ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's basketball team fell victim to a fast start by William & Mary that saw it trailing by 12 points after one quarter and never recovered on Sunday as the Tribe led for the final 37 minutes of action, taking an 81-53 decision. The Mids (3-5) were beset by poor ball-handling and double-digit deficits in both the first and third quarters as the Tribe (3-5) shot over 50 percent from three-point range and had five players score 10 or more points in the contest at Alumni Hall.

Zanai Barnett-Gay (Glenn Dale, Md.) led Navy's individual effort against William & Mary as the freshman guard posted a game-high 21 points on 8-17 shooting to go along with six rebounds, six assists and two steals. Maren Louridas (So., Delmar, N.Y.) and Violet McNece (Fr., Chesterfield, Mo.) each added a pair of three-pointers for the Mids as Louridas finished with eight points on 3-6 shooting, while McNece was 2-3 from the field with all attempts from beyond the arc.

"We have to figure out how to come out at the start of games better," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "We need to figure out what motivates this team coming out of the locker room. We haven't had great starts in quite a few games so far this season; partly that's on me. We're a team of fighters so we've been able to dig out of those holes at times, but not today. Our starting group struggled this afternoon; they never found a good rhythm and didn't play well together on either end."  

"I told them this is probably the best team that we're going to play outside of Penn State in our non-conference. They [William & Mary] are a seasoned team, that makes plays on both end of the court. They shot unbelievably well today, especially from three-point range, they came in 338th in DI in total threes out of 348 teams and two players that were 3-40 coming into the game make three three-pointers in the first half. I'm not sure if that's on our defense for not being as tight on them as we needed to be or them just making shots. We never made them [W&M] uncomfortable today. We turned the ball over too much and made too many careless mistakes. It's on me to get them to play better than what you saw today. Our effort wasn't good enough."

The early action on Sunday opened nearly even as Navy scored on three of its first five possessions to hold a 7-6 lead through 2:27 of play. Sydne Watts (Sr., Canton, Ga.) kick-started the Mids' success with a three-pointer just eight seconds in. Field goals by Barnett-Gay and Louridas followed to give Navy the one-point edge. A 13-1 run by William & Mary over the next 4:18 bolted the visitors into the lead 19-8 by the 3:15 mark. A smooth dish by Barnett-Gay to Kate Samson (So., Richmond, Va.) deep in the paint resulted in an easy layup for the Mids' center at 3:03 to cut Navy's deficit to single digits. The trading of baskets continued as Lizzie Holder (Fr., Stillwater, Minn.) found her stroke from three-point range at 1:15 to make it a 21-13 game. A late William & Mary fastbreak layup gave the Tribe a 12-point lead at the quarter break.

The back-and-forth play continued into the second quarter as William & Mary held its double-digit advantage throughout as the margin shrunk to as little as 11 at 7:21 when Kyah Smith (Fr., Richmond, Va.) sank a mid-range pull-up jumper to make 28-17 and as large as 18 (37-19) at 2:36. Consecutive three-pointers by McNece and Louridas over the final 69 seconds of the quarter helped Navy send the game into the locker room at half with the score 39-27. The statistical outliers of the first half were William & Mary shooting 6-10 from three-point range and Navy turning the ball over 10 resulting in 13 points for the visitors.

Coming out leading by 12, William & Mary re-engaged its offense almost immediately in the third quarter as it scored 14 of the first 17 points of the period to burst open a 23-point lead, 53-30 at 4:06. The Tribe held the Mids at bay from there on out and never allowed the hosts to get closer than 20 points over the final 14 minutes of regulation on their way to a 81-53 win. Barnett-Gay was Navy's leading scoring in the second half with 12 points on 4-8 shooting with an additional three converted free throws. Six other Mids tallied points over the third and fourth quarters, including three-pointers by Louridas, McNece and Sam Schofield (Sr., Maumee, Ohio).

In its victory, William & Mary outshot Navy, 48.2 percent (27-56) to 32.8 (19-58) from the field and 52.9 percent (9-17) to 34.8 (8-23) from three-point range. The Mids had a slight 70.0 percent (7-10) to 66.7 (18-27) edge in free throw shooting.

The Tribe won the rebounding battle on Sunday by two, 37-35. Barnett-Gay tied for the game-high with six caroms. In 12 minutes off the bench, Morganne Andrews (Sr., Martinsburg, W.Va.) grabbed five rebounds.

Navy struggled with its ball-handling as they had a 10-to-22 assist-to-turnover ratio. Barnett-Gay was a bright spot for the Mids with six assists.

"It's game eight, we need to start showing up and performing," said Taylor in closing. "We're a young team, but we need to start taking steps forward. It's small things that we preach in a timeout that don't happen when we get out there and things break down. When you have good teams like William & Mary they're going to take advantage of all of those breakdowns and errors."

Navy will be back in action on the road next Friday at Dartmouth. The non-conference tilt versus the Ivy League foe is scheduled for a 5 p.m. tip-off in Hanover, N.H.