ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy women's basketball team will head back out onto the hardcourt on Wednesday in its 2021-22 Patriot League opener. Hosting the Holy Cross Crusaders (6-5) in their first game since Dec. 12 due to a break for finals and the holidays, the Mids (3-7) will be looking to start their league slate out with a positive result at Alumni Hall. Holy Cross and Navy were ranked fifth and sixth, respectively, in this season's Patriot League Preseason Poll. The action on Wednesday is set for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off with live streaming available on ESPN+ and an additional radio portion of the broadcast available on WNAV.

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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. 

Scouting the Competition
Holy Cross
The Crusaders come into Wednesday's game with a 6-5 record ... After a tough start to its 2021-22 season, in which Holy Cross lost three of its first four games (losses to Northeastern, Boston College and UMass), the squad has rounded into form recently with a 5-2 mark over its past seven games ... Two of the Crusaders more recent games were one-possession contests as they dropped a two-point decision versus Brown on Dec. 5 (57-55) and defeated New Hampshire on the road on Dec. 8 (50-49) ... Last time out, Holy Cross fell to Pitt in Pittsburgh, 67-56 on Dec. 22; senior G Avery LaBarbera led the Crusaders versus the Panthers with 16 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, the double-double being her fourth of 2021-22. Madison Demski (12 pts) and Janelle Allen (11 pts) also scored in double figures for Holy Cross in the non-conference bout ... In the 2021-22 Patriot League preseason poll, Holy Cross was picked to finish fifth in the 10-team conference. Of note in that same announcement, LaBarbara was voted to the All-Patriot League Preseason First Team; over her first three seasons in Worcester, she's garnered accolades in each: 2019 Patriot League Rookie of the Year and All-Patriot League Second Team in 2020 and 2021.

Navy versus Holy Cross
The Mids and Crusaders have met 67 times in a series that began on January 18, 1992 ... All-time, Holy Cross leads Navy, 45-22 with a 20-13 advantage in games played in Annapolis ... The two teams had not ever met prior to the Mids joining the Patriot League in 1991-92 ... The series has had multiple lengthy streaks in its history with Holy Cross winning the first eight games, followed by streaks of seven, 10 and 11 consecutive wins by the Crusaders, overall they won 36 of the first 40 games in the series (1992-2008); beginning with the 2009-10 season, Navy swung the momentum in its direction with sweeps of the 2009-10, 2010-11, 2012-13, 2013-14, 2016-17 and 2017-18 season series ... Since 2009, the Mids are 18-9 in head-to-head matchups with the Crusaders ... Over the last 10 contests, Navy is 6-4, though Holy Cross has won the three most recent tilts.
    Last 5 Games:
    Jan. 29, 2020 (A): Holy Cross 57 - Navy 43
    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

Most Recent Navy-Holy Cross Matchup ~ January 29, 2020 in Worcester
Navy found itself in a 40-minute battle with Holy Cross on January 29 in a Patriot League road contest. Close throughout the first three quarters, the Crusaders were able to pull away late versus a game Midshipmen squad and earn a 57-43 victory. A 10-0 run by Holy Cross late in the fourth quarter played a leading role in the eventual 14-point winning margin. Mary Kate Ulasewicz ('20) was the high scorer for the Mids on Wednesday with 12 points; she added six rebounds in her 32 minutes of action. Montana Braxton ('20) supplemented her classmate's line with eight points and five rebounds in 22 minutes off the bench.

After a slow first quarter in which the visiting Midshipmen held an 11-6 lead, the Crusaders ended its six-plus minute scoreless streak with a Megan Swords layup at 9:18. An Oluchi Ezemma jumper 56 seconds later cut the host's deficit to one point at 11-10. Mired in its own six-plus minute drought, Braxton helped her squad go back up by three with a lengthy jumper at 7:34. The Crusaders continued their strong play in the second quarter with an 10-2 run to take a 20-15 lead with 1:40 left in the stanza. Two late free throw conversions by Navy with nine seconds left helped send the game into the locker room with a halftime score of 20-17.
 
