ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Down by 12 points after one quarter of play, the Navy women's basketball team had a dominant response over the final 30 minutes and knocked off Binghamton by a score of 66-59 on Tuesday night. Trailing 33-27 at halftime, the Mids (2-2) came out in the second half and rattled off a 22-9 third quarter to overtake the Bearcats (2-3) and never looked back. As a team, Navy shot 55.2 percent from the field and turned Binghamton over 14 times in the final 20 minutes of action at Alumni Hall.

The freshmen backcourt of Zanai Barnett-Gay (Glenn Dale, Md.) and Kyah Smith (Richmond, Va.) combined for 48 points on 20-of-31 shooting as both recorded career-high scoring performances with Barnett-Gay going for 29 and Smith going for 19. While not leading the Mids in scoring, Gia Pissott (So., Toms River, N.J.) provided her team with 18 minutes of strong effort off the bench as she added four points, three rebounds and drew five fouls, while posting a +9 in the overall plus-minus rating.

"It was 20-8 after one and other than a few late three pointers we held them under 30 points for most of the next three quarters," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "We won this game on the defensive end. We also did an excellent job of managing the clock at the end. With four minutes to go we were up double-digits and didn't need to be as aggressive shooting the ball, whereas against Mount St. Mary's we rushed our offense and couldn't hold on. That's what I want to see; that's us growing.

"We've been telling our team how important it is to play with confidence, trust your teammates and share the ball; its on the board in our locker room. We knew tonight it was going to be important to share the ball to create drives. It doesn't matter if Z turns the ball over five times, six times or zero times, she plays the same way for 40 minutes, she never stops; you know what you're going to get with her. Kyah has such a good finesse game, but she's going to continue to grow and have her game evolve."

The first quarter was all about Binghamton as the visitors jetted out to an 11-4 lead over the initial four minutes of the game. After back-to-back layups by Smith and Barnett-Gay at 5:02 and 4:29 drew Navy within three, Binghamton closed out the period with nine unanswered points to take a 20-8 advantage into the quarter break. The Mids were held back in the stanza by seven turnovers that resulted in nine points for the Bearcats.

Binghamton held that double-digit lead well into the second half of the second quarter as both teams registered eight points over the opening six minutes. With the score 28-16, Navy's talented guard duo of Barnett-Gay and Smith tallied seven straight points over a five-possession stretch to make it a 28-23 margin at 1:55. A slight rebuttal by the Bearcats going into the halftime intermission saw the first half go final at 33-27.

Building off their 19-point second quarter, the Mids came out in the third quarter and netted eight of the first 10 points to draw even at 35-35 by the 5:59 mark. Sydne Watts (Sr., Canton, Ga.) and Smith sparked Navy during this early streak with four points a piece. Though Binghamton temporarily interrupted Navy's fast start with a pair of free throws at 5:12, the Mids responded with 10 consecutive points, all from their freshmen class, eight from Barnett-Gay and two from Lizzie Holder (Fr., Stillwater, Minn.).  Up 47-37 at 1:44, Navy wrapped up the period ahead on the scoreboard, 49-42. The Mids' dominant 22-9 third quarter was spearheaded by 10-17 shooting and nine forced turnovers that directly resulted in 11 points.

Baskets by Barnett-Gay and Smith in the first 1:13 of the fourth quarter built Navy's lead back into the double-digits, 53-42. A sign of their maturation, the Mids responded to each of the Bearcats' next two field goals with field goals of their own to keep the visitors at bay in the eight-to-10-point range. With the score 57-48 at 4:33, Navy stayed on the gas offensively and broke away for a 16-point lead courtesy of a 9-2 run over the next 2:28. Trailing 66-50, Binghamton cut its final deficit to seven with three three-pointers over the final 1:45 of the game.

"We were playing five underclassmen for most of our runs in the second and third quarters," commented Taylor. "Gia Pissott anchored our defense tonight. She anchored everything; she took a charge, she was affecting shots, she was communicating and just making everyone's job easier. Binghamton wasn't able to get the ball inside as much."

In Navy's 66-59 win, the Mids outshot the Bearcats, 50.9 percent (27-53) to 42.3 (22-52) from the field, though Binghamton shot 40.0 percent (6-15) from three-point range, while Navy only attempted four triples and went 0-for-4 from distance. Neither team was overly successful at the foul line as the Bearcats shot 69.2 percent (9-13) versus 52.2 percent (12-23) for the Mids.

Navy controlled the glass on Tuesday night with a 36-27 edge in rebounding, including a 9-5 margin in offensive rebounds. Maren Louridas (So., Delmar, N.Y.) led all players with a game-high eight rebounds.

"Maren had a great all-around game," said Taylor. "She got some offensive rebounds, some defensive rebounds. We put her in such a tough role last year where she had to carry the load every single night; that's hard to do for any player, but especially a freshman. She was so much better defensively in the second half. She struggled a little bit early one, but after that she was locking her person up; she was not getting beat. It's not always about scoring, it comes down to the little things."

Defensively, the Mids forced the Bearcats into 21 turnovers and were credited with 10 steals. Barnett-Gay led the way with four thefts.

"The way we lost the Mount game was tough, especially after what they went through last year," Taylor said in closing. "We could've hung our heads and thought 'when are we going to catch a break'. Ultimately, what we learned from that game was you have to play until the end of the clock. We're an exciting young team and there's so much more growth to happen, with our freshmen, our sophomores and even our seniors. I felt Sydne Watts had a really good stretch at the beginning of the third quarter to spark us. She did a great job of finishing her drives."

Navy will take a short break for Thanksgiving before hosting its annual Navy Classic Tournament on Saturday and Sunday at Alumni Hall. The Mids will go head-to-head with the Quinnipiac Bobcats on Saturday at 1 p.m. before doing the same against the Abilene Christian Wildcats on Sunday at 1 p.m. Towson will play neutral-site games versus Wildcats on Saturday and the Bobcats on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. as part of the Classic.