HAMILTON, N.Y. – The Navy women's basketball team ran into a hot-shooting Colgate team on Saturday afternoon in the finale of its three-game road trip and fell by a final score of 73-56. After both teams grinded out a 12-10 first quarter of play at Cotterell Court, in which neither side's shots were falling particularly well, the Raiders (9-4, 2-0 PL) found that next gear over the next 30 minutes and shot 64.9 percent (24-37) from the field to build out a double-digit lead over the Mids (4-9, 0-2 PL).

Sydne Watts (Sr., Canton, Ga.) led Navy with 19 points on a 9-13 shooting effort to go along with six rebounds. Kyah Smith (Fr., Richmond, Va.) provided the Mids with 17 points and four assists in 37 minutes off the bench. Zanai Barnett-Gay (Fr., Glenn Dale, Md.) continued her run of double-digit scoring performances to begin her collegiate career as she battled through foul trouble to net 12 points in 25 minutes of action.

"I thought our team competed for 40 minutes and played hard against a hot-shooting Colgate squad," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "They [Colgate] shot 9-10 from three-point range, which is hard to beat. Zanai getting in foul trouble hurt us in the first half, but the disappointing thing was our inability to convert our layups. We had at least 8-10 opportunities right at the basket in the first half.

"We came out strong in the second half and cut it to six and forced a missed, but didn't come up with the loose ball and they turned an offensive rebound into a three. That play was a turning point because that sparked them from three-point range the rest of the game."

With the temperature outside Cotterell Court hovering near the freezing mark, the action inside started cold as both teams hit just five shots a piece in the opening quarter. In a back-and-forth run of play the teams exchanged makes over the initial two minutes as Colgate led 5-4. Morganne Andrews (Sr., Martinsburg, W.Va.) and Barnett-Gay recorded Navy's first two baskets during this span. A three-pointer by Taylor Golembiewski gave the Raiders a brief four-point lead at 5:16 before Maren Louridas (So., Delmar, N.Y.) found Kate Samson (So., Richmond, Va.) with a no-look over-the-back pass as she fell out of bounds with an offensive rebound 37 seconds later. Trailing 10-6, Watts and Barnett-Gay headlined the Mids' attack down the stretch with a pair of jumpers to draw the visitors even by the 2:29 mark. Unfortunately for Navy that was its final made field goal of the quarter, though its defense buckled down and allowed Colgate just one more make to send the game to the break 12-10 in favor of the hosts.

The two-point margin held up over the first two-plus minutes of the second quarter as the score slowly advanced up to 16-14 Colgate. A 6-0 run by the Raiders built up their advantage to 22-14 by the 5:59 mark. Watts short-circuited that run with her third make in as many attempts the next time down the court. The senior made it 4-4 with another field goal at 4:50. With the score 24-18 following Watts' make, Colgate registered the final four points of the half to take a 10-point lead, 28-18 into the locker room. An important factor in Navy's second quarter struggles was Barnett-Gay, its leading scorer, picked up three fouls in less than three minutes and was subbed out at the 7:18 mark.

Locked in and focused on cutting into Colgate's advantage, Navy came out to start the second half with back-to-back baskets by Watts and Smith and within 74 seconds it was a two-possession game, 28-22. In a play that Taylor noted as a turning-point in his postgame comments, the Raiders came down the court after Smith's field goal and earned an offensive rebound that eventually resulted in a three-point dagger by Golembiewski. From that juncture at 8:19, Colgate broke out to a 15-point lead in a matter of two minutes. Trailing 37-22, Lizzie Holder (Fr., Stillwater, Minn.) re-ignited the Mids' offense with an offensive rebound of her own and immediate putback. Watts scored for Navy on the ensuing possession and the visitors were down 13, 40-27 with 5:25 remaining in the third quarter. A 13-4 response by Colgate over the second half of the period, that included three triples, broke open the game to a 53-31 margin. The Mids shot 40 percent (6-15) from the field in the stanza, but ran into a Raider team that was flawless from three-point range in the stanza going 6-6 from distance.

Navy continued to fight in the fourth quarter and tightened up a 61-39 score at 7:07 with nine unanswered points over the next two minutes. Smith sparked the Mids during this run with five individual points. Navy kept the pressure on Colgate over the final five minutes of the game as it ended up scoring 25 points in the period on the strength of 47.4 percent (9-19) shooting and seven free throw conversions.

In the 73-56 win for Colgate, the Raiders outshot the Mids from the field, 56.9 percent (29-51) to 36.4 (24-66) and from three-point range, 90.0 (9-10) to 0.0 (0-10). Navy held a slight edge in free throw shooting, 66.7 percent (8-12) to 60.0 (6-10).

Colgate won the rebounding battle by 10, 39-29. The Mids did however out-pace the Raiders on the offensive glass, 12-7. Louridas grabbed a team-high seven rebounds with Watts adding six caroms in support.

Navy played under control throughout and turned in a positive assist-to-turnover ratio of 12-to-8 on Saturday. Smith (4), Barnett-Gay (3) and Louridas (3) all were credited with multiple assists.

"We're a young team, one of the youngest in the country, who kept competing and got better against a quality opponent on the road," commented Taylor. "We also did a good job with our ball control with only eight turnovers. We knew this was going to be a tough stretch to start January on the road. We will continue to work and get better with every experience."

Navy will kick off the home portion of its Patriot League schedule on Wednesday with a 5:30 p.m. showdown with the defending conference champions, Holy Cross at Alumni Hall.