STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Fighting out of a 15-point first quarter deficit, the Navy women's basketball team nearly earned the come-from-behind win on the road on Thursday night before Wagner re-found its scoring touch with a late 6-0 run to garner the 69-67 victory. The Mids (3-4) were in comeback mode throughout most of the game and outscored the Seahawks (1-5) in each of the final three quarters, including a 20-11 advantage in the fourth, but that early hole and 19 made foul shots by the home squad allowed the fans at the Spiro Sports Center to go home happy following the non-conference bout.
Sydne Watts (Sr., Canton, Ga.) led all scorers on Thursday night with 21 points on 8-12 shooting from the floor and 2-3 from three-point range.
Zanai Barnett-Gay (Fr., Glenn Dale, Md.) had a strong all-around game with 12 points, five rebounds, six assists and six steals. Off the bench, the sophomore post combination of
Morgan Demos (Downers Grove, Ill.) and
Gia Pissott (Toms River, N.J.) added seven and six points, respectively.
"We didn't come out guarding them very well to start the game," remarked head coach
Tim Taylor. "Their post scored eight points right off the bat and their guards drove in for a lot of easy baskets. I'm not sure offensively we were taking the best shots at that time either. We didn't do a very good job of defending in transition early on. One of the overriding factors that I take from this game is we have to stop fouling so much. I felt that there were a lot of unnecessary fouls. We're a young team, but we have to learn to move our feet in a lot of those situations.
"With that being said I think there are a lot of things that we can take and learn from this game. We were down 15, but kept fighting and cut it to four, then went down 11 and then cut it back to four; we were down 11 to start the fourth and ended up with a five-point lead halfway through the quarter. We never quit and competed really well. We just need to be tougher at the end. We have to be able to win those games where you have a four-point lead with less than two minutes to go.
Toni Papahronis got to play a little bit so that's another positive. Hopefully as we move forward she'll be there for us at the end of the game. Hopefully we can get
Kate Samson back and healthy again, I feel she could've made a big difference for us tonight. I thought
Morgan Demos and
Gia Pissott gave us quality minutes. Sydne had a really good game offensively, while also doing some good things defensively; she got her hands on a few passes to break up plays."
The game opened with a significant Wagner feel to it as the hosts darted out to a 12-4 lead within the first 4:05 of action. A Barnett-Gay basket and two free throws by
Toni Papahronis (So., Edmond, Okla.) over the next 57 seconds helped the Mids draw back to just four points down at 12-8. The Seahawks had an immediate and loud rebuttal to this challenge with a 10-0 response to make it 22-8.
Kyah Smith (Fr., Richmond, Va.) short-circuited the host's run as
Lizzie Holder (Fr., Stillwater, Minn.) found her open from beyond the arc for Navy's first three-pointer of the contest at 1:27. Over the final 69 seconds of the first quarter, Wagner re-engaged its offense effectively and took a 27-12 lead into the break. Of note, Papahronis' free throws came in her first game back since suffering a season-ending knee injury in the 2022-23 season opener on Nov. 7 at William & Mary.
In a trend that would happen multiple times throughout the game on Thursday night, Navy recorded its first major scoring run to open up the second quarter with 10 of the period's first 12 points. Six of those 10 points came from hustle plays as Demos kick-started the run with an offensive rebound and putback at 9:17 before Barnett-Gay and Smith went back-to-back at 7:16 and 6:52 with fast break layups following steals. With the score 29-22, Wagner responded a 10-2 run of its own to go back up 15, 39-24 by the 2:47 mark. Navy shaved three points off that deficit before the halftime intermission courtesy of baskets by
Violet McNece (Fr., Chesterfield, Mo.) and
Morganne Andrews (Sr., Martinsburg, W.Va.) and the teams retired to their locker rooms at 40-28.
An inspired Midshipmen team came out to start the second half as the visitors immediately knocked seven points off of the Seahawks' lead in the matter of 2:07. Once again, it was heart-and-hustle plays that invigorated this run as the first points came after a Barnett-Gay block, while the second of Pissott's back-to-back layups was the result of two offensive rebounds. The score closed to 40-35 when Barnett-Gay intercepted a pass and dribbled in unabated for the fast break layup. Wagner didn't take this threat lying down and retorted with a 12-7 run over the next 4:38. Trailing 51-41, Navy scored the next six points to draw within four before Wagner tallied the final seven points of the quarter to re-extend its lead to 11, 58-47. While the Seahawks only converted five field goals in their 18-point quarter, they were 7-12 from the charity stripe to augment their scoring.
Similar to the third quarter, the Mids' offense came out revving in high gear to start the fourth period with points in five of their first six possessions to tune of a 10-0 run. Highlights of this streak included a three-pointer by Watts and consecutive fast break layups by Smith built from Barnett-Gay steals. With the score 58-57 in favor of Wagner, Navy kept its foot on the gas and scored on four of its next five times down the court. This success eventually resulted in the Mids drawing even at 60-60 at 5:20 on another trey by Watts and pulling ahead 65-60 with an and-one conversion by Watts and subsequent layup by Pissott at 4:06. Ahead 67-63 with 3:18 left in regulation, Navy's come-from-behind effort fell short of the finish line as Wagner netted the game's final six points, while forcing four turnovers and an 0-5 mark from the field for Navy.
In its 69-67 victory, Wagner outshot Navy, 47.9 percent (23-48) to 44.4 (28-63) from the field, 25.0 percent (4-16) to 17.6 (3-17) from three-point range and 67.9 percent (19-28) to 53.3 (8-15).
The rebounding battle was close on Thursday night as the host Seahawks edged the Mids, 36-34, though Navy held an 11-8 advantage in offensive boards. Smith led the Mids with six defensive caroms, while Demos snagged three on the offensive end.
Navy posted a 16-to-16 assist-to-turnover ratio on the strength of Barnett-Gay's six helpers with no turnovers.
Defensively, Barnett-Gay held top honors with a game-high six steals. Demos added three thefts off the bench.
"There are a lot of things that we can learn from tonight," said Taylor in closing. "We made mistakes due to inexperience, but we'll have to correct them moving forward. We need to know time-and-score a little better; we got a turnover and immediately took a shot when we didn't need to. Z being in foul trouble hurt us, especially at the end of the game because we could've used her ability to score and be that second ball-handler. There's definitely a lot of things and plays that we would like to have back from tonight. We have to understand that every possession matters; you can look at one shot or one jumpball, but if you look at things that we did earlier in the game, that if we did those better we're not down 15 and maybe we do win. We have to use this as another learning experience and get right back after it with William & Mary on Sunday."
Navy will be back in action on Sunday morning as part of a home women's/men's doubleheader at Alumni Hall. The women will tip-off versus William & Mary at 11 a.m. followed by the men going head-to-head with Coppin State at 1:30 p.m.
