ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Patriot League postseason seeding will be at the forefront of Wednesday's road matchup between the Navy and Loyola women's basketball teams. Tipping off at 5:30 p.m. at the Greyhounds' (7-19, 4-11 PL) Reitz Arena, the Mids (7-19, 2-13 PL) will be looking to make up ground in the standings. Trailing the Greyhounds by two games in the league table, the Mids have three contests remaining in the regular season before the Patriot League Postseason Tournament begins on Saturday, March 7. The action will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network.

Last Time Out
With the 2020 Women's Basketball Star on the line Saturday at Christl Arena, Navy put forth a valiant effort and battled for 40 minutes, but clutch free throw shooting by Army helped the host Black Knights hold on for the 62-52 victory. Trailing by 11 through three quarters, the Mids cut their deficit to as little as three points midway through the final quarter before the Black Knights thwarted them and clinched the victory. Navy was led by its senior class in Saturday's clash for the star. Morgan Taylor and Mary Kate Ulasewicz both reached double-figures in points as Evans netted a team-high 15, while Ulasewicz added 10. The Mids' team captain, Ulasewicz, also recorded a game-high six assists. Laurel Jaunich was Navy's third-highest scorer with seven points. Montana Braxton left her mark on the contest with a game-high four steals.

Ulasewicz, Jaunich and Taylor all scored early for Navy as the Mids jumped out to a 7-3 lead after Taylor's three-pointer from the corner at 7:11. The host Black Knights slowly edged closer as the Mids were held scoreless for a little over two minutes. With the score 7-6, Taylor asserted herself once again with a mid-range jumper to go up three at 4:53. The back-and-forth action continued with Army countering with a basket before Mimi Schrader sank her first field goal of the game at 2:27. Another score by Jasmine Bishop put Navy up 13-8 before a late Natalie Stralkus trey from the corner drew Army within two points by the end of the period.

Coming out in the second quarter up 13-11, Lindsay Llewellyn immediately left her mark with a layup 25 seconds into the frame. After Army evened it at 15-15, Taylor came through with four straight points courtesy for a three-pointer and one made free throw. Another free throw, this time by Nyah Garrison at 5:49 helped the Mids go up by five, 20-15. That lead was short-lived as the Black Knights tallied a quick five points to tie it, 20-20 by 3:54. With 80 seconds remaining in the quarter, Army took its first lead since the opening minute of the game with a Lindsey Scamman jumper to go up 22-21. Another three-pointer by Stralkus in the waning seconds of a period bolstered the Black Knights to a 25-21 lead at the halftime break. For the quarter, Army shot 50.0 percent (5-10) from the field, while Navy was held to just an 18.2 percent (2-11) mark.

The hosts found success their first time down the court in the second half to grow their lead to six, 27-21. The Mids didn't allow that margin to last long as Ulasewicz drove and found Taylor wide open in the corner for a three-pointer at 9:21. While a Garrison layup two minutes later at 7:20 cut the visitor's deficit to just two points, 28-26, that would be the final points for Navy over the next 2:30 as Army went on a 7-0 run. A layup by Bishop at 4:50 ended that streak and pulled the Mids closer 35-28. Unfortunately, the Black Knights offense re-engaged quickly with four more points to take their first double-digit point lead, 39-28 at 3:05.

With the score 41-30 to start the fourth quarter, Ulasewicz scored the first four points over the opening 2:45 for the Mids to edge her team closer. Navy's comeback attempt continued as Jaunich answered an Army basket with a three-pointer from the wing. Now trailing 43-37, the three-ball aided the Mids again when Taylor sank a trey from the corner at 5:57. Army scored nine of the next 12 points over a span of 2:47 to go up 52-43. The game stayed at that score for the next 1:48 until both teams went back-to-back, Army with a Kamryn Hall layup and Navy with a Jennifer Coleman three-pointer. Down eight, 54-46 with 1:03 remaining, the Mids tried to edge closer, but were unable to as the Black Knights went 8-8 from the foul line. Navy was only able to counter with six points of its own and the game went final with a score of 62-52 in favor of the host team.

For the game, Army outshot Navy, 40.0 percent (20-50) to 35.3 (18-51) from the field and 72.0 percent (18-25) to 62.5 (10-16) from the foul line. Neither team had much success from three-point range as the Mids won the category marginally, 25.0 percent (6-24) to 23.5 (4-17).

