ANNAPOLIS, Md. – One day after opening the 2023 Navy Classic with an emphatic 45-point first half on its way to a victory over Quinnipiac, the Navy women's basketball team fell victim to a 42-point first half by Abilene Christian and eventually dropped the second end of the two-day tournament by a score of 87-62 on Sunday at Alumni Hall. The Wildcats (3-2) received a pair of standout individual performances from Payton Hull and Bella Earle that the Mids (3-3) had no answer for as Hull set a Navy Classic record with nine three-pointers on her way to 34 points, while Earle tallied just the seventh triple-double of the 2023-24 NCAA DI season with 13 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.

Navy's individual effort on Sunday was led by its freshmen class as Zanai Barnett-Gay (Glenn Dale, Md.), Kyah Smith (Richmond, Va.) and Lizzie Holder (Stillwater, Minn.) combined for 40 of the Mids' points with Barnett-Gay posting her fourth straight game with 20 or more points as she went for 20 on 9-16 shooting from the field. Smith and Holder recorded totals of 11 and nine, respectively.

"I think this is such a young team and every opportunity is a learning opportunity," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "I feel like we got a quality win against Quinnipiac yesterday and then took for granted how hard it is to win; Abilene Christian came right out and took it from us. Today was a big learning experience for our team. We need to learn how to handle winning. When I look at this game and these stats, it's pretty obvious; they [ACU] had 19 offensive rebounds, you can't give up that many extra chances and expect to win. We need to be tougher. We weren't tough enough on the glass or on our defense, we let one player hit nine three-pointers.

"We had a lot of defensive issues this afternoon. We talked about not allowing them to get to the middle and we over-helped so they were able to kick it out and find wide-open looks from three. We had too many defensive breakdowns. I don't feel like we were ready to play; that falls on me. We didn't have the energy we needed early on. Abilene Christian lost yesterday so they came into today with a chip on their shoulder; they were hungry to win. They punched us early and often."

The opened evenly for a brief three-minute stretch as ACU led Navy 5-4 at the 6:58 mark. Back-to-back three-pointers over the next two possessions bolted the Wildcats quickly out to a seven-point lead. Barnett-Gay tried to counter ACU's offense with field goals on each of Navy's next two times down the court to make it 14-8. From that point at 4:26, the visiting Wildcats scored eight unanswered points and took a 22-8 lead into the first quarter break. Abilene Christian's offense was sparked by 5-10 shooting from three-point range in this opening period.

While Navy slowed down ACU's sharp-shooting in the second quarter to just a 1-5 mark from three-point territory, the multi-talented Wildcats got to work in the paint with 12 points and five offensive rebounds. That success down low spelled trouble for the Mids as they couldn't get their shots to fall and tallied just 11 points total in the period. Down 20 at 7:07, 28-8, Navy had its best run of offense in the stanza with an 11-4 run over the next 3:43. Violet McNece (Fr., Chesterfield, Mo.) and Maren Louridas (So., Delmar, N.Y.) were the key cogs in the Mids' run as McNece broke out for a pair of layups, including a steal and coast-to-coast putback, while Louridas sank her first three-pointer of the game. Similar to the end of the first quarter, Abilene Christian turned up the heat offensively down the stretch and recorded the final 10 points of the half to go up 42-19 at the intermission.

Unfortunately for Navy, it was never able to find short-circuit ACU's attack and the visitors held advantages of 20 or more points for the remaining 20 minutes of action at Alumni Hall. Barnett-Gay, Smith and Holder bolstered the Mids' offense in the second half as Barnett-Gay went for 14 points, while Smith and Holder each added nine points of their own. As a team, Navy shot 54.8 percent (17-31) from the field and 50.0 percent (7-14) from three-point range in the second half, but Abilene Christian countered with comparable marks of 43.2 percent (16-37) and 38.9 (7-18) from long range, respectively.

In its 87-62 victory, ACU out-shot Navy from the field, 44.9 percent (31-69) to 41.9 (26-62), from three-point range, 39.4 percent (13-33) to 33.3 (8-24) and from the foul line, 75.0 (12-16) to 18.2 (2-11) for the game.

The Wildcats commanded the glass on Sunday with a dominant, 50-31 advantage in rebounds, including a 19-10 edge in offensive boards. Sydne Watts (Sr., Canton, Ga.) and Smith tied for Navy's team-high with six rebounds each.

The Mids controlled the ball the well with 14-to-14 assist-to-turnover ratio. Smith was the leading facilitator with six helpers.

Defensively, the Mids turned over the Wildcats, 14 times and were credited with 10 steals. Barnett-Gay and Holder each tied for the game-high with three thefts.

"We missed about seven layups and had a good number of three-pointers rim in-and-out," said Taylor in closing. "Our problems today were on the defensive end. Offensively, we only turned the ball over 14 times so that's not horrible; we just had some shots that didn't go in early; I thought they were decent looks. Today's result didn't come down to offense or shooting; we shot 42 percent, which is pretty high. This just all came down to defense. If the ball is going down we probably score 75 or so points, but that's not going to help you when you're giving up 80."
 
Navy will be back in action Thursday night on the road in Staten Island with a first-time matchup versus Wagner College. Tip-off between the Mids and Seahawks is set for 7 p.m.
 
**After the conclusion of the Towson-Quinnipiac (75-65 TU) contest later on Sunday afternoon, the 2023 All-Navy Classic Team was announced. For leading her team to a 2-0 record over the weekend, Kylie Kornegay-Lucas of Towson was selected as the Classic MVP … The rest of the All-Navy Classic Team was as follows: Abilene Christian's Bella Earle and Payton Hull, Navy's Zanai Barnett-Gay, Quinnipiac's Ella O'Donnell and Towson's Patricia Anumgba.