ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy women's basketball team continues its busy early season non-conference schedule with three home games this week. First up for the Midshipmen, who have won their last two games in dramatic come-from-behind fashion is a Tuesday night tilt with Fairfield University. The second half of a home-and-home series that started in 2019, the Mids (2-2) and Stags (2-2) will tip it off at 6 p.m. at Alumni Hall. Tuesday night's action is a precursor to this weekend's 2021 Navy Classic with Navy scheduled for games against Liberty on Saturday and George Mason on Sunday. The Navy-Fairfield contest will be streamed online via the ESPN+ platform. Live audio via the WNAV radio station and live stats will be available, as well.

ESPN+ is a subscription-based streaming service that requires patrons to sign-up for monthly or yearly plans prior to tuning into the contest.

Parking / Shuttle / Ticket / Masking Information
Fans are reminded that the general public does not have access to drive their vehicles on to the U.S. Naval Academy. Fans may park at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium and take a shuttle that will run every 10 minutes starting one hour before the game and will continue running until one hour after the game is completed. Fans 18 and over need a government-issued photo ID. Enter Gate 5 off Taylor Ave. to park at the stadium. Masks will be required for all spectators that attend games at Alumni Hall regardless of vaccination status. Additionally, all fans will be required to wear a mask during their trip on the shuttle. 

Navy vs. Fairfield/MAAC
The Mids and Stags have met just one time prior to Tuesday as they played on Dec. 4, 2019 at Fairfield ... The Stags defeated the Mids, 66-52 in that matchup ... All-time versus Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) opponents, Navy is 20-15 in 35 previous meetings. Saint Peter's is Navy's most common foe, playing seven times. Against teams from the MAAC, Navy is ... 4-3 vs. Saint Peter's, 5-0 vs. Rider, 3-2 vs. Iona, 2-3 vs. Monmouth, 3-1 vs. Siena, 2-2 vs. Marist, 1-1 vs. Niagara, and 0-1 against Canisius, Fairfield and Manhattan ... Following Tuesday's matchup, the Mids will play one more MAAC squad in 2021-22, the Rider Broncs on Dec. 12.
    Last Five Matchups vs. MAAC schools:
    Nov. 11, 2021 (at Monmouth): Monmouth 57 - Navy 46
    Dec. 4, 2019 (at Fairfield): Fairfield 66 - Navy 52
    Dec. 19, 2018 (at Monmouth): Monmouth 68 - Navy 67
    Dec. 2, 2018 (at Rider): Navy 66 - Rider 60
    Nov. 11, 2018 (at Navy): Marist 72 - Navy 48
   
Most Recent Navy-Fairfield Matchup ~ December 4, 2019 in Fairfield, Conn.
Navy, winners of three straight games, ran into a hot shooting Fairfield team on Wednesday night in Connecticut. In the first-ever meeting between the Mids and Stags, a 23-11 advantage in the second quarter spurred Fairfield onto victory in front of its home fans at Alumni Hall. The Mids were led by a pair of individuals in double figures as Morgan Taylor ('20) 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. The Mids' 4-0 run grew up to 9-0 with a Sophie Gatzounas ('21) layup at 5:45 and a Mary Kate Ulasewicz ('20) 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 in the first 3:03 of play. After a pair of successful free throws by Montana Braxton ('20), 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 breakthrough 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. 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.

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).

Comparing the Teams

(2021-22 Stats)	Navy	Fairfield
Record / League-Only	2-2	2-2
Home /Away/Neut. Record	2-1 / 0-1	1-0 / 0-1 / 1-1
Points Per Game	57.3 PPG	59.5 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	58.8 PPG	58.3 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	38.4 %	39.7 %
3-Point Percentage	28.4 %	24.1 %
Free Throw Percentage	61.8 %	74.6 %
Rebounds Per Game	34.3 RPG	37.8 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	12.0 / 16.8	12.0 / 15.0

Individual Leaders

(2021-22 Stats)	Navy	Fairfield
Points Per Game	Coleman, 23.3 ppg	L. Lopez-Senechal, 16.8 ppg
Rebounds Per Game	Coleman, 9.8 rpg	A. Hernangomez, 11.5 rpg
Assists Per Game	Coleman, 5.0 apg	R. Hakes, 6.8 apg
Field Goal Percentage	Watts, 50.0 %	C. Cavanaugh, 59.5 %
3-Point Percentage	Coleman, 46.2 %	S. Lewis, 27.8 %
Free Throw Percentage	Coleman, 80.6 %	L. Lopez-Senechal, 72.7 %

