ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The grueling road trip that closed 2023 and opened 2024 for the Navy women's basketball team will wrap up this Saturday afternoon at Colgate. The Mids' run of three games in seven days away from Annapolis began this past Saturday with a tilt against a 12-2 UAlbany squad before going head-to-head in a 40-minute Patriot League battle at 9-3 Boston University on Wednesday. The tests will continue on Saturday in Hamilton, N.Y. when the Raiders (8-4, 1-0 PL) welcome the Mids (4-8, 0-1 PL) to Cotterell Court in a 2 p.m. matchup. Navy will be aiming to pick up both its first conference win of the season and first road victory of 2023-24. The two programs have been extremely well-matched over the past two seasons with four of their five meetings decided by six or less points.

The Navy-Colgate 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 Colgate
The Mids and Raiders have met 69 times in a series that began on January 15, 1992  ... All-time, Navy leads Colgate, 46-23 with a dominant 27-8 mark in games played in Annapolis, though the series is much tighter in Hamilton with just a 17-14 edge for Navy ... The two teams had not ever met prior to the Mids joining the Patriot League in 1991-92 ... Over the last ten matchups, Navy is 6-4; that's part of a larger, 17-5 run by the Mids dating back to the 2011 season ... The programs have swept the season series in each of the last five years (Colgate: 2-0 in 2023 / Navy: 3-0 in 2022 / Colgate: 2-0 in 2020 / Navy: 2-0 in 2019 & 2018).
    Last 5 Games:
    Feb. 25, 2023 (A): Colgate 53 - Navy 47
    Jan. 5, 2023 (H): Colgate 64 - Navy 34
    March 5, 2022 (H): Navy 60 - Colgate 55 *Patriot League Tournament First Round   
    Feb. 26, 2022 (H): Navy 52 - Colgate 48
    Jan. 12, 2022 (A): Navy 65 - Colgate 62

Most Recent Navy-Colgate Matchup ~ Feb. 25, 2023 in Hamilton, N.Y.
Suiting up just nine healthy players, including four that played 31 or more minutes on Saturday, the Navy women's basketball team went shot-for-shot with Colgate for all 40 minutes at Cotterell Court. Leading at the half 23-20, the Mids saw the Raiders rally in the third quarter before the hosts held onto that advantage over the fourth quarter for the eventual 53-47 victory. Navy tied Colgate once early in the fourth quarter and later drew within one point of the Raiders twice and in a valiant comeback attempt.
 
For the second straight game, Morganne Andrews was the most valuable player of the game for the Mids as she recorded her second career double-double with a personal-best 18-point outing to go along with a game-high 11 rebounds. Lindsay Llewellyn provided Navy with an early offensive spark as she scored nine of her 12 points in 14 minutes of first half action before foul trouble plagued the remainder of her performance. The freshmen post duo of Morgan Demos and Kate Samson were strong throughout the game on Saturday as they used their size and skills down low to over-match the smaller Colgate frontcourt to the tune of eight points each.

The game on Saturday opened with a significant Navy feel to it as the visitors bolted out to an 11-2 lead by the 4:40 mark of the first quarter. Llewellyn was the early catalyst for the Mids as she hit three of her first four shots, including a corner three-pointer. The teams traded baskets over the next two minutes to advance the score up to 13-4 for the Mids. A 6-0 close to the quarter by the Raiders tightened the game to 13-10 after 10 minutes of play.
 
The action in the second quarter began with a much slower scoring pace as both teams only netted four points each over the first five minutes. Ahead 17-14, Demos recorded her second field of the game at 4:34 when she grabbed an offensive rebound and quickly shot back up for the putback layup. Back-to-back makes by Colgate drew the home team back within one point before Demos' number was called again with an easy layup at 3:10. The back-and-forth action continued down the stretch as each side added one more make over the final three minutes to send the teams to the locker room with Navy up 23-20.
 
The ultra-competitive and tight contest picked right back up in the third quarter with Navy scoring four points, the same as Colgate. With the score 27-24 at the 7:26 mark, consecutive baskets by the Raiders gave the hosts their first lead of the game, 29-27. Llewellyn's first and only made field goal of the second half knotted the score 50 seconds later at 5:46. A slowly built 8-3 run over the ensuing four-plus minutes helped Colgate push out to a 37-32 advantage. Navy recorded the final three points of the period to cut its deficit to just two, 37-35 at the conclusion of the third quarter.
 
The Mids initially kept that momentum going into the fourth as Andrews tied the game at 39-39 just 11 seconds into the stanza. Unfortunately for Navy, Colgate had a strong rebuttal to the tied predicament with six unanswered points over the next two minutes. Invigorated on the offensive end, Andrews added to her point total with two more baskets, an athletic o-board putback and a mid-range hook shot, to single-handedly bring her squad back within two. With the score 43-41 at 6:09, the Raiders increased their lead by three points before Andrews kept adding to her career-day with a post-up fadeaway shot at 4:12 and a driving layup at 3:36. Separated by just one point, the teams traded baskets the next two times down the court to make it 48-47 with 2:45 remaining in regulation. An unlucky streak of close calls and ball-handling errors during the final possessions of the game for the Mids resulted in four turnovers and allowed the Raiders to slowly pull away by converting five free throws to seal the 53-47 victory.
 
