ANNAPOLIS, Md. - With just three games to go in the regular season, the Navy women's basketball team will be looking to tighten its grip on a first round home playoff game in next month's Patriot League Tournament when the Mids make the short trip up to Baltimore for a head-to-head matchup with the Loyola Greyhounds on Wednesday night. The Mids are currently in a tie with Colgate for eighth place in the standings, while the Greyhounds are in tenth. Wednesday will be a rematch from February 5 when Navy (7-18, 4-11 PL) came from behind to knock off Loyola (4-21, 1-14 PL) by a score 61-54 at Alumni Hall. The Mids are aiming for their first season series sweep of 2021-22 and extended their overall series streak over the Greyhounds to four straight games. The action at Loyola's Reitz Arena is slated for a 7 p.m. tip-off with streaming available via ESPN+.

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Coleman's Record Watch
Already Navy's single-season leader in points scored with 561 (previous record was 530 by Courtney Davidson in '02-03) and most defensive rebounds in a season with 222 caroms (previous mark was 204), Coleman will turn her attention to the Patriot League's single-season top-10; the 10th position is occupied by Army's Madison Hovren (2018-19) and Holy Cross' Lauren Maney (1995-96), who tallied 574 points in a season. The ninth spot is held by Holy Cross' Laurie Carson (1993-94), who scored 577 points.

Navy versus Loyola
The Mids and Greyhounds have met 36 times in a series that began on January 28, 1979 ... All-time, Navy leads Loyola, 24-12 with a slight 9-8 advantage in games played in Baltimore; the series is more one-sided in Annapolis at 15-4 ...  A two-game season sweep last year by Navy helped end a four-game slide in the series ... Since the Greyhounds joined the Patriot League in 2013-14, the Mids are 12-8 overall with a 1-2 mark in Patriot League postseason contests ... Over the last ten matchups, Navy is up 6-4, including the Mids' current three-game winning streak.
    Last 5 Games:
    February 5, 2022 (H): Navy 61 - Loyola 54
    February 14, 2021 (H): Navy 50 - Loyola 46
    February 13, 2021 (A): Navy 69 - Loyola 60
    February 26, 2020 (A): Loyola 64 - Navy 54
    February 1, 2020 (H): Loyola 50 - Navy 44

Looking Back at Navy-Loyola ... February 5, 2022 in Annapolis
Trailing 52-50 with a little over three minutes left in regulation, the Navy women's basketball team buckled down and closed out Loyola with an 11-2 run to come away with a hard-fought 61-54 victory at Alumni Hall. The Mids were strong defensively throughout most of the game and held the Greyhounds under 30.0 percent into the fourth quarter.

Navy received a well-balanced team effort and finished with three players in double figures and a fourth with eight points. Jennifer Coleman led the Mids with 16 points and 10 rebounds to record her 16th double-double of the season. Quiet from the field, she netted 10 of her points at the foul line as she took just 11 shots in the flow of play. Sydne Watts and Mimi Schrader tied for second on Navy with matching 13-point stat lines. Watts shot 50.0 percent (6-12) from the field and grabbed five rebounds, while Schrader's effort was bolstered by three three-pointers in 27 minutes off the bench. Lindsay Llewellyn nearly joined the trio in double figures as she finished with eight points. Following a trend that's proven factual throughout the 2021-22 season, Navy improved to 5-0 when three or more players reach the 10-point plateau.

The action on Saturday opened slowly with the two teams combining for just nine points over the first eight-plus minutes. With the score 5-4 in favor of Navy, Loyola rattled off four consecutive points at 1:37 and 0:56 to go up 8-5. The teams traded three-pointers in the final two possessions as Schrader tied the game momentarily before Taleah Dixon put Loyola back ahead 11-8 with a trey with two seconds left in the quarter. Another three-pointer by Dixon at 8:46 in the second quarter gave the Greyhounds their biggest lead of the game, 14-8. With the scoreboard stationary for the next three-plus minutes, Coleman helped jumpstart the Mids as she went five-for-five in a pair of trips to the foul line at 5:40 and 5:09. Loyola held a one-possession lead for the next four minutes before another three-for-three performance at the foul line by Coleman flipped the score back to Navy by a 23-21 margin with 52 seconds left in the second quarter.

Down 25-23 coming out in the third quarter, Loyola netted the period's first four points to re-take the lead 27-25 by the 8:01 mark. A 4-0 response by Navy in the form of a fast break layup by Llewellyn and a stepback jumper by Watts at 6:15 put the hosts up 29-27. The two teams played hot potato with the lead over the next three-plus minutes as there were five lead changes. With the Greyhounds up 36-33 at 1:39, another free throw by Coleman and a Kristina Donza three-pointer on the Mids' final possession helped Navy round out 30 minutes of action up 37-36.