Defense was the story of the first half as neither team broke the 30.0 percent threshold in field goal shooting as Holy Cross shot 28.6 percent (8-28), while Navy made 24.1 percent (7-29) of their attempts. The Mids forced nine Crusader turnovers on six steals.
 
Holy Cross extended its lead out to nine points in short order with six unanswered points over the opening 2:18 of the third quarter. With the score 28-18, Ulasewicz got Navy's deficit within single-digits again with a three-pointer from the top of the arc at 6:25. Offensive rebounds and putbacks by Nyah Garrison on consecutive possessions helped the Mids score their next four points and make it 32-25 by 4:02. Another lengthy jumper by Braxton 42 seconds later drew Navy even closer at 32-27. Two brief runs, one of the four-point variety for Holy Cross and one of the five-point variety for Navy closed the gap to just four, 36-32. Sophie Gatzounas ('21) put the exclamation point on the Mids' run with a three-pointer at 0:38. Holy Cross added a late free throw before the expiration of the period.
 
The back-and-forth action continued on in the fourth quarter as Holy Cross opened with a layup on its initial possession before Ulasewicz pulled up for a three-pointer at 9:12. A Gatzounas' free throw brought the game to a 39-36 margin before the Crusaders responded with three points only to see Morgan Taylor ('20) fire away and hit a three-pointer of her own at 7:26. Over the next two minutes both teams deposited one made field goal to continue the three-point contest. Holy Cross added one point to its lead as the clock headed towards three minutes to go in regulation. With the score 47-43, the Crusaders' Avery LaBarbera found success from three-point range on back-to-back possessions to spur Holy Cross ahead by 10. The hosts added four more points down the stretch to earn the 57-43 win
 
For the game, Holy Cross outshot Navy, 36.2 percent (21-58) to 29.1 (16-55) from the field and 25.0 percent (4-16) to 21.7 (5-23) from three-point range. The Mids held a slight 75.0 percent (6-8) to 68.8 (11-16) advantage in foul shooting.
 
In the battle on the glass, Holy Cross out-rebounded Navy by 13, 47-34. Taylor and Gatzounas led the Mids' effort on the boards with respective totals of eight and seven rebounds.

Comparing the Teams

(2021-22 Stats)	Navy	Holy Cross
Record / League-Only	3-7	6-5
Home /Away/Neut. Record	2-5 / 1-2	4-3 / 2-2
Points Per Game	57.1 PPG	60.7 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	63.9 PPG	56.2 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	35.3 %	41.6 %
3-Point Percentage	27.2 %	30.7 %
Free Throw Percentage	65.6 %	58.7 %
Rebounds Per Game	37.6 RPG	39.5 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	11.4 / 16.0	13.7 / 18.7

Individual Leaders

(2021-22 Stats)	Navy	Holy Cross
Points Per Game	Coleman, 23.7 ppg	A. LaBarbera, 13.5 ppg
Rebounds Per Game	Coleman, 10.4 rpg	A. LaBarbera, 7.4 rpg
Assists Per Game	Coleman, 5.0 apg	A. LaBarbera, 3.5 apg
Field Goal Percentage	Coleman, 44.4 %	O. Ezemma, 55.0 %
3-Point Percentage	Coleman, 47.2 %	B. Cassidy-Power, 34.8 %
Free Throw Percentage	Coleman, 78.5 %	A. LaBarbera, 94.7 %

Last Time Out, December 12 at Rider
The Navy women's basketball team wrapped up its non-conference schedule with an emphatic comeback performance on Sunday on the road at Rider, winning 73-59. Trailing 23-22 at half, the Mids turned in the eighth-highest scoring second half in program history as the team netted 51 points, while shooting 51 percent over the third and fourth quarters against the Broncs at Alumni Gymnasium.
 
