ALBANY, N.Y. – The Navy women's basketball team wrapped up its regular season non-conference slate on the road on Saturday with an 87-56 loss to UAlbany. Trailing by just eight points at the half and 10 late in the third quarter, the young Midshipmen (4-7) squad had no answer in the fourth quarter for a Great Dane (11-2) team that has only lost twice all season. Showcasing a dominant post game and efficient shooting performance at the foul line, UAlbany outscored Navy by 20 points in the paint and converted 27 of its 34 foul shots at the Broadview Center on the campus of the University of Albany on its way to victory.

Individually, Navy had three players finish in double-digits led by Zanai Barnett-Gay's (Fr., Glenn Dale, Md.) 15 points to go along with three rebounds and four assists. In her homecoming game, Maren Louridas (So., Delmar, N.Y.) netted 10 points, four rebounds and three assists over 38 minutes of action. Sydne Watts (Sr., Canton, Ga.) rounded out the Mids' offensive leaders with 10 points to her name.

"Albany is a really good basketball team," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "They over-matched us with their inside game. When you look at the stats their freshman post player Deja Evans went for 26 points and 17 rebounds with eight offensive rebounds. That's unacceptable, we need to get better with our post defense. We knew Kayla Cooper was going to get her points; she's such a good player. Helene Haegerstrand had a really good game too. Those three players scored 61 points with 26 rebounds, that made the difference in the game. They scored 42 points in the paint, that's also a huge difference maker. We have to get away from fouling so much. We fouled them 23 times and they got 34 free throw attempts out of that; those are free points. We needed to play with more passion on defense. I didn't feel like we competed well enough with our post defense.

"I thought we did some good things offensively, we got some good looks, but we have to do a better job of making easy shots. There were some positive things to take away from this game, which is hard to say if you look at the final score. I don't really think the final score was indicative of the play today. We have to continue to work. We've got a tough road ahead of us with back-to-back Patriot League games at Boston and Colgate."

The game started evenly as Navy scored on three of its first five possessions and held a 6-5 lead at the 7:35 mark. Barnett-Gay and Louridas tallied all of the Mids' points in this early run. A 6-0 response by the host Great Danes swung the score back in their favor at 11-6 by 5:34. Barnett-Gay short-circuited this run the next time down the court for Navy to make it 11-8. From that juncture through the end of the first quarter, the Mids missed their final seven shots, while the Great Danes added four points to their advantage.

Trailing 15-8, Navy opened the second period by hitting its first three shots as part of a 6-1 run. A three-pointer by UAlbany's Sarah Karpell helped the hosts build their lead back out to five points before Watts answered back with a trey of her own to make it 19-17 at 7:02. 10 unanswered points by the Great Danes over the next 1:31 broke the game open to a 12-point margin. The momentum swings continued as the Mids retorted back with six of the next eight points on a three-pointer by Kyah Smith (Fr., Richmond, Va.) and an 'and-one' conversion by Louridas. With the score 31-23 at 3:16, the game advanced with each team scoring eight points over the final minutes of play in the half. Morgan Demos (So., Downers Grove, Ill.) sparked Navy down the stretch with back-to-back baskets at 1:18 and 0:29 to draw the Mids within six before a pair of late made free throws sent the teams to the locker room at 39-31. As a squad, Navy shot 64.3 percent (9-14) from the field in the period.

"In the second quarter we were moving the ball well," commented Taylor. "We were doing that in the first quarter, but our shots weren't falling; in the second those shots fell. We finished those plays in the second quarter that we came up short on in the first. Our ball movement was good, we were getting to the rim and we were finding the open shooter. We were really efficient that quarter."

Invigorated by a large hometown contingent, Louridas opened the second half by knocking home a three-pointer 51 seconds into the third quarter to help Navy pull within five points, 39-34. A 15-3 run by UAlbany over the next 4:49 found the hosts cruising up 54-37. Down, but not out, the Mids fought their way back into the contest with seven straight points, four from Smith and three from Lizzie Holder (Fr., Stillwater, Minn.). With the score 54-44 and 62 seconds left in the quarter, a late response once again bolstered the Great Danes going into a quarter break as Helene Haegerstrand knocked down a three-point field goal to make it a 13-point margin through three.

The initial two minutes of the fourth quarter played out fairly even with the hosts just adding one point to their advantage. Ahead 61-47 at 8:21, UAlbany over-powered Navy over the ensuing eight-plus minutes to the tune of 26-9. A leading factor in the Great Danes' dominant fourth quarter was a 15-17 showing at the foul line, 12 points in paint and 11 second-chance points. Barnett-Gay and Watts scored all 12 of the Mids' points in the final period as Barnett-Gay capped off her day with seven points, while Watts registered five.

In UAlbany's 87-56 victory, the Great Danes outshot the Mids 49.1 percent (27-55) to 35.2 (19-54) from the field and 42.9 percent (6-14) to 28.6 (4-14) from three-point range. Navy had one of its most efficient games at the foul line of 2023-24 as the Mids shot 87.5 percent (14-16) versus a 79.4 mark (27-34) for the Great Danes.

In the rebounding battle, UAlbany over-muscled Navy with a 40-26 advantage, including a 13-9 edge in offensive boards. Holder and Louridas tied for top-billing for the Mids with four rebounds a piece.

Defensively, Navy forced UAlbany into 12 turnovers and were credited with eight steals. Barnett-Gay, Louridas, Toni Papahronis (So., Edmond, Okla.) and Watts all finished with two steals. Holder blocked a career-high four shots.

Navy will now turn its attention to Patriot League play with a pair of difficult road matchups over the next week. First up is a Wednesday tilt at Boston University at 2 p.m. followed by a Saturday matinee at Colgate. The Terriers and Raiders were picked second and third, respectively in the preseason poll.