15).

Navy versus Holy Cross
The Mids and Crusaders have met 66 times in a series that began on January 18, 1992 ... All-time, Holy Cross leads Navy, 44-22 with a 23-9 advantage in games played in Worcester ... The two teams had not ever met prior to the Mids joining the Patriot League in 1991-92 ... After three Navy coaches from 1992-2008 went a combined 4-36 versus the Crusaders, Head Coach Stefanie Pemper has righted the ship and is 18-8 in 26 career matchups ... Over the last ten matchups, Navy is 6-4 as the Mids won six straight with season sweeps during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 campaigns.
    Last 5 Games:
    Jan. 4, 2020 (H): Holy Cross 58 - Navy 49
    Feb. 13, 2019 (A): Holy Cross 47 - Navy 44
    Jan. 16, 2019 (H): Navy 54 - Holy Cross 47
    Feb. 7, 2018 (H): Navy 62 - Holy Cross 54
    Jan. 11, 2018 (A): Navy 65 - Holy Cross 58

Most Recent Matchup - Jan. 4, 2020 in Annapolis
The Navy women's basketball team faced off with the team picked number two in the Patriot League, Holy Cross in its home opener on January 4. In 40 minutes of competitive action, Navy and Holy Cross went toe-to-toe at Alumni Hall with the Mids leading at half before the Crusaders came from behind for a 58-49 victory. The Mids stayed close throughout as they converted nine three-pointers during the contest with seven of those coming from the duo of Laurel Jaunich and Lindsay Llewellyn. Jaunich's line on Saturday consisted of a career-high 16 points and four three-pointers over 38 minutes of play, while Llewellyn tallied a personal-best 13 points and three treys.

Trailing by three, 12-9, coming out of the first quarter break, Navy immediately found its scoring touch with four makes on its first six shots. This 10-2 run over the first 2:59 of the quarter helped the Mids build up a 19-14 lead. Llewellyn was at the forefront of this effort for Navy with five points, including a three-pointer from the wing. After Holy Cross' Avery LaBarbera netted a trey of her own, the Mids fired back with five unanswered points, a Jaunich layup and a Mimi Schrader three-pointer to give Navy its largest lead of the game of seven, 24-17. The teams traded baskets down the stretch with the Crusaders scoring five and the Mids three. Jaunich put the exclamation mark on Navy's first half effort with her third three-pointer of the game to give her 11 total points. The teams retired to the locker room with the score 27-22 for the Mids.

The second half began similar to the way the first half ended with teams finding success from long range as both Navy and Holy Cross tallied a three-pointer with the first 83 seconds. For the Mids, that trey came courtesy of Jaunich, her fourth such made field goal of the game. Of note, Jaunich came into the game shooting one of nine from three-point range for the season. From that basket at 8:27 through the 6:03 mark of the quarter the Crusaders ran off an 11-2 streak to flip the score from 30-25 in favor of Navy to 36-32 for Holy Cross. The Crusaders' lead shrunk to just one point, 38-37 at 3:02, following a Llewellyn three-pointer and a Nyah Garrison offensive rebound and putback. Holy Cross scored the final four points of the period to take go up 42-37 after three quarters of play.
 
Leading by five to start the final period of regulation, the visitors from Worcester, Mass. kept the game's momentum on its side with a 7-0 run to take a 12-point lead by the 7:01 point of the quarter. Later on after Holy Cross built its advantage out to 13 points, a Ulasewicz three-pointer and a pair of made free throws by Sophie Gatzounas quickly made it 52-44 by 3:54. Two more baskets by Jaunich and Llewellyn down the stretch helped Navy keep it close with Holy Cross as the final horn sounded with the score Holy Cross 58 and Navy 49.

For the game, Holy Cross out-shot Navy, 41.5 percent (22-53) to 32.7 (18-55) from the field and 41.7 percent (5-12) to 33.3 (9-27) from three-point range. The Mids were four of six from the line (66.7 percent), while the Crusaders were nine of 17 (52.9 percent) from the charity stripe.

Comparing the Teams

(2019-20 Stats)	Navy	Holy Cross
Record / PL	7-12 / 2-6 PL	12-7 / 5-3 PL
Home / Away / Neut. Record	6-4 / 1-8	6-1 / 6-6
Points Per Game	53.6 PPG	67.8 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	59.0 PPG	63.5 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	36.1 %	41.7 %
3-Point Percentage	29.6 %	39.3 %
Free Throw Percentage	59.0 %	67.0 %
Rebounds Per Game	34.1 RPG	40.8 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	12.4 / 15.2	14.7 / 15.2

Individual Leaders

(2019-20 Stats)	Navy	Holy Cross
Points Per Game	Ulasewicz, 8.4 PPG	L. Manis, 18.3 PPG
Rebounds Per Game	Taylor, 5.1 RPG	L. Manis, 11.6 RPG
Assists Per Game	Ulasewicz, 3.2 APG	M. Smith, 5.3 APG
Field Goal Percentage	Gatzounas, 45.6 %	M. Swords, 56.0 %
3-Point Percentage	Taylor, 31.0 %	L. Manis, 50.0 %
Free Throw Percentage	Ulasewicz, 72.0 %	A. LaBarbera, 78.6 %

Upcoming Home Promotional Schedule

vs. Loyola | Saturday, Feb. | 4pm | Meet the Mids Autograph Session / Courtney Davidson Commemorative Coin

• Navy will be hosting its annual Meet the Mids postgame autograph session presented by Annapolis Area Papa John's and Chick-fil-a. The first 100 kids to the autograph session will receive a free t-shirt.
• First 75 fans to the game will receive a Courtney Davidson commemorative coin