Jennifer Coleman continued asserting herself as a premier all-around player as she came within one assist of a triple-double on Sunday. Playing 39 minutes, the senior guard finished with 27 points, 12 rebounds, nine assists and five steals, all totals that were game-highs. Sydne Watts played a pivotal role for the Mids in the third quarter when they overtook the Broncs; she finished with a career-high 18 points, including 10 in the third. Ciera Hertelendy gave Navy three double-figure scorers as the senior team captain netted 11 points. The Mids are now 2-0 this season when three players reach double figures.
 
Playing its first game in a week, Navy had a slow start to Sunday's tilt as the Mids shot just 23.1 percent (3-13) from the field and turned the ball on seven different occasions. Lindsay Llewellyn got Navy on the scoreboard first as she sank a corner three-pointer on the Mids' first possession. That basket was the only one for Navy until Coleman and Hertelendy netted back-to-back scores at 5:34 and 4:49. Hertelendy was fouled on her layup and converted the 'and-one' to allow to re-take the lead at 8-7. Rider tightened up its defense and shut out Navy for the remainder of the quarter as the Broncs held a five-point advantage at the first quarter break.
  
Mired in a five-minute scoreless streak going back into the first quarter, Coleman found Watts for a jumper in the paint on Navy's first possession of the second quarter. Baskets by Coleman at 8:53 and Savanna Lewis at 6:50 drew the Mids within one point of the Broncs' lead, though the hosts continued to hold onto their slight edge throughout the frame. Trailing 21-16 at the 3:14 mark, Watts and Coleman scored on two of Navy's next three times down the court to make it a one-point contest. Over the final 30 seconds of the first half both teams tallied two points to send the game into the intermission at 23-21.
 
After seemingly finding its offensive groove in the second quarter by shooting 46.7 percent (7-15) with just two turnovers, Navy improved on that field goal percentage, while adding a trio of three-pointers in the third quarter to record a 23-point output. Watts was powering the Mids' offense in the early action of the third as she put her team ahead by one with baskets at 9:21 and 7:57. Just over two minutes later, the sophomore made her third field goal of the quarter as Coleman pivoted the ball from the paint out to the wing where Watts swished a three-pointer to make it 33-33 at 5:49. A series of traded baskets over the next three minutes was capped off by another Watts three-pointer at 2:39. With the score knotted at that point, 38-38, the Mids closed out the quarter on a 7-1 run with all points coming from Coleman.
 
Up 45-39 after three quarters of action, Navy saw Rider pull within four on the strength of an early Raphaela Toussaint put-back at 9:12. From that juncture, the Mids found that next gear and scored 17 of next 19 points and moved out to a substantial 19-point lead of 62-43 at 5:26. Navy's defense was especially hostile towards Rider as the newly-inserted Darryl Langford helped lead a chaotic full-court press effort that resulted in two 10-second violations by the Broncs over a three-possession run of play. Langford played a role in the Mids' offensive effort too as Mimi Schrader found her for an easy layup after grabbing one of her four offensive rebounds on the afternoon at 8:16. That was one of the first five baskets in Navy's run that came from five different players, including Hertelendy, Watts, Coleman and Kristina Donza. Comfortably ahead, Hertelendy netted Navy's next four points to give the Mids an 18-point lead of 66-48 at 3:43. Navy notched seven free throws in the final 67 seconds to round out its 28-point quarter and 73-59 victory.
 
For the game, Navy outshot Rider, 44.4 percent (28-63) to 39.6 (21-53) from the field, 26.3 percent (5-19) to 25.0 (6-24) from three-point range and 66.7 percent (12-18) to 61.1 (11-18) from the foul line.
 
The Mids also won the rebounding battle, 41-31 on the strength of Coleman's 12 boards. Bolstered by Schrader's four offensive caroms, Navy also won the battle on the offensive glass, 16-10 over Rider.
 
After a rough first quarter, the Mids' ball-handing improved as the team finished with a 13-to-14 assist-to-turnover ratio. Coleman was the team's leader in assists as she was credited with a career-high nine helpers. She was just one assist shy of the second triple-double in Navy program history, the first being Angela Dobbs on Jan. 11, 1992 at Bucknell (21p/13r/10a).