ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy women's basketball team's brief two-game homestand will wrap up on Wednesday night when the Mids (1-23, 1-12 PL) host the Lehigh University Mountain Hawks (12-12, 8-5 PL). The Mids and Mountain Hawks will be meeting for the second time in six weeks as the two squads went head-to-head in Bethlehem, Pa. on January 8. Navy will be looking to re-create the offensive success it had on Saturday versus Army as the Mids posted their third-best scoring effort of the season with 64 points against the Black Knights. Wednesday night's contest is slated for a 7 p.m. tip at Alumni Hall.

The Navy-Lehigh 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. Lehigh
The Mids and Mountain Hawks have met 68 times in a series that began on December 8, 1981 ... All-time, Lehigh leads Navy by two wins, 35-33 ... The tight series is also split near evenly among the venues as the Mountain Hawks are 20-15 at home versus an 18-15 advantage for the Mids in Annapolis ... Since the Mids joined the Patriot League in 1991-92, the series is slanted in Lehigh's favor, 34-30 ... Over the last ten matchups, Lehigh has an 8-2 advantage over Navy, with the Mountain Hawks sweeping the three most recent season series in 2019, 2020 and 2022 ... Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the two programs didn't meet during the 2021 portion of the Patriot League season ... Navy's last victory over Lehigh occurred on Jan. 27. 2018 in Annapolis when the Mids held on for a 53-50 win.
    Last 5 Games:
    Jan. 8, 2022 (A): Lehigh 77 - Navy 42
    March 2, 2022 (H): Lehigh 64 - Navy 42  
    Jan. 19, 2022 (A): Lehigh 99 - Navy 65
    Jan. 15, 2020 (H): Lehigh 60 - Navy 53
    Jan. 2, 2020 (A): Lehigh 70 - Navy 40

Most Recent Navy-Lehigh Matchup: January 8, 2023 in Bethlehem
A lights-out shooting performance by the host Lehigh Mountain Hawks in the first quarter on Sunday put the Navy women's basketball team in a large deficit that it was unable to overcome during the ensuing 30 minutes of action. The Mountain Hawks started the game at Stabler Arena with a 10-of-12 showing from three-point range on their way to a 32-5 advantage over the Mids through one quarter of play. The teams were more evenly matched over the final three quarters as Lehigh was just eight points better than Navy. The final score of the Patriot League contest was 77-42.
 
Maren Louridas was at the forefront of the Mids' offensive effort as she finished with a game-high 15 points, including three three-pointers and seven rebounds. Fellow freshman Kate Samson provided strong back-up with 11 points and eight rebounds.

The host Mountain Hawks were on fire from the start on Sunday afternoon as they hit three straight three-pointers to open the contest. A drive-and-dish from Louridas to Morganne Andrews at 7:27 stopped that initial scoring run. Lehigh had an immediate rebuttal as next time down the court it dialed up another three-pointer to go up 12-2. That Ella Stemmer trey kick-started a 14-0 run that consisted of four more three-pointers. A driving layup by Mimi Schrader got Navy back in the scoring column at 3:48. The lights-out shooting from three-point range carried the Mountain Hawks down the stretch as they sank three more triples to make it 32-5 through 10 minutes of action. As a team, Lehigh was 10-12 from three-point range and just 1-7 from inside the arc.
 
Navy and Lehigh played a near-even next 20 minutes as the Mountain Hawks edged the Mids by just two points in the second quarter, 15-13 before both teams registered 16 points in the third stanza. After Lehigh extended its lead out to 39-7 at the 7:20 mark of the second quarter, Navy responded with an 11-2 run from 6:48 to 3:28 on the strength of three three-pointers, two from Louridas and the third by Sydne Watts.
 
Trailing 47-18 at the half, the third quarter saw the teams trade scoring opportunities early as Lehigh added eight points to their side of the ledger, while Navy countered with seven. Active all day on the glass, Gia Pissott entered her name in the scoring column as Samson found her wide open at the basket after the Mountain Hawks collapsed on her with a double-team at 5:49 to make it 55-27. The Mids' freshmen class continued finding success in the third quarter as Samson and Louridas scored five of the team's final seven points in the period.
 
With the score 63-34 through three quarters of play, Louridas continued her double-digit scoring effort with an early three-pointer at 8:01 to make it 65-37. After a three-point response by Lehigh on its next possession, the game stayed in the 30-point range for the remainder of the contest.
 
In the 77-42 victory, Lehigh outshot Navy, 44.4 percent (28-63) to 25.8 (17-66) from the field, 48.1 percent (13-27) to 16.7 (4-24) from three-point range and 100.0 percent (8-8) to 57.1 (4-7) from the foul line.