Last Time Out, Saturday versus Vermont
Trailing by 11 points late into the third quarter, Navy mounted its second consecutive double-digit second-half comeback as the Mids outscored the Vermont Catamounts, 22-9 in the final period on their way to a 55-51 win. The Mids shot 53.3 percent (8-15) from the field and 100.0 percent (3-3) from three-point range, while turning the Catamounts over seven times and holding the visitors to just four made field goals in the fourth quarter of the contest on Saturday at Alumni Hall.

Jennifer Coleman netted her fourth straight game of 20-plus points to start the 2021-22 season as she went for 23 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field and 6-of-8 from the foul line. She recorded her third double-double of the season as she added 11 rebounds to go along with six steals and five assists in 40 minutes of action. Navy's secondary scoring came from the trio of Imani Edmonds, Kolbi Green and Sydne Watts, who combined to add 22 points. Edmonds backed up her eight-point outing with a career-best eight rebounds.

Navy had an inauspicious start to the game on Saturday as the hosts were outscored 18-8 in the first quarter. Coleman netted six of the Mids' eight points in the period as the game flipped from 6-5 in favor of Navy before Vermont closed on a 13-2 run over the final 6:14. As a team, the Mids shot 25.0 percent (4-16) from the field and 0-6 from three-point range.

Neither squad were able to hit their stride offensively in the first half of the second quarter as Navy opened 1-for-7, while Vermont only converted one of its first 10 attempts over the first 4:52 of action. In the second half of the period, the Catamounts saw their lead bounce between eight and 13 points for the final five-plus minutes of play. A three-point basket by Green with 36 seconds left in the quarter helped the Mids draw as close eight at 27-19. A jumper by Emma Utterback on the ensuing possession by Vermont gave the Catamounts a double-digit lead going into the halftime intermission. Both teams scored 11 points in the stanza.

Down, but never out, Navy came out of the halftime break on a mission. Trailing by 10, 29-19, the Mids quickly cut their deficit to three with a 7-0 run over the first 3:25 with a fast break pullup three-pointer by Coleman highlighting this run. The teams traded three-pointers at 6:10 and 5:52 as Catherine Gilwee found success from range for Vermont before Watts answered back for Navy. The score stayed at 32-29 for over two and half minutes until Gilwee fired up a three for the Catamounts at 3:12. This basket sparked an 8-0 run by Vermont and the visitors pushed back ahead by double digits, 40-29 by the 1:46 mark of the third stanza. Aggressive drives to the basket by Darryl Langford over the final 90 seconds of the quarter reinvigorated the Mids and played a key role into their efforts in the fourth.

Coming out to start the fourth and final quarter down nine, 42-33, Navy slowly edged closer with back-to-back deep baskets by Schrader courtesy of a pair of slick kickout passes from Langford, the first of which was a three-pointer. Trailing by eight, 46-38 at the 7:56 mark, the Mids shut out the Catamounts for the next 6:43 and continued its spirited comeback, scoring 12 unanswered points. Coleman and Edmonds combined for 11 of these points during this span. Coleman's turnaround jumper at 2:21 officially completely the comeback and put Navy ahead 48-46. A fast break layup by Edmonds next time down the court added the 11th and 12th points of the run. After Vermont ended its scoreless drought with an Anna Olson layup at 1:13, Edmonds bumped Navy's lead out to a game-high five points as she grabbed a deep offensive rebound, took a step back over the three-point line and banked home the clinching three-point basket with 39 seconds left in regulation. Up 53-48, the Mids withstood the Catamounts' last attempts at claiming the victory as Coleman calmly sank two free throws with 14 seconds to close out the final score at 55-51.

For the game, Navy outshot Vermont, 35.6 percent (21-59) to 35.2 (19-54) and 33.3 percent (6-18) to 30.0 (6-20) from three-point range. Both teams made seven free throws though the Catamounts converted at a 100.0 percent clip, versus a 7-12 showing for the Mids.