ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's basketball team fell to the reigning Patriot League champions, the Holy Cross Crusaders on Wednesday in the first home conference game of the 2023-24 schedule for the Mids. The Crusaders (9-5, 3-0 PL) kept its run of undefeated Patriot League play going with a 52.1 percent (25-48) shooting effort at Alumni Hall, while the Mids (4-10, 0-3 PL) were held back by a cold shooting night of their own as they converted just 33.3 percent (19-57) of their shots.

Battling through foul trouble on Wednesday night, Zanai Barnett-Gay (Fr., Glenn Dale, Md.) came away with a team-high 15 points and four steals, while her freshman backcourt mate Kyah Smith (Richmond, Va.) added 11 points off the bench. In action for the first time since Dec. 3 following an injury, Gia Pissott (So., Toms River, N.J.) sparked the Mids with five points and a team-high five rebounds over 13 minutes of play.

"The biggest takeaway from tonight was you got to see our growth throughout the game," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "We fought our butts off tonight. I felt that we defended them really well at times, but when they were open they made shots. When we were pressing them, there were times that we lost [Bronagh] Power-Cassidy and she made us pay. They hit three or four three-pointers when we were in transition and just didn't match up. Once again, we ended up taking more shots than our opponent and getting to the foul line more, but not much to show for it; that's frustrating.

"Offensively, we needed to finish our plays when we were two feet from the basket. We tended to get out of control down deep, while they [Holy Cross] were composed and made us pay. We work on this every single day so we're getting closer to that breakthrough. There were definitely positives to take from tonight's game and also a lot of things that we'll get to work refining on the practice court. That's the biggest thing. We held them to just five offensive rebounds and turned them over 21 times, those are great stats. We just couldn't match their efficiency, they made big shots tonight. They're well-coached and well-seasoned; they're a very good team."

Holy Cross led wire-to-wire over Navy as they bolted out to five-point lead over the opening 4:32 of play. With the score 9-4, both teams added five points to their total over the next three-plus minutes with Pissott netting all five for the Mids. After Janelle Allen extended Holy Cross' lead to seven at 2:04, Kate Samson (So., Richmond, Va.) responded for Navy with a layup on the Mids' final possession of the quarter to make it 16-11.

Navy came out in the second quarter on a mission and raced out with an 8-5 run to cut its deficit to just two, 21-19 by the 7:07 mark. Smith recorded four of the Mids' points, while the other four came from free throws by Maren Louridas (So., Delmar, N.Y.) and Sydne Watts (Sr., Canton, Ga.). From that juncture, the visitors out-scored Navy 15-4 over the remaining seven-plus minutes of the half to break the game open to a 36-23 margin by the half. The Crusaders were particularly accurate in the second quarter knocking down 63.6 percent (7-11) of their shots from the field, including all three three-point attempts and three of four free throws.

Trailing by 13, Navy came out on its first possession of the second half and drew within 10 as Barnett-Gay found Louridas for a straightaway three-pointer 10 seconds into the period. After the teams traded baskets over the next 90 seconds to make it 38-28, Holy Cross buckled down defensively, while catching fire offensively with four straight made baskets and five of seven to increase its lead out to 19, 49-30 at 4:55. The Mids fought to shrink its deficit down to 15 with two points each from Toni Papahronis (So., Edmond, Okla.) and Barnett-Gay before the Crusaders closed out the quarter with five unanswered points.

Down 54-34 after three quarters, Navy continued battling in the final period of play and clawed its way back within 14 (59-45) by 5:51 and 10 (62-52) by 2:06. The initial 11-5 run was capped by an offensive rebound and putback by Lizzie Holder (Fr., Stillwater, Minn.), while the second 7-3 run featured all seven points coming from Smith. The Mids' valiant effort was unable to break into single digits as the Crusaders made seven of their final 10 foul shots over the last 88 seconds to conclude the contest with a 69-54 score.

For the game, Holy Cross outshot Navy, 52.1 percent (25-48) to 33.3 (19-57) from the field, 53.8 percent (7-13) to 14.3 (2-14) from three-point range and 70.6 (12-17) to 70.0 (14-20) from the foul line.

The Crusaders won the rebounding battle on Wednesday night by seven, 36-29, though the Mids took the offensive rebounding category, 10-5. Eight different Navy players grabbed multiple rebounds with Pissott leading the pack with five.

Defensively, the Mids forced the Crusaders into 21 turnovers and were credited with eight steals. Barnett-Gay paced Navy with a game-high four thefts.

"I'm proud of our effort and fight," commented Taylor. "We cut it to 10 late in the fourth quarter. We've played the top three teams to open Patriot League play so if we continue to show growth, work hard to get better in practice and challenge ourselves; we'll get there; we're this close."
 
Navy will play its second straight Patriot League home game on Saturday afternoon when it hosts Lafayette in a 1 p.m. contest at Alumni Hall.