ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Following a 19-day break for final exams and the holidays, the Navy women's basketball will be back on the hardcourt on Friday afternoon with the opening game of its 2022-23 Patriot League schedule. The Midshipmen (0-11, 0-0 PL) will play host to the Boston University Terriers (5-6, 0-0 PL) in a 1 p.m. showdown at Alumni Hall in Annapolis. The contest will be the first of 18 versus league opposition over the next two-plus months for a young Navy squad.

The Navy-Boston game will have live stats provided online, as well as be broadcast on the ESPN+ platform. ESPN+ is a subscription-based streaming service that requires patrons to sign-up for monthly or yearly plans prior to tuning into the contest. An audio-only portion of the contests will also be available via WNAV: over the radio waves on 99.9 FM or 1430 AM, online at WNAV.com or through the Audacy platform.

Navy versus Boston University
The Mids and Terriers have met 17 times in a series that began on December 30, 2011 at the Fordham Holiday Classic in the Bronx, N.Y.  ... All-time, Navy leads Boston, 10-7, with a 6-2 mark in games played at Alumni Hall; the team's only losses in Annapolis coming on Jan. 26, 2019 and Jan. 15, 2022 ... The Terriers have defeated the Mids the last three times they have met, two of which came on the road; Navy's last win over Boston was a 46-41 victory on Jan. 22, 2020 ...  The two teams started meeting annually once the Terriers joined the Patriot League for the 2013-14 season ... Over the last ten matchups, the series is tied 5-5; three of those contests have been played to within a five-point margin.
    Last 5 Games
    Jan. 15, 2022 (H): Boston 74 - Navy 63
    Jan. 2, 2022 (A): Boston 82 - Navy 52
    Feb. 15, 2020 (A): Boston 71 - Navy 56
    Jan. 22, 2020 (H): Navy 46 - Boston 41
    Feb. 23, 2019 (A): Boston 66 - Navy 55
   
Most Recent Navy-Boston Matchup: January 15, 2022 in Annapolis
Tasked with taking on the Patriot League-leading Boston University Terriers for the second time in 13 days, the Navy women's basketball team re-grouped from an earlier loss to the Terriers and put forth a hard-fought 40-minute effort on Saturday afternoon in front of their home fans at Alumni Hall. Leading at the half and down by just three points after three quarters of play, the Mids eventually fell to the Terriers by a score of 74-63. Shooting nearly 50 percent from the field through the third quarter, Navy was overpowered by Boston down the stretch as the Terriers outscored the Mids, 19-11 in the final period.
 
A pair of sterling career-high performances from Jennifer Coleman and Sydne Watts led Navy on Saturday as Coleman netted a career-best 32 points and tied a career-high with 16 rebounds, while Watts reached the 20-point scoring plateau for the first time in her young career as she went nine-for-17 from the field with two three-pointers on her way to 20 points. She added six rebounds to her individual statline versus Boston. Both Coleman and Watts played every second of Saturday's contest.

Coming off an 82-58 loss to Boston the first time these two teams met, Navy was locked in from the start and jumped out to a 12-9 lead over the first four-plus minutes of action. Coleman and Watts sparked this early run of play as Coleman had six points, while Watts added four. From the point of the first quarter at 5:42, Boston University flexed its muscle and closed the period on a 13-0 run.

With the score 22-12 to start the second quarter both teams started slowly as each only added four points to their side of the ledger over the first six minutes of action. Down 26-16 at 3:50, Navy caught fire from three-point range as the Mids shot four-of-five from beyond the arc to race back into the game. The combination of Watts and Coleman netted the first two three-pointers to make it a four-point game of 26-22 by the 3:04 mark before Watts answered a Boston field goal on the next possession with her second successful trey in a row to draw Navy within three points, 28-25. A solo 4-0 run by Coleman on consecutive trips down the court flipped the score back in the Mids' favor with 46 seconds left to play in the stanza. Lindsay Llewellyn put the finishing touches on this 18-5 streak with a corner three-pointer as time expired for the half. Overall, Navy outscored Boston, 20-9 in the second quarter to take a 32-31 lead into the locker room.

Ahead by one after 20 minutes of play, the Mids immediately extended their lead out to three within the first minute of the second half. After the Terriers swung the lead back in their favor on a brief 5-0 run, Coleman answered with a steal on defense and a fast break pull-up three-pointer on the other end of the court. With the score, 37-36 for Navy at 7:32, the game continued at its basket-for-basket pace for the majority of the quarter as no team made more than two unanswered field goals in a row. Coleman was the engine of the Mids' offense in the third quarter as she scored 14 of the team's 20 points on six-of-eight shooting. Concluding on Coleman's sixth make of the period, the action wrapped up with Boston in the lead by a 55-52 score at the end of three quarters.
 
