ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy women's basketball team will continue Patriot League play on Saturday as it makes the short trip to Loyola. Coming off a complete effort on Wednesday night versus the Bucknell Bison, the Mids (6-12, 3-5 PL) will look to continue moving up the conference standings as they take on a Greyhound (8-10, 3-4 PL) team that sits one game ahead of them through seven contests. Both Navy and Loyola held its homecourt advantage in 2023 with the Mids winning in Annapolis in January and the Greyhounds doing the same in Baltimore in February. Navy will look to end that streak as it tips off in Loyola's Reitz Arena at 5 p.m. on Saturday. 

The Navy-Loyola 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 versus Loyola
The Mids and Greyhounds have met 39 times in a series that began on January 28, 1979 ... All-time, Navy leads Loyola, 25-14 though the Greyhounds have a slight 10-9 edge in games played on their home campus ... A two-game season sweep in 2021 by Navy helped end a four-game slide in the series; the two teams have since split the 2022 and 2023 series ... Since the Greyhounds joined the Patriot League in 2013-14, the Mids are 13-10 overall with a 1-2 mark in Patriot League postseason contests ... Over the last ten matchups, Loyola has grabbed wins six times versus four for Navy; during that span the Mids are just 1-4 at Reitz Arena
    Last Five Games:
    Feb. 19, 2023 (A): Loyola 74 - Navy 50
    January 14, 2023 (H): Navy 63 - Loyola 43
    February 23, 2022 (A): Loyola 56 - Navy 42
    February 5, 2022 (H): Navy 61 - Loyola 54
    February 14, 2021 (H): Navy 50 - Loyola 46

Most Recent Navy-Loyola Matchup ... February 19, 2023 in Baltimore
The Navy women's basketball team fell victim to a hot-shooting Loyola squad that started off fast and never slowed down as it shot nearly 60 percent on Sunday afternoon in a Patriot League tilt. Starting off the game hitting 12 of their first 14 shots, the Greyhounds broke out to a nine-point lead through one quarter of play and never looked back on their way to a 74-50 victory over the Mids at Reitz Arena. The duo of Sydne Watts and Maren Louridas led Navy on Sunday with 27 combined points. Watts shot 50 percent (6-12 FG, 3-6 3 PT) to finish with 15 points, while Louridas added 12 of her own.

The action at Reitz Arena began evenly as back-to-back baskets by Louridas at 6:00 and 5:14 knotted the game at 7-7. From that juncture, Loyola closed out the first quarter on a 12-3 run to hold a 19-10 lead after 10 minutes. The hosts extended that run out with the first seven points of the second quarter in a matter of 1:55 to go up 26-10. The Greyhounds were bolstered over these opening 12 minutes of the game by an 86 percent shooting percentage (12-14). After Taylor called a timeout, the Mids responded with a 10-3 run to pull back within nine points, 29-20. Watts initially sparked the run with back-to-back baskets, 26 seconds apart, before Lindsay Llewellyn knocked down a pair of field goals to round out the run. Loyola recovered over the final 65 seconds of play in the period and scored six of the last nine points to take a 35-23 lead into the locker room.
 
That late momentum carried over into the second half as the Greyhounds recorded the first six points of the third quarter. With the score 41-23, Watts single-handedly drew Navy back into the game with an 11-2 run from 7:34 to 5:50. Four-for-four from the field, Watts knocked down three consecutive three-pointers with a pull-up jumper as the exclamation point. Challenged by the Mids at 43-34, the Greyhounds immediately answered back with a 12-0 run over the next three-plus minutes. Loyola's lead bounced between 18 and 21 the final two minutes as it ended ahead 59-39 after three quarters of play.

Strong free throw shooting aided the Greyhounds in the fourth quarter as the hosts never let their lead fall below 20 on the back of a perfect nine-of-nine showing from the foul line. Navy went with a freshmen-heavy lineup down the stretch and saw its plebes net all 11 points in the final stanza with Louridas knocking home a pair of jumpers to lead the way. 

For the game, Loyola outshot Navy, 59.1 percent (26-44) to 37.5 (21-56) from the field, 30.0 percent (3-10) to 23.8 (5-21) from three-point range and 90.5 percent (19-21) to 50.0 (3-6) from the foul line.

Comparing the Teams

(2023-24 Stats)	Navy	Loyola
Record / League-Only	6-12, 2-5 PL	8-10, 3-4 PL
Home / Away / Neut. Record	6-5 / 0-7	3-5 / 5-5
Points Per Game	61.6 PPG	55.2 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	67.6 PPG	60.9 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	37.6 %	40.1 %
3-Point Percentage	25.5 %	26.2 %
Free Throw Percentage	66.0 %	69.8 %
Rebounds Per Game	37.1 RPG	30.5 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	12.0 / 15.8	10.6 / 14.7

Individual Leaders

(2023-24 Stats)	Navy	Loyola
Points Per Game	Zanai Barnett-Gay, 18.0 ppg	Lex Therien, 16.8 ppg
Rebounds Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 5.9 rpg	L. Therien, 10.2 rpg
Assists Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 3.0 apg	Laura Salmeron, 2.4 apg
Field Goal Percentage	Sydne Watts, 42.3 %	L. Therien, 57.8 %
3-Point Percentage	S. Watts, 33.3 %	Kelly Ratigan, 31.5 %
Free Throw Percentage	Kyah Smith, 73.3 %	Ava Therien, 85.7 %

Last Time Out -- Wednesday versus Bucknell
Navy 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, Kate Samson and Kyah Smith 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.

Navy broke out to an early 6-2 lead as the Mids scored on three consecutive possessions over a 60-second span. 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 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 at 8:40. After 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 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.

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).