Navy's bench provided an early spark in the fourth quarter as Darryl Langford, Morganne Andrews and Schrader netted the team's first nine points over the opening 3:37 of play. With the score 46-44 in the Mids' favor, the Greyhounds recorded eight of the next 12 points to go back ahead 52-50. From that junction at 3:24, Navy dominated Loyola down the stretch to come-from-behind one final time. Coleman kickstarted this winning run with the tying basket at 2:54. A physical offensive rebound and putback by Andrews at 1:26 put the Mids ahead before Watts quickly followed up her sophomore classmate with a jumper the next time down the court. Three successful free throws extended Navy's scoring streak to nine unanswered points. Up 59-52 with 15 seconds to play, each team netted a pair of points to finalize the score at 61-54.

For the game, Navy outshot Loyola, 43.5 percent (20-46) to 33.3 (21-63) from the field, as well as 29.4 percent (5-17) to 20.8 (5-24) from three-point range and 88.9 percent (16-18) to 87.5 (7-8) from the foul line.

Comparing the Teams

Last Time Out: Navy at Holy Cross, Saturday, February 19
The Navy women's basketball team went head-to-head and had the Patriot League leaders, Holy Cross, on the ropes late before the host Crusaders put together a late 12-0 run in the fourth quarter to earn the 63-57 victory at the Hart Center on Saturday afternoon. Playing an efficient well-balanced brand of basketball in the first half, the Mids were plagued by an extended offensive slump in the third quarter and another over a four-minute stretch in the fourth as they fell in a hard-fought contest to the Crusaders.

Jennifer Coleman did her best to keep Navy in upset territory as she netted a game-high 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds in 39 minutes of action. Additionally, she assisted on six baskets and recorded three steals. Sydne Watts played an important role in the Mids' fourth quarter comeback as she netted back-to-back three-pointers at one point as part of her 15-point outing. Mimi Schrader gave Navy three players in double-digits as she scored 10 points on 4-of-9 shooting off the bench.

The game began with Holy Cross controlling all aspects of the action and breaking out to an 8-2 lead by the 6:53 juncture of the first quarter. Still held at the two-point mark for another two-plus minutes, Navy finally found its stride and quickly bolted into the lead with a 7-0 run over three possessions between 4:32 and 3:01. Schrader kick-started this run when Watts found her open for a corner three-pointer. With the score now 9-8 in the Mids' favor the teams traded baskets for the two minutes with each hitting a layup followed by a three-pointer. Ahead 14-13, Navy closed out the final 48 seconds with four points on the strength of a Watts three-pointer and Coleman free throw.

Up five after one quarter of play, the Mids quickly extended their lead out to seven points on a driving layup by Kristina Donza at 8:35. Addisyn Cross hit a three-pointer for Holy Cross on the ensuing possession to tighten the game back up to a 20-16 margin. After a two-minute lull in scoring, Ciera Hertelendy muscled her way through the paint for a physical layup that was followed up by a Coleman steal, and an offensive rebound and put-back by Lindsay Llewellyn at 6:24. That basket by Llewellyn gave Navy its largest lead of the game of eight, 24-16. An 8-4 run by the Crusaders over the next five minutes shaved four points off of their deficit. Each squad registered one field goal over the final 73 seconds of the half as the game concluded the first half with a 30-26 score for the Mids.

For the second quarter in a row, Donza was an offensive spark for Navy early as she put her team up six with a layup at 8:43. The Mids reached their game-high of eight once again a little over a minute later when Coleman snagged a defensive rebound and went coast-to-coast at 7:25. Ahead 34-26 at that point of play, Navy's momentum was stunted for the next 5:43 as Holy Cross went on a 10-0 run to re-take the lead. Schrader didn't let her team trail for long as the next time down the court she slipped a screen and was found in-stride by Hertelendy for the easy back-down layup. With the score tied 36-36 at 1:42, the Crusaders rounded out the period with five of the final six points to take a four-point lead of 41-37 into the quarter break. As a team, Navy shot just 3-of-15 in the third stanza.

The Mids were quick to flush that poor shooting performance from the third quarter as they used good ball movement to find a host of open shooters as they turned a 44-39 deficit into a 47-45 lead during a 1:15 stretch from 6:42 and 5:27. Coleman found Schrader for a free layup initially before Coleman was the facilitator once again as she swung the ball around the perimeter for an open Watts, who tied it at 44 by finding success from distance next time down the court. The streak concluded when Watts netted her second trey in as many possessions to give Navy the two-point advantage. The Mids kept clicking and scored four of the next six points to go back up four, 51-47 at 4:16. Unfortunately for a Navy squad that was looking to pull an upset over first-place Holy Cross, the hosts showed its home fans what makes them so good as they shut out Navy for the next 3:46 and scored 12 straight points. Trailing 59-51, Schrader helped end the Mids' drought with a three-pointer with 29 seconds remaining. Another trey, this time from Coleman drew Navy within four, 61-57 with 15 seconds left before two more Holy Cross free throws iced the 63-57 victory.

For the game, Holy Cross outshot Navy across the board with a 41.2 percent (21-51) to 37.5 (24-64) advantage in field goal shooting, a 39.1 percent (9-23) to 30.4 (7-23) edge in three-point shooting and a 92.3 percent (12-13) to 50.0 (2-4) tally in free throw shooting.