Navy stayed within that two-possession range for the first 3:30 of the fourth quarter. Down 60-54, the Mids ran into a dry spell, scoring just two points over the next three-plus minutes, while the Terriers were ramping up their dangerous offense, including a pair of three-pointers on back-to-back trips. Trailing 68-56, Navy continued fighting and was able to get its deficit down in single-digits (68-60) on a Coleman jumper in the paint at 1:44, but the combination of the Terriers' free throw shooting and ability to break the Mids' trapping defense resulted in the final score of 74-63.
 
For the game, Boston outshot Navy, 44.3 percent (27-61) to 40.9 (27-66) from the field. Although both teams shot 35.3 percent from three-point range, the Terriers made twice as many treys as the Mids as the visitors went 12-34 from distance versus 6-17 for the hosts. Navy shot 100.0 percent (3-3) from the foul line, while Boston shot 61.5 percent (8-13).

Comparing the Teams

(2022-23 Stats)	Navy	Boston U.
Record / League-Only	0-11 / 0-0 PL	5-6 / 0-0 PL
Home /Away Record	0-6 / 0-5	3-2 / 2-4
Points Per Game	56.4 PPG	65.0 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	73.9 PPG	62.6 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	38.7 %	41.9 %
3-Point Percentage	30.8 %	41.4 %
Free Throw Percentage	62.3 %	72.3 %
Rebounds Per Game	36.9 RPG	39.0 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	11.4 / 19.8	15.9 / 17.5

Individual Leaders

(2022-23 Stats)	Navy	Boston U.
Points Per Game	Watts, 16.0 ppg	A. Giannaros, 14.5 ppg
Rebounds Per Game	Samson, 5.5 rpg	C. Weimar, 10.3 rpg
Assists Per Game	Louridas, 2.9 apg	S. Johnson, 4.0 apg
Field Goal Percentage	Samson, 47.9 %	C. Weimar, 53.6 %
3-Point Percentage	Schrader, 35.1 %	M. Pina, 51.1 %
Free Throw Percentage	Watts, 77.8 %	S. Crispe, 92.3 %

Last Time Out: Sunday, Dec. 11 at Georgetown
The Navy women's basketball team dropped its final game before starting Patriot League play with a 74-47 decision at Georgetown on Sunday afternoon. The Hoyas (7-3) used a hot start and an uncharacteristic strong three-point shooting effort to down the Mids (0-11), who struggled to find a second scoring option in the contest at McDonough Arena.
 
Maren Louridas paced Navy with a 21-point outing. The freshman sharpshooter went 8-14 from the field and 4-9 from three-point range, while grabbing a team-high five rebounds. In 12 minutes off the bench, Savanna Lewis posted a well-rounded stat line of four points, four rebounds and two assists.

The hosts opened the game fast as the Hoyas posted 12 of the first 15 points over the initial 3:48. The freshman-to-freshman connection of Kate Samson to Louridas clicked to end the Hoyas' scoring run as Samson quickly whipped a pass out of the deep post to a wide open Louridas on the wing for a three-pointer at 4:58 to make it a 12-6 score. Georgetown had an immediate response to Navy's basket and rattled off a 7-1 run to extend its advantage out to 19-7 by the 2:34 mark.

Down 19-10 through one quarter of play, the Mids were unable to build off that late momentum in the early portion of the second period as the Hoyas darted out to a 17-point lead, 27-10, by 6:48. A short 6-2 response by Navy over the next two minutes helped the visitors draw back within 13, 29-16. The dangerous Hoya team re-asserted itself on the offensive end of the court and re-built its lead out to 23 points by the intermission with a 13-3 close to the quarter.

Trailing 42-19 coming out of halftime, Navy posted its most prolific scoring quarter of the game on Sunday as the Mids netted 17 points led by Louridas' eight-point effort. The freshman guard made three field goals, including a pair of treys. Georgetown had an answer to most of Navy's output as the Mids were only able to shave one point off of its deficit and made it a 58-36 score after 30 minutes of action.
 
Navy continued battling throughout the remainder of the game and held Georgetown without a field goal for the final 4:57 of the fourth quarter. Unfortunately for the Mids, the Hoyas were productive over the first half of the final period and made five field goals in the first 5:03. For the entirety of the fourth quarter, Georgetown outscored Navy, 16-11 to earn the 74-47 victory.
 
Georgetown outshot Navy 45.8 percent (27-59) to 40.0 (18-45) from the field, 47.4 percent (9-19) to 22.2 (4-18) from three-point range and 61.1 percent (11-18) to 58.3 (7-12) from the foul line during Sunday's contest.
 
The Hoyas also won the rebounding battle 34-31 on the strength of a 9-5 edge in offensive rebounds. Nine different Mids collected caroms with Louridas (5), Schrader (4) and Lewis (4) leading the way.
 
Parking / Shuttle
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 for a fee 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.