ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The final stretch of regular season action continues on Wednesday night for the Navy women's basketball team as the Mids travel to Easton, Pa. in search of a season sweep of the Lafayette Leopards. Sitting ninth in the Patriot League standings, but looking to move up the leaderboard over these last three regular season contests, the Mids (10-16, 6-9 PL) will be matched up against a Leopard (10-16, 5-10 PL) squad that they vanquished early this year in Annapolis by a score of 56-47. Tip-off between Navy and Lafayette is slated for 6 p.m. at the Kirby Sports Center on the Leopards' campus.

The Navy-Lafayette 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 Lafayette
The Mids and Leopards have met 82 times in a series that began on Feb. 16, 1980  ... All-time, Navy leads Lafayette, 54-28 with a 33-10 advantage in games played in Annapolis with a smaller 19-17 edge in matchups in Easton ... Over the last five meetings at the Kirby Sports Center, the series leans the way of the Leopards, 4-1, with the Mids' most recent win coming Feb. 14, 2018 ... In the last ten overall matchups of the series, Lafayette has secured seven wins, including a four-game streak over the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
    Last Five Games:
    Jan. 13, 2024 (H): Navy 56 - Lafayette 47
    March 1, 2023 (H): Lafayette 74 - Navy 64
    Jan. 11, 2023 (A): Lafayette 69 - Navy 57
    Feb. 9, 2022 (A): Lafayette 58 - Navy 51
    Jan. 8, 2022 (H): Lafayette 54 - Navy 44

Most Recent Navy-Lafayette Matchup ... January 13, 2024 in Annapolis
Navy put together its best defensive effort of the season as it earned a hard-fought 56-47 victory over Lafayette on Saturday afternoon. Trailing early to the Leopards (6-9, 1-3 PL), the Mids (5-10, 1-3 PL) closed the first quarter on a 16-4 run before turning up the defensive pressure the final three quarters of action at Alumni Hall. After Lafayette scored 13 points in that opening period, they never reached that mark again and shot just 31.0 percent overall on the afternoon. Saturday was the first time this season, that Navy had held a DI opponent to less than 59 points.

The Mids' underclassmen shined on Saturday with 52 of their 56 points and 40 of their 41 rebounds. The freshmen trio of Kyah Smith, Violet McNece and Zanai Barnett-Gay took the offensive reigns as all three players reached double-figures and combined for all nine of the team's three-pointers. Smith led all scorers with 18 points on 6-14 shooting, three treys and three assists, while McNece set a career-high with 15 points on 5-8 shooting from three-point range to go along with four rebounds over 31 minutes of action. Barnett-Gay kept her streak of double-digit scoring alive with 13 points. Additionally, she grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and four steals.

Trailing 9-2 at 5:23, the newly-inserted McNece left her mark as crisp ball-movement resulted with Kate Samson finding her wide open on the wing for her first three-pointer of the game. That basket sparked the Mids on both ends as their offensive picked up with three straight makes as Gia Pissott and Smith followed with five combined points to help Navy draw within one, 11-10 at 3:48. Defensively, the Leopards were limited to just one make over their next five shots. After a pair of free throws allowed Lafayette to extend its lead back to three points at 2:02, Navy scored the final eight points of the quarter book-ended by three-pointers from Barnett-Gay and McNece.

Already 2-2 from long range over the first quarter, McNece kept her hot start going as she sank her third trey in as many tries to move the Mids ahead by eight, 21-13 by the 8:38 mark. The three-ball kept Navy's success going as Smith found the bottom of the net at 4:29 to make it a 26-17 game. The teams exchanged baskets over the next three minutes as Navy's lead volleyed between seven and 11 points. Back up nine, 32-23 and possessing the ball for the last shot of the half, Smith raced down the court after grabbing a defensive rebound and hit a pull-up jumper just as the clock expired to give the Mids an 11-point lead of 34-23 going into the locker room.

The third quarter was evenly matched as Navy was able to add one point to its lead with a 13-12 edge in scoring for the period. The Mids' offense was once again spurred on by three-pointers as McNece increased her team's advantage to 12 points (37-25) at 8:01 before hitting from distance again over four and a half minutes later at 3:30 to bump Navy back up by double-digits. With the score 42-32 following McNece's second trey of the quarter, Barnett-Gay and Smith added five points to the Mids' tally over the final two minutes of the quarter with Smith adding a three-pointer for the exclamation point.

Up 47-35, Navy broke out its largest lead of the day 45 seconds into the fourth quarter when Smith knocked down a long jumper to make it a 14-point advantage for the hosts. Lafayette slowly scratched three points off its deficit before Barnett-Gay rattled home a response for the Mids to make it 51-38 with 4:54 left in regulation. An 8-0 retort by the Leopards over the next 3:37 tightened the contest to 51-46 before the bend, not break mentality of Navy shown through over the final minute of play with five made free throws over eight trips to the foul line. Lafayette had no significant answer during this run as they tacked on just one point to conclude the game at 56-47.

