ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's basketball team had a lot to celebrate on Saturday as one of the NCAA's greatest turnaround stories of 2023-24 continued with a 73-57 victory over American. Honoring its senior class prior to the game at Alumni Hall, Navy scored early and often as for the second straight game the Mids (12-16, 8-9 PL) broke out to a double-digit first half lead. Surviving pesky comeback attempts by the Eagles (9-19, 7-10 PL) during the middle portion of the game, the Mids dominated down the stretch and held the visitors to just 25.0 percent shooting in the second half, while countering with a blistering 77.8 mark on 7-9 in the fourth quarter.

Zanai Barnett-Gay (Fr., Glenn Dale, Md.) was unstoppable to start the game as she netted 16 of her 23 total points in the first quarter on 6-7 shooting before handing the offensive baton to Sydne Watts (Sr., Canton, Ga.), who tallied 13 of Navy's 15 points in the second quarter on 6-8 shooting; she'd finish with 16 total points on Saturday. Kyah Smith (Fr., Richmond, Va.) gave the Mids a consistent third option throughout as she scored 14 points on 5-11 shooting with a 4-6 mark from three-point range. All three players filled up the box score with more than just points as Barnett-Gay augmented her line with five rebounds, five assists and two steals, while Watts grabbed three boards with two assists and Smith assisted on four baskets.

"I wasn't really happy with the way the second quarter ended so my halftime speech was a bit fiery," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "We identified the issues at half and the team responded. I was happy to see that response because I got on a few players for being lackadaisical. We have had that happen a few times this year where we get a big lead and then we take the foot of the gas and relax too much and get careless. That's where a young team has got to grow and I think we did just that in the second half, expanding the lead back out to 18 points.

"The flow of the game was crazy; Z was hot in the first quarter then Sydne got hot in the second quarter and then when it got closer we put the ball in Maren's hands and she took over. She had eight points, eight rebounds, six assists and zero turnovers. She was everywhere on defense too."

The game opened with a brisk offensive pace as both squads shot 50 percent out the gate over the first 3:33 of action. While American was 4-8 to net its nine points, Navy was 3-6 with a trio of three-pointers; two from Barnett-Gay and one from Smith. The teams continued trading baskets as the score was tied twice more in quick succession at 12-12 and 16-16. After that juncture at 4:48, the Mids closed the quarter on a 9-2 run, including seven straight points from Barnett-Gay.

Coming off its highest scoring first quarter of the 2023-24 season, Navy immediately increased its lead from 25-18 to 34-18 with nine straight points by Watts over a span of 2:48. American finally got onto the scoreboard at 7:01 with an Emily Johns layup, though Maren Louridas (So., Delmar, N.Y.) responded with a driving layup the next time down the court. Trailing by 16, 36-20, the Eagles clawed their way back into the game over the final six-plus minutes of the half with a 17-4 run to draw within three points after 20 minutes of action. Five turnovers and an 0-4 showing from the field hurt the Mids' cause during this span.

American's comeback effort continued in the second half as the visitors scored five of the first nine points over the initial 3:24 of the third quarter. With the score 44-42, Navy fired back with seven unanswered points over 66 seconds starting with another driving layup by Louridas and followed in quick succession by an 'and-one' conversion by Barnett-Gay and a crisp drive and pass through the post from Louridas to Morganne Andrews (Sr., Martinsburg, W.Va.) at 3:35. The 7-0 run was extended out to 11-2 as the Mids held the Eagles to just two points over the final six-plus minutes of the period to take a 55-44 lead into the quarter break. Defensively, Navy forced six American turnovers and into a 3-15 shooting performance.