For the game, Navy outshot Colgate, 44.0 percent (22-50) to 38.9 (21-54) from the field, though the hosts held a significant 71.4 percent (10-14) to 33.3 (2-6) advantage from the foul line. Neither team spent much time beyond the arc on Saturday as the Raiders were 1-7 from three-point (14.3 percent), while the Mids were 1-9 (11.1 percent). The nine attempts were the second-fewest for Navy in a game this season.

Comparing the Teams

(2023-24 Stats)	Navy	Colgate
Record / League-Only	4-8, 0-1 PL	8-4, 1-0 PL
Home / Away / Neut. Record	4-3 / 0-5	5-1 / 3-2
Points Per Game	64.0 PPG	61.8 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	69.4 PPG	54.6 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	38.9 %	44.1 %
3-Point Percentage	27.5 %	28.8 %
Free Throw Percentage	61.2 %	69.2 %
Rebounds Per Game	37.8 RPG	35.3 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	13.0 / 17.3	14.2 / 15.6

Individual Leaders

(2023-24 Stats)	Navy	Colgate
Points Per Game	Zanai Barnett-Gay, 19.8 ppg	Taylor Golembiewski, 12.4 ppg
Rebounds Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 6.0 rpg	Sophia Diehl, 5.7 rpg
Assists Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 3.5 apg	Madison Schiller, 2.8 apg
Field Goal Percentage	Z. Barnett-Gay, 45.2 %	M. Schiller, 50.0 %
3-Point Percentage	Z. Barnett-Gay, 35.7 %	M. Schiller, 34.4 %
Free Throw Percentage	Kyah Smith, 70.0 %	Morgan McMahon, 85.2 %

Last Time Out -- Wednesday at Boston University 
Navy opened the Patriot League portion of its 2023-24 schedule with a hard-fought 62-51 defeat on the road at Boston University on Wednesday afternoon. Playing the first of three straight games against the Patriot League's preseason top-three teams, a spirited Midshipmen squad found itself in an early hole against a Terrier team that was picked second overall in the preseason poll. Unfazed by a double-digit first half deficit, Navy battled all 40 minutes at BU's Case Gym and came within four points with less than five minutes to go in the fourth quarter before the hosts pulled away late for the 11-point victory.

Zanai Barnett-Gay led all scorers in the Patriot League season opener for both teams with a game-high 23 points. The reigning conference rookie of the week, she added three rebounds, two assists and a game-high five steals to her strong individual stat line. Sydne Watts and Maren Louridas combined to net 15 points of secondary scoring as Watts went for eight, while Louridas tallied seven to go along with a team-high eight rebounds.
  
The Mids darted out to an early 9-6 lead on the strength of a pair of Kate Samson field goals and a Louridas three-pointer. Barnett-Gay added the fourth made basket during this initial run of play. From that point at 7:26, the host Terriers scored 14 of the next 16 points to take nine-point lead into the first quarter intermission, 20-11.

The hosts continued out-pacing the Mids to start the second quarter with six unanswered points to go up a then- game-high 15 points. Navy swung the momentum back in its favor with six straight points of its own, four from Barnett-Gay and two from Kyah Smith to make it 26-17. The six-point runs repeated itself twice more over the final 5:15 of play in the first half as Boston went up 31-17 by the 1:48 mark before Navy responded with back-to-back three-pointers by Watts and Barnett-Gay at 1:30 and 1:04, respectively. A single free throw by the Terriers' Anastasia Semenova concluded the scoring at 33-23.

The Mids came out of the locker room after halftime on a mission as they made three of their first five shots, including treys once again by Barnett-Gay and Watts. A steal by Watts and breakaway layup by Barnett-Gay capped this early second half surge to make it 37-31 at 7:13. A four-time Patriot League Rookie of the Week honoree, Barnett-Gay kept up her scalding shooting touch in the third quarter with two more baskets to draw the visitors to within four, 39-35 at 5:07. Feeling threatened, the reigning Patriot League regular season champions flexed their muscles over the next two-plus minutes with an 8-0 run, that eventually expanded to close out the quarter at 11-2.

Trailing 50-37 through three quarters, Navy began making in-roads on BU's lead midway through the fourth period when Louridas netted successive baskets off of Terrier turnovers. With the score 52-43 at 5:45, the Mids kept the pressure up on the Terriers and saw Barnett-Gay successfully deposit a three-pointer from the wing and Lizzie Holder intercept a pass and go in unimpeded for a fast break layup to make it a 52-48 game by 4:28. The experienced BU squad showcased their veteran prowess down the stretch and locked down Navy offensively to the tune of just three points on 1-8 shooting with three turnovers, while slowly extending its margin of victory out to 11, 62-51.

For the game, Boston out-shot Navy, 49.0 percent (24-49) to 34.4 (21-61) from the field, 35.7 percent (5-14) to 28.6 (6-21) from three-point range and 64.3 percent (9-14) to 50.0 (3-6) from the free throw line.

Defensively, Navy forced Boston into 23 turnovers and was credited with 15 steals. Barnett-Gay led the swarming defensive work with five thefts. Andrews, Holder, Louridas and Watts all added two steals each.