ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Coming off a well-rounded team effort that saw it knock off second-place American on Wednesday, the Navy women's basketball team were unable to repeat that performance on Saturday as it fell to Boston University, 69-60. A fast start by the Terriers (15-9, 7-6 PL) that broke them out to a 15-2 lead mid-way through the first quarter stood up as the Mids (9-15, 5-8 PL) struggled with its defense and shot throughout the contest at Alumni Hall. Over the course of Saturday's game, BU shot 54.5 percent from the floor, while Navy countered with just a 25.0 percent mark of its own.

The Mids were led by the high-scoring duo of Zanai Barnett-Gay (Fr., Glenn Dale, Md.) and Sydne Watts (Sr., Canton, Ga.), who registered point totals of 26 and 22, respectively. Each of those totals held significant statistical reverence as Barnett-Gay set the Navy women's basketball program record for freshmen scoring as she has now accumulated 415 points this season, surpassing Colleen Cassidy's total of 414 from the 1978-79 campaign. In Watts' case, the senior surpassed the 900-point career scoring mark and currently sits at 911 through 93 career games. The duo was also active on the boards as Barnett-Gay grabbed 10 rebounds, while Watts corralled nine caroms.

 "Today's result was all about our defense," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "I'm really disappointed in our effort defensively. We let [Alex] Giannaros get way too many wide open shots; she's too good to be left open and she made us pay with 25 points. We missed too many assignments defensively and lacked intensity for all 40 minutes. I don't feel like we were very good on the ball or off the ball. I feel that transitioned into our offense. I thought we were playing well coming off our performance on Wednesday. There was nothing that BU did that surprised us. We just weren't connected today for whatever reason. All around, today was just very disappointing.

"We had 28 offensive rebounds and took 36 more shots than they did; we turned them over 25 times. We did all of that, but just couldn't get the ball to go into the basket. At the end of the day, it starts on the defensive end though. Every time we got within three or four points, we give up a three and that's back-breaking because they were wide open. We had too many breakdowns."

Boston University came out extremely efficiently on Saturday afternoon with seven points over its first three possessions to break out to a 7-0 lead. The Terriers extended their hot start out to a 13-point lead, 15-2 by the 5:17 mark. A trio of three-pointers bolstered their early success. Navy shook off that tough start with seven of the next eight points over the next three-plus minutes to make it 16-9 at 2:03. Watts kick-started that run with a three-pointer from the top of the arc. BU continued to be cold from the field down the stretch as the visitors notched just one more free throw to close the quarter at 17-9. Overall, the Mids' defense held the Terriers without a made field goal for the final 5:17.

The successful run of play to close the first period carried over into the second as Kyah Smith (Fr., Richmond, Va.) immediately left her mark as first time down the court, she knocked home a three-point to draw Navy within five, 17-12. Boston had a quick rebuttal as it shot back into a double-digit lead with an 14-8 run over the next five minutes. With the score 31-20 at 4:51, the Mids' re-engaged its offense and defense to the tune of a 12-2 run. Watts and Barnett-Gay paced Navy with all 12 of those points as Watts scored the first five points before Barnett-Gay closed the run with seven points, including an 'and-one' four-point play at 1:57 and another three-pointer at 1:02. Defensively, the Mids forced four turnovers and held the Terriers to just 1-of-3 shooting. Looking to go into the locker room down just one, 33-32, Navy's hopes were dashed when Audrey Ericksen swished a three-pointer from the wing as time was expiring. The Mids' 23-point quarter was bolstered by 11 points off of five Terrier turnovers.

Coming out of halftime down 36-32, Barnett-Gay pulled Navy to within two as she floated in a jump shot on the Mids' first possession of the third quarter. A sluggish offensive quarter for both teams saw the score slowly advance to just 41-38 by the under-five media timeout at 4:47. Undaunted, Navy continued chipping away as Watts and Barnett-Gay went back-to-back at 3:36 and 2:49, first with an elbow jumper and then with a three-pointer atop the arc, to make it just a one-point margin, 44-43 in favor of BU. A three-for-three response by the Terriers built their lead back out to a comfortable eight-point advantage going into the quarter break. Navy struggled make its second chances count in the third quarter as the hosts took eight more shots than BU on the strength of seven offensive rebounds, but only had two second-chance points to show for in the period.

Trailing 51-43, Navy fought its way back to make it a two-possession game at 53-47 with a four-for-four start to the quarter at the foul line. From that juncture at 7:17, the Terriers made their final large run to seal the victory with eight unanswered points over the next 1:49, including three-pointers by Alex Giannaros and Kelsi Mingo. Navy continued to ride the hot hands of Barnett-Gay and Watts down the stretch, but we never able to make significant in-roads on its deficit as only twice the Mids were able to pull with eight points before closing the game on the losing side of a 69-60 decision.

For the game, Boston out-shot Navy, 54.5 percent (24-44) to 25.0 (20-80) from the field and 44.0 percent (11-25) to 23.3 (7-30) from three-point range, though the Mids held a 76.5 percent (13-17) to 58.8 (10-17) for advantage at the foul line.

In the rebounding battle, Navy grabbed eight more boards than BU, 47-39. The Mids dominated the offensive glass with 28 rebounds versus five for the Terriers. Navy's o-board total was the third-most in program history and came up just short of its performance versus Lehigh on Jan. 14, 1998 (29) and Liberty on Jan. 7, 1992 (31). Barnett-Gay and Watts led the Mids with respective totals of 10 and nine on Saturday.

Navy did a solid job handling the ball as it finished with a 12-to-12 assist-to-turnover ratio. Smith paced the Mids with six helpers.

Defensively, Navy forced Boston into 25 turnovers and was credited with six steals. That turnover total is the most the Mids have forced this season through 24 games. The previous high versus a DI opponent was 23 against this same Boston squad on Jan. 3.

Navy will conclude its brief two-game homestand on Wednesday night when it hosts Loyola. Tip-off between the Mids and Greyhounds is set for 7 p.m. at Alumni Hall.