ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's basketball team concluded the two-day 2024 Navy Classic with an 85-63 loss to George Mason on Sunday. Tied at 35-35 mid-way through the second quarter, the Patriots (7-1) rattled off 14 of the final 16 points of the half to take a lead over the Mids (6-2) that would never be within 10 for the duration of the game at Alumni Hall.

Zanai Barnett-Gay (So., Glenn Dale, Md.) spearheaded Navy's individual performance on Sunday as she posted a season-high 24 points to go along with five rebounds and two steals over 35 minutes of action. Kyah Smith (So., Richmond, Va.) backed up her classmate's effort with 16 points and four rebounds off the bench.

"George Mason is a really good basketball team; they're going to make you pay for your mistakes," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "They turned us over 21 times and out-scored us 27-5 because of those errors. That's a team that could be playing in the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament when March comes around. They have really good guard play; Kennedy Harris is excellent. Paula Suarez may have been 1-of-9 from the field, but she's a really good player and does so many things well. When you have guards that can control the game like they do, rebound it and shoot the ball like they did today they're going to be successful.

"I thought today was a good test for us. I thought that we competed well for most of the game, we made a run at them late in the third quarter, but we just couldn't sustain it into the fourth. We had too many lapses and breakdowns. They made us pay and broke it open in late."

The action began with Navy jumping out to an early 5-4 lead as Kate Samson (Jr., Richmond, Va.) and Maren Louridas (Jr., Delmar, N.Y.) recorded baskets on two of the Mids' first three possessions with Louridas knocking down a three-pointer at 8:45. From that juncture, George Mason scored the next 10 points to go ahead 14-5 at 5:49. A three-pointer, this time from Smith at 4:37 ended that run and drew the Mids back within six points. A second trey from Smith a little over two minutes later helped Navy get even closer, 19-14. Trailing 23-15 with 77 seconds left in the quarter, a triple from Mary Gibbons (Fr., Holden, Mass.) and jumper at the buzzer by Smith pulled the Mids to within three, 23-20 at the conclusion of the period.

The teams traded makes for most of the first three minutes of the second quarter as the score advanced to 31-28. Julianna Almeida (Fr., North Arlington, N.J.) knocked down two of Navy's field goals during this run. A three-pointer at 6:17 by Louridas made it 33-31 George Mason before back-to-back baskets from Barnett-Gay evened the score at 35-35 by the 4:59 point. Coming out of the ensuing media timeout, the Patriots closed out the quarter with a dominant stretch of play that saw them record 14 of the final 16 points with half of their points coming at the foul line, courtesy of a 7-8 mark. George Mason took a 49-37 lead into the locker room on the strength of a 20-2 advantage in points off turnovers in the first half as Navy turned the ball over 14 times over the opening 20 minutes.

The Mids slowly shaved points off its deficit in the third quarter as a Barnett-Gay jumper made it 53-43 at 6:38. Unfortunately for Navy, George Mason had another loud response with a 12-5 run to dart out to a 65-48 advantage. A 5-5 showing at the foul line in the final 44 seconds, three free throws from Gibbons and two more from Barnett-Gay, tightened the game to 65-53 at the end of the third stanza.

A quick start to the fourth quarter by the Patriots sealed up their road victory as they scored nine of the initial 11 points in the period to increase its lead up to 19, 74-55, 3:02 in. George Mason kept its foot on the pedal and outscored Navy, 20-10 in the fourth to win its seventh game of the season, 85-63

For the game, George Mason out-shot Navy, 40.3 percent (29-72) to 34.4 (22-64) from the field, 42.9 percent (9-21) to 28.6 (6-21) from three-point range and 81.8 percent (18-22) to 13-17 (76.5) from the foul line.

The Patriots held a slight 45-43 advantage in rebounding and had just one more offensive rebound, 13-12. Louridas led the Mids with a season-high 10 boards in 30 minutes of action. She was just one carom shy of her single-game career-high.

Defensively, Navy forced George Mason into 12 turnovers and was credited with four steals. Barnett-Gay paced the Mids with a pair of steals.

"We learned that we're a pretty good basketball team that can go toe-to-toe with high-level opponents that have been really successful recently," commented Taylor about this weekend's Navy Classic action. "I know it's two losses, but we're right there. We'll learn from these games. We have a lot of maturing to do. Today, showed us that some of the passes and decisions that we make with the ball that we get away with at certain levels aren't going to cut it. We wanted to play teams like Toledo and George Mason. I think that we've got a good basketball team, we've just got to continue to grow."

The two-day Navy Classic concluded later on Sunday as No. 10 Maryland won the second game, 92-70 over Toledo. The All-Classic Team was announced and Zanai Barnett-Gay was acknowledged for her outstanding play for the Mids as she finished the tournament with a line of 21.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.0 steals over the competition.

Navy will continue its non-conference action with another home tilt on Wednesday night when it hosts Dartmouth at 7 p.m. in Alumni Hall.

2024 Navy Classic All-Tournament Team
MVP: Shyanne Sellers - Maryland
Kaylene Smikle - Maryland
Kennedy Harris - George Mason
Zahirah Walton - George Mason
Zanai Barnett-Gay - Navy
Sammi Mikonowicz - Toledo