Comparing the Teams

(2022-23 Stats)	Navy	Lehigh
Record / League-Only	1-23 / 1-12 PL	12-12 / 8-5 PL
Home / Away Record	1-11 / 0-12	8-4 / 4-8
Points Per Game	52.8 PPG	71.4 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	69.8 PPG	67.9 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	36.0 %	42.2 %
3-Point Percentage	29.6 %	34.0 %
Free Throw Percentage	61.1 %	80.8 %
Rebounds Per Game	37.6 RPG	36.0 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	10.5 / 18.5	15.9 / 15.3

Individual Leaders

(2022-23 Stats)	Navy	Lehigh
Points Per Game	Watts, 13.3 ppg	F. Hottinger, 21.3 ppg
Rebounds Per Game	Andrews, 6.0 rpg	F. Hottinger, 9.7 rpg
Assists Per Game	Schrader, 2.7 apg	A. Harvey, 4.1 apg
Field Goal Percentage	Samson, 45.5 %	F. Hottinger, 46.4 %
3-Point Percentage	Schrader, 31.1 %	M. Kramer, 43.3 %
Free Throw Percentage	Watts, 76.5 %	F. Hottinger, 80.3 %

Last Time Out: Saturday, February 11 vs. Army
The Navy women's basketball team left it all out on the line on Saturday in a service academy battle for the ages with archrival Army. Back-and-forth throughout the 40 minutes of action at Alumni Hall before a national television audience, a layup by Army's Trinity Hardy with two seconds remaining in regulation gave the visiting Black Knights the come-from-behind, 66-64 victory over the Mids. With the win Army secured the 2023 Women's Basketball Star as part of the 2022-23 Star Series presented by USAA.

Playing in her final Star game, Lindsay Llewellyn was a standout for the Mids as she recorded her first career double-double with a dominant 25-point, 10-rebound performance over 39 minutes of action. Both her point and rebounding totals were career-highs. Additionally, Llewellyn had four assists and drew 10 personal fouls. Sydne Watts and Maren Louridas were strong in support of Llewellyn as each player recorded 13 points.

Tight throughout the contest, neither team broke out to more than a three-point lead the entire first quarter. Navy was able to use the long ball to its benefit down the stretch as both Louridas and Watts hit nothing but the bottom of the net on their three-point attempts to push the Mids ahead at the quarter break, 14-13.
 
With Navy negating looks in the paint, Army dialed up the three-ball again early in the second quarter to knot the game at 16-16 courtesy of a Lauren Lithgow trey at 8:24. From that juncture, the Mids found their next gear and streaked ahead on a 11-3 run over the next 5:18. All parts of Navy's game was working during this run as four different players scored from all three levels, including a dramatic shot clock buzzer beater from Sam Schofield at 5:15. Ahead 27-19, the Mids kept the foot on the gas and eventually built out a 12-point lead of 35-23 with 66 seconds remaining in the first half. Louridas put the exclamation on Navy's largest lead of the game with a three-pointer. A late 5-0 run by Army helped the visitors cut its deficit to just seven points at the halftime intermission.
 
Foul trouble was the story of the first half as four starters from each team were saddled with two or more fouls. Navy played through its foul trouble and shot 43.3 percent (13-30) from the field and 66.7 percent (4-6) from three-point range. The Mids efficiently assisted on eight of their 13 made baskets.

With the score 35-28 coming out in the second half, the action bounced back-and-forth as the teams traded baskets over the opening five minutes of the third quarter. Watts bolstered the Mids' early push with her team's first five points of the half. Ahead 40-34, Navy increased its lead out to nine, 45-36, by the 3:46 mark after Llewellyn converted an 'and-one' and Louridas knocked down a long jumper. That nine-point margin stayed throughout the next 3:42 until a last-second three-pointer by Natalie Rhine with four seconds left closed Army's deficit to just six points, 48-42.
 
Like any service academy contest, the nip-and-tuck battle raged deep into the game. Both teams opened the fourth quarter evenly with a pair of baskets over the first three minutes to advance the score to 52-46. Already surpassing her previous career-high of 15 points with her first field goal of the fourth period, Llewellyn reached the 20-point plateau for the first-time in her time at Navy with a three-pointer at 6:43 to bubble the Mids' lead out to nine points. With the score 58-49 at 5:14, the visitors from West Point rattled off nine straight points over a span of under two minutes to knot the game at 58-58 with 3:23 left in regulation.

The neck-and-neck action continued over the next two minutes as Llewellyn scored three points for Navy, while Army rode four points from Sam McNaughton to hold a 62-61 lead with 1:18 to play. A free throw by Louridas re-tied the score at 62-62 with 59 second left. Llewellyn completed her first double-double as she grabbed her tenth rebound of the game at 0:46 before heading down the court and dropping in her 24th and 25th points of the game with a driving layup 17 seconds later. With the score 64-62 Navy, Army rallied in the closing moments of the game and went 2-2 at the foul line followed by Hardy's game-winning layup with two seconds to go to capture the 66-64 victory.

For the game, Navy outshot Army from the field, 48.0 percent (24-50) to 37.9 (22-58) and nominally from the foul line, 71.4 percent (10-14) to 70.0 (14-20). Both teams were equally proficient from three-point range at 50.0 as the Black Knights were 8-16, while the Mids were 6-12.

Parking / Shuttle
Fans are reminded that the general public does not have access to drive their vehicles on to the U.S. Naval Academy. Fans may park at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium for a fee and take a shuttle that will run every 10 minutes starting one hour before the game and will continue running until one hour after the game is completed. Fans 18 and over need a government-issued photo ID. Enter Gate 5 off Taylor Ave. to park at the stadium.