ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The matchup that has been circled on the calendar for Navy women's basketball since day one lies ahead on Saturday morning as the 2024 Star Game between Army and Navy will be held at Christl Arena at West Point. A rematch from their meeting on January 20 in Annapolis will have raised stakes for both the Mids (8-13, 4-6 PL) and the Black Knights (9-11, 6-4 PL) as the all-important Star for 2024 will be on the line. Locked in since that defeat to Army three weeks ago, Navy has won three of its last four games and held its opponents to 58 or less points in each victory. The nationally televised contest on CBS Sports Network is scheduled for an 11 a.m. tip-off and is part of the 2023-24 Army-Navy Star Series presented by USAA.

Navy versus Army
The Mids and Black Knights have met 82 times in a series that began on January 18, 1981  ... All-time, Army has a two-game edge, 42-40 ... The series is tied in nearly every possible way with it being 19-19 in West Point, 3-3 at neutral sites and 20-18 in favor of Army in Annapolis ... The Senior Class of 2024 split the series evenly with both sides earning one win a year over 2021 and 2022 before Army earned both victories in 2023 with the Star going to the Black Knights in a dramatic 66-64 contest ... The previous Star Game at Christl Arena in 2022 was tied late 64-64 before the hosts tallied six of the final eight points ... Over the last ten matchups, the overall series leans towards the Black Knights by a 7-3 margin.
    Last Five Games:
    Jan. 20, 2024 (H): Army 66 - Navy 51
    Feb. 11, 2023 (H): Army 66 - Navy 64 **2023 Star Game
    Jan. 21, 2023 (A): Army 75 - Navy 61
    Feb. 12, 2022 (A): Army 70 - Navy 66 **2022 Star Game
    Jan. 22, 2022 (H): Navy 61 - Army 60

Most Recent Navy-Army Matchup ... January 20, 2024 in Annapolis
Taking on its service academy rival for the first time in 2024, the Navy women's basketball team fell to Army by a score of 66-51 on Saturday. Trailing by just four points at halftime, the Mids (5-12, 1-5 PL) were unable to quell a 12-0 run by the Black Knights (6-10, 3-3 PL) to start the second half as the visitors ended up breaking out to a 20-point advantage by the end of the third quarter on their way to the double-digit victory at Alumni Hall.

Navy had three of its players reach double figures with Sydne Watts posting a team-high 13 points on 5-12 shooting and three three-pointers. Freshmen Zanai Barnett-Gay and Kyah Smith each added 12 points. Barnett-Gay filled out her statline with six rebounds, five steals and two assists over 36 minutes of action.

Watts got Navy onto the scoreboard first on Saturday with a pull-up jumper 1:42 into the contest. In a story that would play out throughout the game, Army responded with a 7-0 run over the next 4:26 to go up 7-2. The momentum pendulum swung back to Navy over the next three-plus minutes as the Mids rattled off eight unanswered points to go ahead 10-7 with 52 seconds remaining in the first quarter. A late bucket by the Black Knights made it a 10-9 game at the quarter break.

The second period began with Army netting the first three points to re-take the lead 12-10 before Navy fired back with eight quick points over a run of four possessions. Watts and Smith led this streak with back-to-back three-pointers at 8:25 and 7:51, respectively. A drive and dump-off by Smith to Morganne Andrews deep in the post resulted in the Mids' third basket during this run at 7:00. Similar to the first quarter the pendulum of momentum kept swinging and it was the Black Knights' turn for a long run as the visitors turned an 18-12 deficit into a 21-18 advantage with nine straight points. Trailing by three at 1:55, Smith sank her third field goal of the first half to draw Navy back within one point. Three unanswered points over the final 90 seconds gave Army a 24-20 lead going into the locker room at halftime.

Separated by just four points to start the second half, Army opened the third quarter on a mission and scored on their first five possessions to bolt out to a 16-point advantage by the 7:19 mark. Three-pointers by Lauren Lithgow and Reese Ericson sparked the Black Knights at the time. Back-to-back layups by Violet McNece and Barnett-Gay shaved four points of the Mids' deficit and made it 36-24 at 6:44. That short retort by Navy wasn't extended as Army countered with a 16 of the next 22 points to build up a 52-30 lead with just over a minute remaining in the quarter. Four points by Barnett-Gay in last 50 seconds helped the Mids make it a 54-34 game through three quarters of play. Army's 30-point quarter was built around a 57.9 percent (11-19) shooting performance, including three three-pointers and five more free throws.

The Black Knights held a 20-point advantage through most of the fourth quarter before an individual 8-0 run by Watts between 2:56 and 1:11 drew the Mids with 13, 64-51. A late basket by Army's Trinity Hardy concluded the scoring at 66-51.

For the game, Army out-shot Navy, 42.6 percent (23-54) to 30.6 (19-62) from the field, 36.4 percent (4-11) to 26.3 (5-19) from three-point range and 72.7 percent (16-22) to 66.7 (8-12) from the foul line.