Navy vs. Loyola
The Mids and Greyhounds have met 32 times in a series that began on January 28, 1979 ... All-time, Navy leads Loyola, 21-11 with a slim 8-7 advantage in games played in Baltimore; the Mids and Greyhounds have split the last four games at Reitz Arena, including a 1-1 split during the 2019 regular season and postseason ... Since the Greyhounds joined the Patriot League in 2013-14, the Mids are 9-7 overall with a 1-2 mark in Patriot League postseason contests ... Over the last ten matchups, the series is tied 5-5.
    Last 5 Games:
    February 1, 2020 (H): Loyola 50 - Navy 44
    March 9, 2019 (A): Loyola 58 - Navy 45 (PL Quarterfinals)
    March 2, 2019 (H): Loyola 55 - Navy 50
    January 3, 2019 (A): Navy 58 - Loyola 46
    March 5, 2018 (H): Navy 63 - Loyola 55 (PL Quarterfinals)

Most Recent Matchup ~ February 1, 2020
Navy looked to carry over its hot streak at home with a Saturday afternoon tilt versus Loyola. Winners of their past two home games, the Mids were on their way to a potential third straight win before a 5:06 scoreless streak to close out the game flipped a six-point advantage over the Greyhounds into a six-point victory for the visitors from Baltimore by a final score of 50-44. Navy led for over 30 minutes on Saturday at Alumni Hall. The duo of Lindsay Llewellyn and Sophie Gatzounas led the way for the Mids with 23 combined points, 12 for Llewellyn and 11 for Gatzounas. Both players added five rebounds each to their statline versus the Greyhounds.

Navy opened Saturday's action with a strong 9-2 start over the first 5:42 of play. After both teams netted baskets in the initial 57 seconds of play, the Mids scored the next seven points and held the Greyhounds scoreless for nearly six minutes. Llewellyn, Gatzounas and Montana Braxton all scored for Navy during this stretch, highlighted by Llewellyn sinking a transition three-pointer. Loyola had a strong rebuttal to Navy's early success with a run of three consecutive makes from 3:13 through 1:49 to tighten the game to an 11-8 score. Another Gatzounas basket with five seconds left in the quarter helped the Mids garner a five-point lead, 13-8.

On the first possession of the ensuing quarter, Llewellyn hit her second trey of the game just 10 seconds in. Trailing by eight points, Loyola was able to shave two points off of its deficit over the next three minutes to make it a 19-13 game at the 6:59 mark. A 5-0 individual run by Morgan Taylor helped the Mids grab their largest lead of the game, 11 points at 5:36 with a score of 24-13. Unfortunately for Navy, Taylor's layup was her team's last points of the first half as Loyola scored 10 unanswered to close out the first 20 minutes of play.

Coming out of the locker room holding a one-point lead, 24-23, the Mids saw the Greyhounds jump in front for the first time all day as Bri Rozzi sank a three-pointer 17 seconds into the third quarter. Navy immediately fought its way back into the lead as Llewellyn went 2-2 at the foul line and Gatzounas converted layups on back-to-back possession. With the score 30-28 in favor of Navy with 7:30 left to play in the third quarter both offenses went cold over the next four minutes as Loyola made just one field goal and one free throw, while Navy was held scoreless. The Mids found their shooting touch down the stretch in the stanza with a 7-2 run as the team pulled ahead 37-33 at the quarter break.

Navy held its lead well into the fourth quarter as the team was always up to answer a Loyola basket. The game stayed close as the Mids and Greyhounds alternated scores for the first 4:54. The exclamation point to this segment of play was a Mary Kate Ulasewicz three-pointer to make it a 44-38 game at 5:06. Similar to the end of the first half, Navy found itself closing the half with a lengthy scoreless streak as the hosts were unable to move off of that 44-point plateau for the remainder of the game. Energized by its defensive success, Loyola slowly pushed ahead of Navy by the 2:21 mark, 45-44, before adding five more points to its final total.

In their 50-44 victory, the Greyhounds outshot the Mids 38.8 percent (19-49) to 31.0 (18-58) from the field and 38.5 percent (5-13) to 16.0 (4-25) from three-point range. Only going to the foul line five times on Saturday, Navy was 4-5, while Loyola was 7-12.

Comparing the Teams

(2019-20 Stats)	Navy	Loyola
Record / PL	7-19 / 2-13 PL	7-19 / 4-11 PL
Home / Away / Neut. Record	6-7 / 1-12	5-6 / 2-12 / 0-1
Points Per Game	52.7 PPG	58.5 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	59.6 PPG	64.7 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	35.7 %	37.0 %
3-Point Percentage	28.4 %	28.2 %
Free Throw Percentage	63.7 %	69.7 %
Rebounds Per Game	33.0 RPG	35.3 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	11.9 / 14.6	12.5 / 16.8

Individual Leaders

(2019-20 Stats)	Navy	Loyola
Points Per Game	Ulasewicz, 9.8 PPG	S. Karcz, 11.9 PPG
Rebounds Per Game	Taylor, 5.1 RPG	S. Karcz, 9.6 RPG
Assists Per Game	Ulasewicz, 3.3 APG	S. Karcz, 3.7 APG
Field Goal Percentage	Gatzounas, 45.9 %	S. Karcz, 41.6 %
3-Point Percentage	Ulasewicz, 30.9 %	L. Edwards, 34.5 %
Free Throw Percentage	Ulasewicz, 81.8 %	A. Gray, 81.7 %