ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Following a come-from-behind victory over a Loyola team, that was tied for first coming into Wednesday night, the Navy women's basketball team will get another chance to knock off a squad that's atop the Patriot League leaderboard with Saturday's road matchup versus Holy Cross. Aiming to continue their climb up the conference standings, the Mids (10-15, 6-8 PL) will have to navigate a tough stretch to close the season with three of their final four games on the road starting on Saturday's against the Crusaders (15-10, 9-5 PL) at the Hart Center. Tip-off between Navy and Holy Cross is set for 12 p.m.

The Navy-Holy Cross 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 Holy Cross
The Mids and Crusaders have met 73 times in a series that began on January 18, 1992 … All-time, Holy Cross leads Navy, 50-23 with a 26-10 advantage in games played in Worcester … The two teams had never met prior to the Mids joining the Patriot League in 1991-92 … The series has had multiple lengthy streaks in its history with Holy Cross winning the first eight games, followed by streaks of seven, 10 and 11 consecutive wins by the Crusaders; overall they won 36 of the first 40 games in the series (1992-2008); beginning with the 2009-10 season, Navy swung momentum in its direction with sweeps of the 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2107 and 2018 season series … Over the last 10 contests, the series edge goes to Holy Cross, 8-2 though Navy's most recent win at the Hart Center came in dramatic fashion on March 7, 2022 in the quarterfinals of the Patriot League Tournament as Jennifer Coleman banked a game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer.
    Last Five Games:
    Jan. 10, 2024 (H): Holy Cross 69 - Navy 54
    Feb. 4, 2023 (H): Holy Cross 71 - Navy 52
    Jan. 2, 2023 (A): Holy Cross 53 - Navy 40
    March 7, 2022 (A): Navy 50 – Holy Cross 49  *Patriot League Quarterfinals
    Feb. 19, 2022 (A): Holy Cross 60 – Navy 55

Most Recent Navy-Holy Cross Matchup ... January 10, 2024 in Annapolis
Navy fell to the reigning Patriot League champions, the Holy Cross Crusaders on Wednesday in the first home conference game of the 2023-24 schedule for the Mids. The Crusaders (9-5, 3-0 PL) kept its run of undefeated Patriot League play going with a 52.1 percent (25-48) shooting effort at Alumni Hall, while the Mids (4-10, 0-3 PL) were held back by a cold shooting night of their own as they converted just 33.3 percent (19-57) of their shots.

Battling through foul trouble on Wednesday night, Zanai Barnett-Gay came away with a team-high 15 points and four steals, while her freshman backcourt mate Kyah Smith added 11 points off the bench. In action for the first time since Dec. 3 following an injury, Gia Pissott sparked the Mids with five points and a team-high five rebounds over 13 minutes of play.

Holy Cross led wire-to-wire over Navy as they bolted out to five-point lead over the opening 4:32 of play. With the score 9-4, both teams added five points to their total over the next three-plus minutes with Pissott netting all five for the Mids. After Janelle Allen extended Holy Cross' lead to seven at 2:04, Kate Samson responded for Navy with a layup on the Mids' final possession of the quarter to make it 16-11.

Navy came out in the second quarter on a mission and raced out with an 8-5 run to cut its deficit to just two, 21-19 by the 7:07 mark. Smith recorded four of the Mids' points, while the other four came from free throws. From that juncture, the visitors out-scored Navy 15-4 over the remaining seven-plus minutes of the half to break the game open to a 36-23 margin by the half. The Crusaders were particularly accurate in the second quarter knocking down 63.6 percent (7-11) of their shots from the field, including all three three-point attempts and three of four free throws.

Trailing by 13, Navy came out on its first possession of the second half and drew within 10 as Barnett-Gay found Maren Louridas for a straightaway three-pointer 10 seconds into the period. After the teams traded baskets over the next 90 seconds to make it 38-28, Holy Cross buckled down defensively, while catching fire offensively with four straight made baskets and five of seven to increase its lead out to 19, 49-30 at 4:55. The Mids fought to shrink its deficit down to 15 with two points each from Toni Papahronis and Barnett-Gay before the Crusaders closed out the quarter with five unanswered points.

Down 54-34 after three quarters, Navy continued battling in the final period of play and clawed its way back within 14 (59-45) by 5:51 and 10 (62-52) by 2:06. The initial 11-5 run was capped by an offensive rebound and putback by Lizzie Holder, while the second 7-3 run featured all seven points coming from Smith. The Mids' valiant effort was unable to break into single digits as the Crusaders made seven of their final 10 foul shots over the last 88 seconds to conclude the contest with a 69-54 score.

For the game, Holy Cross outshot Navy, 52.1 percent (25-48) to 33.3 (19-57) from the field, 53.8 percent (7-13) to 14.3 (2-14) from three-point range and 70.6 (12-17) to 70.0 (14-20) from the foul line.

