ANNAPOLIS, Md. - A series that had been dormant for over 40 years will be re-engaged this Friday when the Navy women's basketball team goes head-to-head with Dartmouth in Hanover, New Hampshire. Meeting in the third and fourth seasons of varsity women's basketball at Navy in 1979-80 and 1980-81, the Mids (3-5) and Big Green (2-4) will match up in 2023 on the hardwood with a non-conference tilt at Leede Arena at 5 p.m. Both teams will be looking to put an end to brief losing streaks as Navy has dropped three straight games, while Dartmouth has come up short in its last two contests.

The Navy-Dartmouth game will have live stats provided online, as well as be broadcast on the ESPN+ platform. ESPN+ is a subscription-based streaming service that requires patrons to sign-up for monthly or yearly plans prior to tuning into the contest.

Navy vs. Dartmouth / Ivy League
The Mids and Big Green have met twice before with the home teams earning wins in both matchups: Navy 71-69 over Dartmouth on December 11, 1979 in Annapolis and Dartmouth holding home-court advantage on January 17, 1981, 72-60 ... Of note, the first Army-Navy women's basketball matchup occurred on January 18, 1981 on day two of the 1981 Burger King-Dartmouth Invitational ... All-time versus Ivy League foes, Navy is 23-21 with its most recent matchup coming against Penn on November 24, 2018 as part of the 2018 Navy Classic (Penn won 65-61) ... Navy and Yale have faced off the most in the Mids' series against the Ivy League with a 4-7 mark over 11 contests ... Yale (11 games: 4-7 record), Penn (10: 5-5), Princeton (9: 5-4) and Columbia (5: 4-1) are the only Ivy League programs that Navy has played more than three times.

Comparing the Teams

(2023-24 Stats)	Navy	Dartmouth
Record / League-Only	3-5, 0-0 PL	2-4, 0-0 Ivy
Home / Away / Neut. Record	3-3 / 0-2	1-2 / 1-2
Points Per Game	63.0 PPG	46.5 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	71.1 PPG	53.7 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	38.7 %	34.2 %
3-Point Percentage	28.5 %	25.0 %
Free Throw Percentage	59.8 %	64.8 %
Rebounds Per Game	38.1 RPG	38.2 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	12.8 / 18.9	10.0 / 18.0

Individual Leaders

(2023-24 Stats)	Navy	Dartmouth
Points Per Game	Zanai Barnett-Gay, 20.1 ppg	Victoria Page, 9.7 ppg
Rebounds Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 6.8 rpg	Doreen Ariik, 9.7 rpg
Assists Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 3.8 apg	Nina Minicozzi, 2.3 apg
Field Goal Percentage	Z. Barnett-Gay, 46.3 %	D. Ariik, 39.6 %
3-Point Percentage	Z. Barnett-Gay, 36.7 %	N. Minicozzi, 37.5 %
Free Throw Percentage	Kyah Smith, 64.7 %	Cate MacDonald, 64.7 %

Last Time Out -- Sunday vs. William & Mary
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 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 and Violet McNece 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.

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. 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 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 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 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.

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.

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.