ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy women's basketball team will wrap up its busy January slate on Wednesday night with the back-end of its home-and-home series with Lehigh that began two weeks ago on Jan. 17 in Bethlehem, Pa. Playing its ninth-game in the month of January, the Mids (6-13, 2-6 PL) will be looking to recapture the strong brand of basketball, that saw them defeat Bucknell last Wednesday and hold the lead at Loyola on Saturday for over 35 minutes, against a Mountain Hawk (12-7, 4-4 PL) squad that has caught fire of late winning of three their last four games, all while scoring 70 or more points. Tip-off at Alumni Hall is set for 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

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 70 times in a series that began on December 8, 1981 ... All-time, Lehigh leads Navy by four wins, 37-33 ... The tight series is also split near evenly among the venues as the Mountain Hawks are 20-15 at home versus an 18-16 advantage for the Mids in Annapolis ... Since the Mids joined the Patriot League in 1991-92, the series is slanted in Lehigh's favor, 36-30 ... Over the last ten matchups, Lehigh has a 9-1 advantage over Navy, with the Mountain Hawks sweeping the four most recent season series in 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023 ... 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; their last win in Bethlehem was Jan. 18, 2017 by a 66-64 final score.
    Last Five Games:
    Jan. 17, 2023 (A): Lehigh 81 - Navy 65
    Feb. 15, 2023 (H): Lehigh 72 - Navy 38
    Jan. 8, 2023 (A): Lehigh 77 - Navy 42
    March 2, 2022 (H): Lehigh 64 - Navy 42  
    Jan. 19, 2022 (A): Lehigh 99 - Navy 65

Most Recent Navy-Lehigh Matchup ... January 17, 2024 in Bethlehem, Pa.
Navy ran into a sharp-shooting Lehigh squad on Wednesday night and fell by a score of 81-65. The Mountain Hawks started out fast with five three-pointers in the first quarter and never slowed down as they nailed 12 total treys on the Mids in a Patriot League bout at Stabler Arena. A game Navy team was within seven points at the end of the third quarter and down just nine halfway through the fourth quarter before Lehigh pulled away late.

The Mids received balanced scoring from the trio of Zanai Barnett-Gay, Maren Louridas and Kyah Smith as they combined for 47 points. Barnett-Gay led Navy with 18 points, while Louridas posted her highest scoring effort of the season as she shot 50 percent (6-12) from the field and 4-4 from the foul line for 16 points in addition to grabbing seven rebounds in 35 minutes of action. Off the bench, Smith tallied 13 points and two assists over 36 minutes.

The game opened nearly even as Navy jumped out to an 8-7 lead at 6:24 when Smith sank her first basket of the contest. From that juncture, Lehigh scored 17 of the next 19 points to build up a 24-10 advantage by the 1:33 mark. The Mountain Hawks hit four three-pointers over this run. Field goals by Smith and Sydne Watts over the final 70 seconds drew the Mids within 10 points before an Ella Stemmer layup at the buzzer gave the hosts a 26-14 lead after one quarter of play.

Navy kick-started its comeback in the second quarter and came out of the gates on an 8-2 run over the first three minutes. Four different Mids contributed to this success as Barnett-Gay, Watts, Smith and Louridas all found the bottom of the net. The teams traded baskets over the next 3:30 as the score advanced to 35-29. A crisp series of passes in the paint from Lizzie Holder to Morganne Andrews resulted in Navy cutting its deficit to just four points at 2:59. A 5-2 close to the half sent the teams to the locker room with Lehigh up 40-33. Navy's 19-14 advantage in the quarter was spearheaded by a perfect 4-to-0 assist-to-turnover ratio and a 47.1 percent (8-17) shooting performance.

The third quarter had two significant momentum swings as the Mountain Hawks opened with 15-4 run to go ahead 55-37 by 4:58. The Mids re-centered themselves after these early struggles and fired back with a 14-3 retort to close the period. Kate Samson was a leading player in this stretch for Navy as she scored six points and blocked a pair of shots on defense. Louridas added four points of her own to back-up her fellow sophomore. All three of Lehigh's points were from the foul line as Navy's defense forced the Mountain Hawks into eight straight missed field goal attempts.

With the score 58-51 and just one quarter of action remaining, Lehigh extended its lead back into double-digits with seven of the first nine points of the fourth stanza. Trailing 66-53, Smith and Louridas scored within 23 seconds of each other to quickly get Navy back within nine points with 6:38 left in regulation. Eight consecutive points by Lehigh's leading scorer Ella Stemmer helped her squad build out its then-largest lead of the game, 74-57. Four straight free throw conversions by Barnett-Gay and Louridas made it a 13-point margin, though unfortunately for the visitors, that would be as close as they would get for the remaining 3:17 of play in the contest as Lehigh held on for the 81-65 victory.

For the game, Lehigh out-shot Navy, 48.3 percent (29-60) to 39.7 (27-68) from the field, 42.9 percent (12-28) to 11.1 (1-9) from three-point range and 91.7 percent (11-12) to 90.9 (10-11) from the foul line.