For the game, Navy outshot Lafayette, 32.2 percent (19-59) to 31.0 (18-58) from the field and 33.3 percent (9-27) to 29.4 (5-17) from three-point range. Both teams shot 75.0 percent from the foul line as the Mids finished 9-12, while the Leopards were 6-8.

Comparing the Teams

(2023-24 Stats)	Navy	Lafayette
Record / League-Only	10-16, 6-9 PL	10-16 / 5-10 PL
Home / Away / Neut. Record	9-6 / 1-10	3-7 / 7-9
Points Per Game	61.5 PPG	56.5 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	65.7 PPG	63.5 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	37.8 %	41.1 %
3-Point Percentage	26.4 %	33.9 %
Free Throw Percentage	67.3 %	68.6 %
Rebounds Per Game	36.5 RPG	31.8 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	12.1 / 14.9	11.6 / 15.3

Individual Leaders

(2023-24 Stats)	Navy	Lafayette
Points Per Game	Zanai Barnett-Gay, 17.7 ppg	Makayla Andrews, 13.0 ppg
Rebounds Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 6.3 rpg	Kayla Drummond, 6.2 rpg
Assists Per Game	Kyah Smith, 3.5 apg	Abby Antognoli, 3.3 apg
Field Goal Percentage	Kate Samson, 46.7 %	K. Drummond, 63.0 %
3-Point Percentage	Sydne Watts, 34.8 %	Halee Smith, 42.7 %
Free Throw Percentage	Z. Barnett-Gay, 74.8 %	M. Andrews, 78.0 %

Last Time Out -- Saturday at Holy Cross 
The Navy women's basketball team fought valiantly to the end on the road at Holy Cross as it overcame a 13-point deficit in the second half to take a 59-58 lead with four minutes to go in regulation before the first-place Crusaders closed the contest on a 13-4 run as they thrived at the foul line down the stretch to win 71-63. Trailing by 10 after one quarter, the Mids (10-16, 6-9 PL) clashed against a Crusader (16-10, 10-5 PL) club and outscored the hosts in the second and fourth quarters, but eventually came up short at Hart Center.

Navy had four players reach double figures with Zanai Barnett-Gay posting a team-high 18 points to go along with seven rebounds, four assists and a steal over 39 minutes. Toni Papahronis ranked second with 13 points, while Kyah Smith and Sydne Watts each added 12 a piece. Watts bolstered the Mids' fourth quarter comeback effort with the first 10 points of the period.

The game opened evenly as both teams traded baskets over the first 5:40 as the scoreboard showed an 8-8 score. Four different Mids tallied field goals in this opening segment. From that juncture at 4:20, Holy Cross scored 13 of the next 16 points to break out to a 21-11 lead through one quarter. A trio of three-pointers and a 7-0 advantage in points off turnovers in favor of the Crusaders helped the hosts to that 10-point lead.

A three-pointer by Smith on Navy's first possession cut the Mids' deficit to single-digits, 21-14. The Crusaders' lead held fairly steady as it bounced between six and nine points for the next four-plus minutes until Lindsay Berger pushed Holy Cross back up by 10, 34-24 at 4:47. A 6-0 rebuttal by Navy over the ensuing 4:07 pulled the visitors within four points with just one possession to go in the half; a three-pointer by Papahronis kick-started this run. The Crusaders made their final possession extra painful for the Mids as Cara McCormack banged home her third three-pointer of the first half to send the game into the intermission, 37-30 in favor of Holy Cross.

That trey invigorated the Crusaders after the break as they recorded 11 of the first 17 points of the third quarter to break out to a 48-36 advantage by the 6:09 mark. Kate Samson kept Navy's hopes alive during this stretch as she was 2-3 with a pair of textbook postup moves for four points. Holy Cross held its double-digit lead into the third quarter break as all six of Barnett-Gay's points in the second half of the period were answered by the Crusaders.

Trailing 53-42 after three quarters of play, Navy gave up the first basket of the fourth period before Watts caught fire for the Mids and single-handedly put her squad on her back with 10 straight points. In a matter of 3:35, the senior knocked down three-pointers at 9:28 and 7:52 with a 4-4 effort at the foul line intermingled. Behind Watts' sharp-shooting, the game was quickly tightened up to a 55-52 score at 6:53. After a three-pointer by multi-year All-Patriot League performer Bronagh Power-Cassidy increased Holy Cross' lead back to six, Navy rattled off seven unanswered points starting with a driving layup by Barnett-Gay at 6:11 and five quick points by Papahronis on back-to-back possessions. An 'and-one' conversion by Papahronis at 3:59 gave the Mids their first lead since early in the first quarter. With the score 59-58 in favor of Navy, the teams traded baskets the next four times down the court as the scoreboard advanced to 63-62 at 2:26. A 9-0 run to close the game by the Crusaders, including a 7-8 effort at the foul line helped the hosts hold off the Mids' upset attempt and walk away with a 71-63 victory.

For the game, Holy Cross outshot Navy, 46.4 percent (26-56) to 41.8 (23-55) from the floor, 38.9 percent (7-18) to 29.4 (5-17) from three-point range and 85.7 percent (12-14) to 70.6 (12-17) from the foul line.