The Eagles' final chance to fight back into the contest came and went quickly in the fourth quarter as an Anna LeMaster jumper on their first possession brought them to within nine points, 55-46, before the Mids answered back emphatically to the tune of a 10-2 run to break open a 17-point lead of 65-48. Smith paced Navy's effort during this stretch with a pair of three-point baskets and a no-look pass under the hoop to a waiting Andrews, who easily put away a layup. The three-ball continued to fuel the Mids' offensive engine as Toni Papahronis (So., Edmond, Okla.) sank her first triple of the day at 2:57 before Sam Schofield (Maumee, Ohio) found her senior classmate Watts wide open on the wing for a trey with 27 seconds left to clinch the victory. Two American foul shots on its final possession closed the scoring at 73-57.

"We want this to be a team effort," commented Taylor. "When you step on the court we want you to make us better; that's what they did today. Everyone gave us impactful minutes. Gia Pissott was great for us off the bench and I told her the only reason she didn't play more was because Morganne Andrews was playing great for us. At one stretch, American turned the ball over three times in the post because Morganne and Toni were just battling for every inch; that passion and grit doesn't show up as a steal, but they affected American's offense a lot. I felt that everyone gave something positive today."

For the game, Navy out-shot American, 53.6 percent (30-56) to 38.3 (23-60) from the field and 58.8 percent (10-17) to 23.1 (3-13) from three-point range, though the Eagles posted an 80.0 percent mark (8-10) from the foul line versus a 50.0 (3-6) effort for the Mids. Both its field goal and three-point shooting percentages were season-highs for Navy.

The rebounding battle was extremely close with the Eagles grabbing just one more board than the Mids, 33-32 on Saturday. Louridas led all players with eight rebounds.

Navy's ball movement was excellent with 18 assists on 30 made baskets. Louridas was again leading the pack as the sophomore assisted on a game-high six field goals. Barnett-Gay and Smith also played important facilitation roles with totals of five and four assists each.

Defensively, Navy forced American into 16 turnovers and was credited with six steals. The Patriot League's leader in steals, Barnett-Gay tallied a pair of thefts against the Eagles. Andrews spearheaded the Mids' low post defense with a pair of blocked shots.

Prior to the game, Navy recognized its Class of 2024 with a Senior Day ceremony as Sam Schofield, Sydne Watts, team captain Morganne Andrews and manager Tehya Adkinson were honored by the program. First Command was the presenting sponsor of Saturday's Senior Day game.

"What a better way to send our seniors out," said Taylor of Navy's Class of 2024. "My hat's off to them; they started their career during the COVID pandemic and then we went 1-29 last year. The best part about Sam, Sydne and Morganne is that they showed up every day. That's hard to do when you're 1-29; it's hard to show up when you're losing and they showed up every day and went to work for their teammates and this program. This year is a response to that; we're seeing the fruits of their labor. That makes it all that more special."

Navy will conclude its 2023-24 regular season with a Wednesday night road tilt at Bucknell. Tip-off between the Mids and Bison is set for 6 p.m. in Lewisburg, Pa. The contest will have all types of playoff implications involved with it as the two teams will come into the matchup separated by just one game in the extremely crowded Patriot League leaderboard.

"We haven't really focused on the standings until recently; we just wanted to get better," said Taylor in closing. "Now we control our own destiny, win and you move up. We kept above Lafayette, we've now swept American and now we head to Bucknell on Wednesday, a team that's one game ahead of us. They're playing really, really well recently, especially at home so it'll be another tough battle."

Patriot League Standings through Saturday's Games (one regular season game to go)
1. Boston: 10-7 
2. Loyola: 10-7 
3. Holy Cross: 10-7
4. Army: 9-8
5. Colgate: 9-8
6. Bucknell: 9-8
7. Lehigh: 8-9 (1-1 vs. Navy)
8. Navy: 8-9 (1-1 vs. Lehigh; tie-breaker is record against Boston ... Lehigh 1-1 / Navy 0-2)
9. American: 7-10
10. Lafayette: 5-12

Wednesday's Schedule
Boston at Colgate, 6 PM
Navy at Bucknell, 6 PM
Lehigh at Army, 6 PM
Lafayette at Holy Cross, 7 PM
American at Loyola, 7 PM