Comparing the Teams

(2023-24 Stats)	Navy	Holy Cross
Record / League-Only	10-15, 6-8 PL	15-10 / 9-5 PL
Home / Away / Neut. Record	9-6 / 1-9	10-2 / 5-8
Points Per Game	61.5 PPG	60.7 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	65.4 PPG	53.9 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	37.6 %	38.7 %
3-Point Percentage	26.3 %	31.1 %
Free Throw Percentage	67.1 %	71.3 %
Rebounds Per Game	36.8 RPG	41.7 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	12.1 / 15.0	14.8 / 13.0

Individual Leaders

(2023-24 Stats)	Navy	Holy Cross
Points Per Game	Zanai Barnett-Gay, 17.7 ppg	Bronagh Power-Cassidy, 15.3 ppg
Rebounds Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 6.3 rpg	Simone Foreman, 8.6 rpg
Assists Per Game	Kyah Smith, 3.6 apg	Kaitlyn Flanagan, 4.5 apg
Field Goal Percentage	Kate Samson, 46.5 %	Janelle Allen, 45.0 %
3-Point Percentage	Sydne Watts, 32.8 %	B. Power-Cassidy, 36.6 %
Free Throw Percentage	Z. Barnett-Gay, 75.2 %	K. Flanagan, 78.4 %

Last Time Out -- Wednesday vs. Loyola 
 Faced with the opportunity to exorcise the bad spirits of a dramatic 70-67 loss on the road at Loyola on Jan. 27, the Navy women's basketball returned the favor on Wednesday night with a thrilling come-from-behind victory of its own in front of its home crowd. Down 51-48 with 2:17 left in regulation, the Mids (10-15, 6-8 PL) ended the game on a 5-0 run and held the Greyhounds (13-12, 8-6 PL) to 0-3 shooting with one turnover in the visitors' final four possessions. Kate Samson was clutch on both ends of the court in the final three seconds as she laid in the go-ahead basket at 2.6 and then blocked Lex Therien's potential game-tying jumper at the buzzer to seal the 53-51 victory at Alumni Hall.

Samson filled up the box score on Wednesday night with her first double-double of the 2023-24 campaign with 12 points and 10 rebounds to go along with a pair of steals and blocks on defense. Kyah Smith was equally as critical to the Mids' success as she led all scorers with 17 points and facilitated with a game-high six assists, including Samson's go-ahead layup. Quiet through the first three quarters with just two points, Zanai Barnett-Gay led Navy's comeback quest in the fourth with eight points on 3-4 shooting with a straight-away three-pointer from beyond the arc early and an old-fashioned three-point conversion with an 'and-one' later in the final period. Her 10 points extended her streak of double-digit scoring efforts to all 24 games of her collegiate career.

The action on Wednesday night opened extremely even as the score was tied twice and the lead jockeyed between the teams four times in the first quarter. Smith and Samson paced Navy's early offensive work with four points each to spot the Mids a 10-9 lead at 4:22. A 6-0 run by Loyola between 1:50 and 0:29 saw the visitors jump out to 15-10 advantage. In control of the ball with one possession left in the period, Violet McNece left her mark on her first shot of the game with a corner three-pointer that swished through the net to close the Mids' deficit to just two, 15-13 through one quarter of play.

That basket kick-started a run by Navy that extended to 7-0 with baskets by Smith and Sydne Watts over the opening 85 seconds of the second quarter to give the hosts a 17-15 lead. The back-and-forth action continued as Loyola tied the game for the fourth time at 17-17 on the ensuing possession before briefly taking the lead, 19-17 at 7:29. Another 7-0 rebuttal by the Mids shot the team into the lead by five in a matter of 92 seconds. Smith knocked home a driving layup and three-pointer to start the run before Barnett-Gay jumped into the Greyhound passing lane and took the steal coast-to-coast to make it 24-19 going into the second quarter media timeout. Coming out of that break, the momentum swung back to Loyola with a 6-0 run to go ahead 25-24. The lead swapped two more times over the final two minutes as the Greyhounds went into halftime up 27-26.

Loyola scored its first two times down the court to open up a five-point lead within the first 83 seconds of the second half. The Greyhounds' lead bounced between three and five points for the next three minutes until Samson converted one of her two free throw attempts at 4:33 to pull the Mids back to just a two-point deficit, 35-33. The low-scoring period ended with Loyola netting four of the final six points to make it 39-35 at the close of the quarter. While shooting 5-9 from the field, the Greyhounds were hamstrung by seven turnovers. The Mids benefitted from those errors as all nine of their points in the stanza came as a response to a turnover.

Uncharacteristically quiet through the first three quarters, Navy's leading scorer, Zanai Barnett-Gay sparked the Mids in the fourth with five points in a matter of 55 seconds. Ahead for the first time since 1:52 of the second quarter, 40-39, Smith stretched Navy's lead to three with a pair of free throws at 8:16. A short 4-0 run by Loyola swung the scoreboard back in the visitors' favor before Barnett-Gay recorded her second pick-and-score of the game at 6:51 with an additional free throw coming to complete the 'and-one' and put Navy back in front by two, 45-43. The Greyhounds looked to break the Mids' heart again with a similar late game rally with eight of the next 11 points to go up 51-48 with 2:17 left in regulation. Unfazed by its tenuous position, Navy's defense buckled down and shut out Loyola with four empty possessions down the stretch. Following a 1-2 showing at the foul line by Samson, Toni Papahronis drew the Mids even with 41 seconds left as she grabbed an offensive rebound and immediately bounced back up for the putback. With the ball and 19 seconds to play, Samson put her squad ahead with 2.6 seconds left after Smith drove the lane and found Samson for the step-through layup between a pair of Loyola defenders. Samson made sure her go-ahead bucket stood up as the game-winner as she cleanly blocked Lex Therien, the reigning Patriot League Player of the Week, at the buzzer.

For the game, Loyola out-shot Navy, 41.2 percent (21-51) to 38.5 (20-52) from the field and 87.5 percent (7-8) to 66.7 (10-15) from the foul line. The three-point shot didn't factor much into Wednesday's outcome as the Mids shot just 23.1 percent (3-13), while the Greyhounds converted 14.3 percent (2-14) of their long-range attempts.