STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – The Navy women's basketball team dropped its 2023-24 road opener on Friday night at Penn State, 107-44 at the Bryce Jordan Center. Playing a upperclassmen-laden Nittany Lion (2-0) squad that has nine transfers and four fifth-year players, the Mids (1-1) shot out to an early lead, but were unable to weather a lengthy run by the hosts to close the first quarter and were in catch-up mode for the remaining three periods of play.

Freshman guard Zanai Barnett-Gay (Glenn Dale, Md.) paced Navy in scoring and rebounding for the second straight contest as she recorded 11 points and nine rebounds over 32 minutes of action. Maren Louridas (So., Delmar, N.Y.) supported the Mids' offensive charge with nine points on three-of-six shooting from three-point range.

"This outcome was somewhat to be expected when you run a young team into that type of pressure. They were going up against a bunch of fifth-year seniors," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "There were some positives to take from this game; we learned some things. We were able to turn Penn State over 19 times and took 69 shots, while they took 74; we just didn't make enough shots. We had a lot of clean, open looks, but we also did take a few tough and challenging shots. We dribbled ourselves into some mistakes.

"Overall, it's hard to say you're pleased with that type of loss, but I think that there are some things we can take from it; from playing in this atmosphere to the speed of the game. We're not going to play a team that is that athletic and with that much experience the rest of the year. Tonight, was a learning experience for our team. A lot of the passes that we've been making in practice, that we've been telling them that 'you're not going to get away with that' today we got exposed. We told the team, that we want them to go back and look at the film and learn from it. If we can go back and learn from the film, we'll be fine."

Navy started the game on fire from three-point range as the Mids went three-for-three from distance on their first three possessions. Sydne Watts (Sr., Canton, Ga.) started the barrage with a triple from the wing before Louridas went back-to-back with swishes. With the score 9-4 at the 8:30 mark, the Lady Lions ran off nine unanswered points and pulled ahead 13-9 over the next 2:22. Kyah Smith (Fr., Richmond, Va.) found Louridas for another three-point conversion at 6:01 to end that streak and draw Navy back within one. The back-and-forth action continued as the teams traded two-point possessions over the next 70 seconds and the score advanced to 15-14 in favor of Penn State. Starting with a Leilani Kapinus layup at 4:41, the Lady Lions scored the final 18 points of the quarter to take a 33-14 lead into the break.

The hosts extended their scoring run to 22-0 as they knocked down the first two baskets of the second quarter. A pull-up jumper by Barnett-Gay at 6:24 put an end to the Mids' scoring drought and made it a 37-16 game. Barnett-Gay and her fellow freshman classmate Violet McNece (Chesterfield, Mo.) tallied the visitors' final two field goals of the stanza with McNece's make standing out as Navy's fifth three-pointer of the first half.

Coming out down 56-21, the Mids put together their most complete offensive effort of the game in the third quarter as the team shot 41.2 percent (7-17) from the field and scored 14 points. Barnett-Gay and Gia Pissott (So., Toms River, N.J.) split the scoring lead early for the third with four points each over the opening 4:57. Lizzie Holder (Fr., Stillwater, Minn.), Watts and McNece all recorded field goals down the stretch to make it 85-35 through 30 minutes of play.

Competing hard until the end, Navy held Penn State scoreless for the first 4:46 to start the fourth quarter as the Mids' defense pressured the Lady Lions into an 0-6 start with three turnovers. Unfortunately for Navy it was only able to mount a minimal 3-0 run during this span. Sam Schofield (Sr., Maumee, Ohio) and Morgan Demos (So., Downers Grove, Ill.) sparked the Mids' offense late with a straight-away three-pointer by Schofield and a physical layup by Demos at the buzzer.

For the game, Penn State out-shot Navy, 55.4 percent (41-74) to 24.6 (17-69) from the field, 37.5 percent (9-24) to 22.2 (6-27) from three-point range and 66.7 percent (16-24) to 57.1 (4-7) from the foul line.

The Lady Lions also held a significant advantage in the rebounding battle, 57-33, though the margin was just 15-10 on the offensive glass.

Defensively, the Mids were active as they forced 19 turnovers and were credited with seven steals, including two each by Barnett-Gay and McNece. In the post, Pissott and Morganne Andrews (Sr., Martinsburg, W.Va.) shared top defensive honors with two blocked shots a piece.

"We're going to have some ups-and-downs this year, we're a young group," said Taylor in closing. "It's going to sound crazy, but I'm happy with where we're at. I think we can grow from this experience; this is why we wanted to bring them out here to this environment. If we made a few more shots early on, I'm not going to say we were going to win the game, but the final score would've looked a whole lot better. We met the challenge early, but we just didn't hold onto it for very long. I'm still excited about this team and where we can go. There's a lot of time and opportunity for growth between now and Patriot League play and that's what we're looking for. We'll look at the film this weekend, work hard in practice on Monday and Tuesday and get right back out there on Wednesday."

After a crammed two-game in three-day start to its season, Navy will take a few days off from the hardwood before returning on Wednesday with a home matchup versus Mount St. Mary's. Tip-off between the Mids and Mountaineers is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Alumni Hall.