Comparing the Teams

(2023-24 Stats)	Navy	Lehigh
Record / League-Only	6-13, 2-6 PL	12-7 / 4-4 PL
Home / Away / Neut. Record	6-5 / 0-8	6-3 / 5-3 / 1-1
Points Per Game	61.9 PPG	72.2 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	67.7 PPG	65.8 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	38.0 %	41.8 %
3-Point Percentage	26.6 %	31.6 %
Free Throw Percentage	66.8 %	77.1 %
Rebounds Per Game	36.9 RPG	38.3 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	12.1 / 15.8	16.4 / 17.1

Individual Leaders

(2023-24 Stats)	Navy	Lehigh
Points Per Game	Zanai Barnett-Gay, 17.7 ppg	Ella Stemmer, 14.5 ppg
Rebounds Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 6.2 rpg	Meghan O'Brien, 6.4 rpg
Assists Per Game	Kyah Smith, 3.0 apg	Colleen McQuillen, 4.3 apg
Field Goal Percentage	Sydne Watts, 43.4 %	Maddie Albrecht, 53.6 %
3-Point Percentage	S. Watts, 36.0 %	Lily Fandre, 36.3 %
Free Throw Percentage	Kyah Smith, 75.0 %	C. McQuillen, 86.7 %

Last Time Out -- Saturday at Loyola
The Navy women's basketball team led for over 35 minutes on Saturday before a late comeback by Loyola spelled disappointment for the visitors as the Mids fell 70-67 at Reitz Arena. Leading 21-11 through one quarter and 55-48 mid-way through the fourth quarter, the Mids (6-13, 2-6 PL) fell victim to a frantic full court press by the Greyhounds (9-10, 4-4 PL) that resulted in four turnovers and just four made baskets over the final five minutes as their lead disappeared and sealed the come-from-behind win for Loyola.

The Mids had a quartet of players reach double-figures on Saturday led by Kyah Smith, who paced all scorers with 19 points on 7-14 shooting from the field and three three-pointers, to go along with five assists over 39 minutes of action. Sydne Watts and Zanai Barnett-Gay were right behind with 16-point and 15-point outputs, respectively. Barnett-Gay augmented her statline with game-highs of 11 rebounds and three steals. The fourth Navy player to reach double-digits was Kate Samson, who tallied 12 points and three blocks in 22 minutes before leaving injured in the second half.

Navy started out the game on fire as it burst out to a 10-0 lead over the first 2:58 of the contest. Watts was the early facilitator with five of those points, while Maren Louridas made the loudest basket as she splashed home a three-pointer in transition at 7:02. The teams traded three-pointers over the next minute of play as Barnett-Gay had an instant rebuttal to Loyola's Kelly Ratigan's trey. The Mids' advantage hovered around that 10-point mark for the next five minutes before taking its then-largest lead of the game, 19-8 on a Samson jump shot with 52 seconds left in the quarter. Following a three-pointer by the Greyhounds, two free throws by Samson on the Mids' final possession made it a 21-11 game through 10 minutes of action.

The second quarter started slowly as Loyola scored the only two points of the opening three minutes. Smith's first three-pointer of the game at 6:51 quickly helped Navy reach its 11-point advantage, 24-13. A small 4-0 run by the Greyhounds over the next three possessions was retorted by baskets from Watts and Smith to advance the score to 28-17 by the 4:35 mark. A slight 7-4 edge by Loyola to close the quarter wrapped up the scoring at 32-24 in favor of Navy. The Mids' offense in the first half flowed to the tune of eight assists over 11 made field goals, while going to the foul line seven times and making all seven free throws.

It didn't take long for Navy to go back ahead by double figures in the second half as Smith and Samson went back-to-back to make it 36-26 at 8:21. A 7-0 run by Loyola cut its deficit down to just three by the mid-way point of the third quarter. Three-pointers by Smith and Watts surrounded a Loyola field goal to quickly grow the Mids' lead back to seven points, 42-35 by the 4:08 juncture. That earlier run by the Greyhounds came back down the stretch as the hosts scored nine of the next 12 points. Leading just 45-44, Smith calmly knocked home her third three-pointer of the game for the final points of the stanza to give Navy a four-point advantage at the break.

Leading 48-44 through three quarters, the Mids built their edge out to seven, 55-48 over the first 4:39 of the final period of regulation. After that Barnett-Gay steal and score at 5:21, Loyola ran off 13 unanswered points as Navy was 0-2 from the field and turned the ball over three times as the Greyhounds turned up the defensive pressure. Trailing 61-55 with 2:47 remaining, the Mids were able to creep closer with three made field goals over their next four possessions to make it 65-62 with 42 seconds left. Barnett-Gay capped this stretch with a banked in three-pointer from the wing. Another three-pointer by Watts with 16 seconds left answered three successful Loyola free throws, though three points would be as close as Navy would get as the hosts held on for the 70-67 come-from-behind victory.

For the game, Loyola out-shot Navy, 45.0 percent (27-60) to 44.6 (25-56) from the field, though the Mids held advantages in three-point shooting, 47.4 percent (9-19) to 22.2 (4-18) and from the foul line, 88.9 percent (8-9) to 70.6 (12-17).

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.