Comparing the Teams

(2023-24 Stats)	Navy	Army
Record / League-Only	8-13, 4-6 PL	9-11 / 6-4 PL
Home / Away / Neut. Record	8-5 / 0-8	5-6 / 4-5
Points Per Game	61.8 PPG	58.6 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	66.2 PPG	62.8 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	38.1 %	36.3 %
3-Point Percentage	26.2 %	26.3 %
Free Throw Percentage	66.1 %	70.4 %
Rebounds Per Game	36.7 RPG	34.1 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	12.0 / 15.0	10.7 / 15.2

Individual Leaders

(2023-24 Stats)	Navy	Army
Points Per Game	Zanai Barnett-Gay, 17.9 ppg	Trinity Hardy, 11.2 ppg
Rebounds Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 6.4 rpg	Kya Smith, 8.3 rpg
Assists Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay/Kyah Smith, 3.1 apg	Reese Ericson, 2.7 apg
Field Goal Percentage	Sydne Watts, 41.9 %	K. Smith, 46.8 %
3-Point Percentage	S. Watts, 33.3 %	R. Ericson, 30.4 %
Free Throw Percentage	Kyah Smith, 73.5 %	T. Hardy, 74.7 %

Last Time Out -- Saturday versus Colgate
Navy continued its run of strong recent play on Saturday as it came from behind to knock off Colgate, 59-58. Trailing for over 34 minutes of action at Alumni Hall, the Mids (8-13, 4-6 PL) finally overtook the Raiders (11-10, 4-6 PL) with 2:44 left in the fourth quarter and held on for the one-point victory.

Navy had a historic day with its ball-handling as the Mids finished with just five turnovers, while forcing the Raiders into 19 errors. That differential resulted in a 16-to-1 advantage for Navy in points off of turnovers. Additionally, the Mids roamed freely into the paint with a 40-to-20 advantage in points in the paint over the Raiders.

Individually, Navy had three players reach double-figures on Saturday led by Zanai Barnett-Gay, who tallied a game-high 17 points, to go along with seven rebounds and five steals. Toni Papahronis backed her up with a career-best 15 points on 6-10 shooting in 39 minutes. The third Mid in double figures was Kyah Smith, who battled through foul trouble to finish with 13 points and a team-high five assists.

The game opened evenly as both teams registered eight points over the first five minutes of action. Smith was an early spark plug for Navy with six of the host team's points. Following a fastbreak connection between Smith and Barnett-Gay gave the Mids a 10-8 lead at 4:45, the Raiders responded with 14 of the next 19 points to break out to a 22-15 edge by the first quarter intermission. Colgate did the majority of its offensive damage in the first quarter at the foul line going 11-for-11 in free throws.

The Raiders' strong conclusion to the previous period carried over into the second quarter as they slowly increased their lead out to 12 points, 31-19, by the 3:40 mark. In an ensuing 41-second span of play, the Mids drew within six points as Papahronis, Barnett-Gay and Lizzie Holder all recorded points. Barnett-Gay's scoring play was especially note-worthy as Papahronis stripped the ball from Morgan McMahon and hit Barnett-Gay with an outlet pass for a fastbreak layup and 'and-one' conversion.

Down 31-25 coming out of the locker room after halftime, Navy's comeback effort continued as within the first four-plus minutes of play in the third quarter the Mids cut their deficit to three points when Smith deposited her team's first and only three-pointer of the game at 5:49 to make it 36-33. Navy's defensive pressure stayed high as Barnett-Gay grabbed her fifth steal of the game and went coast-to-coast as the Mids drew within two points of the Raiders, 37-35 at 4:02. A pair of 4-0 runs, first by Colgate and later by Navy advanced the score to 41-39 before the Raiders sank baskets on each of their final two possessions of the quarter.

With the score 45-41 through 30 minutes of action, Colgate immediately re-engaged its offense and put Navy's hopes of victory on the ropes as the visitors scored six of the first seven points in the fourth quarter to go up 51-42 by the 6:42 mark. Down, but not out, the Mids fired back with eight unanswered points over the next 2:39. Trailing 51-50, Navy made its fifth shot in six trips down the court as Smith netted her 10th and 11th points of the game as a response to two points by Colgate. After the Mids' defense forced the Raiders into a shot clock violation, the comeback was completed with Smith's second field goal in as many attempts to go up 54-53. A 1-of-2 showing at the free throw line by Colgate tied the game temporarily before Papahronis darted through the lane and gave Navy a two-point lead with less than two minutes to play. The Mids held onto that lead down the stretch on the strength of passionate play on the offensive boards by Maren Louridas as she extended a Navy possession that led to free throws for Barnett-Gay with 16 seconds to go and again with one second to go that resulted in two of her own free throws to clinch the win.

For the game, Navy out-shot Colgate from the field, 37.9 percent (22-58) to 34.7 (17-49), though the Raiders held advantages in three-point shooting, 44.4 percent (4-9) to 9.1 (1-11) as well as from the foul line, 87.0 percent (20-23) to 58.3 (14-24).

Navy's ball-handling was some of the best in program history as it was charged with just five turnovers for the 40-minute contest. All-time, five turnovers ranks fourth in the Navy record books. The three games with fewer turnovers all occurred during the Mids' competitive days in the 1980s as part of Division II. Paced by Smith's five helpers, Navy finished the game with 10 assists.