ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's basketball team turned in one of its most complete efforts of the 2023-24 season as its defense held Bucknell to just 28.1 percent shooting from the field, while three separate Midshipmen compiled 16-point scoring nights to lead Navy to a 59-48 win on Wednesday. The Mids (6-12, 2-5 PL) broke out to an eight-point lead through one quarter of play as the Bison (5-13, 2-5 PL) only were able to muster one made basket and four points total. That lead would hold up for nearly the entire game as Navy was ahead for 38:34 of the 40-minute contest at Alumni Hall.

Individually, Zanai Barnett-Gay (Fr., Glenn Dale, Md.), Kate Samson (So., Richmond, Va.) and Kyah Smith (Fr., Richmond, Va.) all tallied 16 points on Wednesday night. Each player added to their scoring outputs as Barnett-Gay finished with a double-double with 11 rebounds to go along with four steals, while Samson's line was augmented as she tied her career-high with five blocks. Smith was Navy's leading facilitator with a game-high four assists, in addition to tying her career-high with six rebounds.

"Tonight was a huge game for us," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "After you lose to Army things can go a little sideways and it depends on how you respond. Our response today was excellent, especially with our effort on defense. I don't think anyone was happy with the effort on Saturday so this was a really big win. I thought that we had played well the first five conference games of the year and were getting better each game, but weren't getting a lot of wins. Versus Army we just didn't play well. Tonight we played well in a lot of different facets.

"That's the Kate Samson that we've been waiting to see. The difference-maker tonight was Maren Louridas. She held Emma Theodorsson, who had been on fire coming into this game to just seven points on 2-13 shooting. Emma is a heck of a player and Maren did a phenomenal job on her."

Navy broke out to an early 6-2 lead as the Mids scored on three consecutive possessions over a 60-second span. Barnett-Gay provided Navy with four of those points, two from the foul line and two more from a jumper. Up four at 7:46, the Mids rattled off six of the next seven points to extend their advantage over the Bison to nine, 12-3 by the 2:54 juncture. Smith recorded all six of those points for her squad. One successful foul shot with 17 seconds remaining by Bucknell's Blake Matthews concluded the quarter at 12-4. Defensively, the Mids held the Bison to just 6.3 percent (1-16) shooting from the field in the period. Of those 16 attempts, three were blocked by Navy defenders.

Ahead by eight, the Mids quickly increased their lead to 10 when Lizzie Holder (Fr., Stillwater, Minn.) passed out of the post to Samson at the foul line for a wide-open straight away jumper at 8:40. As both teams scored five points over the next four minutes to make it a 19-9 game, Bucknell ran off eight unanswered points with four straight baskets to cut Navy's lead to just 19-17 by the 2:20 mark. A jumper by Smith with 46 seconds left sent the game to halftime at 21-17 in favor of the Mids.

Navy's late offensive slump stayed in the locker room as Sydne Watts (Sr., Canton, Ga.) found the bottom of the net with a three-pointer 11 seconds into the third quarter. A Samson steal and breakaway layup by Barnett-Gay immediately put the Mids back up nine, 26-17. The score moved ahead nearly even over the next three minutes as it was 30-22 following a Samson basket at 6:21. From that point, Bucknell posted a 10-2 run to draw even at 32-all by 3:19. The first and only tie of the game lasted all of eight seconds as Smith raced down the court after the make and dropped in a floating jumper to put Navy back ahead. The Mids' offense quickly re-engaged with points on five straight possessions to close the quarter on a 9-3 run.

Up 41-35 after 30 minutes of action, Navy repeated its early success from the previous period as Watts and Smith went back-to-back with makes to build the Mids' lead back into double-digits. With the score 45-35, the teams traded baskets over the next four minutes as the score advanced to 52-42 by 4:56. Four points by the Bison over the next 33 seconds tightened the game to a six-point margin, but to the chagrin of the visitors, that was as close as the Mids would let them get. With the pressure on, Navy was nearly perfect at the foul line down the stretch with a 7-8 performance, while its defense held Bucknell to just 1-7 shooting from the field with five turnovers forced to salt away the 59-48 victory.

"I thought on the defensive end we were really, really good tonight," commented Taylor. "Kate did a really good job defending deep in the post. As a team, we stress trying to get three stops in a row, seven times in a game, that's one of our defensive goals. If you can string that amount of stops together you're going to be in a good spot. We stopped them six straight times in the fourth."

For the game, Navy outshot Bucknell, 36.8 percent (21-57) to 28.1 (16-57) from the field, though the Bison held minimal edges in three-point shooting, 20.0 percent (3-15) to 11.8 (2-17) and free throw shooting, 86.7 percent (13-15) to 83.3 (15-18).

The Mids dominated the Bison on the glass with a 13-rebound advantage, 45-32. Barnett-Gay led all players with 11 rebounds, while Maren Louridas (So., Delmar, N.Y.) and Smith grabbed six each.

Defensively, Navy forced Bucknell into 15 turnovers and was credited with nine steals. Barnett-Gay (4), Louridas (2) and Samson (2) all tallied multiple steals on the night. Samson led the Mids' block party down low with a season-high five denials. Watts and Morganne Andrews (Sr., Martinsburg, W.Va.) added to Navy's seven blocks on Wednesday. This marked the team's second straight contest with seven blocks as they registered seven versus Army.

"We did a good job handling the ball. We had a few turnovers late, but we started out with seven in the first quarter and ended up with 15 total; we cleaned that up," said Taylor in closing. "We were looking for each other a lot more on offense. Sydne Watts had one of the best passes this year in the first quarter. That's the best part of tonight we had 16-16-16 from three different players. I'm proud of our team. I'm proud of the hustle and passion, we out-rebounded them by 13. Hats off to Bucknell, they always make you work."

Navy will be back in action on Saturday with a short road trip to Loyola. Tip-off between the Mids and Greyhounds is set for 5 p.m. at Reitz Arena.