ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy women's basketball team will turn its attention to the 2024 Patriot League Tournament this Saturday with a first round home matchup against Lafayette. Riding the conference's longest win-streak into the postseason with three straight victories and wins in four of their last five games, the Mids (13-16, 9-9 PL) will host the Leopards (10-19, 5-13 PL) with a spot in Monday night's Patriot League Quarterfinals at Colgate on the line. Saturday's matchup between Navy and Lafayette will be the third this season as the Mids have collected a pair of nine-point wins over the Leopards, first at home in January and last week on the road in Easton, Pa. The tip-off on Saturday is set for 1 p.m. at Navy's Alumni Hall.

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. An audio-only portion of the contests will also be available via WNAV: over the radio waves on 99.9 FM or 1430 AM, online at WNAV.com or through the iHeart and Audacy platforms. 

Navy in the Patriot League Tournament
The Mids are 28-28 all-time in Patriot League Tournament action and have won three league championships (2011-12-13) during the program's 32-year history with the conference ... In its first three years under the guidance of head coach Tim Taylor, Navy is 2-2 as the Mids did not participate in the 2021 tournament due to COVID-19 protocols, but returned in 2022 with a first round home victory over ninth-seeded Colgate and a buzzer-beating upset win at the top-seed Holy Cross. Last year, Navy fell in the first round at American, 78-71.

Navy versus Lafayette
The Mids and Leopards have met 83 times in a series that began on Feb. 16, 1980  ... All-time, Navy leads Lafayette, 55-28 with a 33-10 advantage in games played in Annapolis and a smaller 20-17 edge in matchups in Easton ... In the history of the Patriot League Tournament, Navy is 5-1 all-time versus Lafayette; most recently defeating the Leopards in the quarterfinals of the 2017 tournament, 53-37 ... Over the last four meetings at Alumni Hall, the series is knotted 2-2 as the Mids knocked off the Leopards by nine points on Jan. 17 ... In the last ten overall matchups of the series, Lafayette has secured six wins, including a four-game streak over the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
    Last Five Games:
    Feb. 28, 2014 (A): Navy 58 - Lafayette 49
    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

Most Recent Navy-Lafayette Matchup ... Feb. 28, 2024 in Easton, Pa.
The Navy women's basketball team led wire-to-wire over Lafayette on Feb. 28 as the visiting Mids (11-16, 7-9 PL) broke out to a 20-4 lead in the first quarter and withstood all comeback attempts by the Leopards (10-17, 5-11 PL) to grab a 58-49 victory at the Kirby Sports Center. Navy's sharp three-point shooting kick-started its initial success, while its defense helped the Mids hang on down the stretch as the Leopards scored just 11 points in the fourth quarter.

Zanai Barnett-Gay was everywhere for Navy on Wednesday night as the freshman led all players in points with 23, assists with four and steals with four, as well. Additionally, the standout rookie tied for the team lead with seven rebounds. Her freshman backcourt mate Kyah Smith provided strong support with 15 points, including three first quarter three-pointers. Toni Papahronis did a little bit of everything for the Mids with six points, three rebounds, two steals and a block, while also providing over 37 minutes of lock-down defense on the Leopards' high-scoring guard Abby Antognoli, who finished with just eight points, three of which came on a desperation half-court heave at the end of the third quarter.

Navy started out on fire from distance as the visitors opened up the contest 3-4 from three-point range over the first 3:51 of action to bolt out to a 9-2 lead. Barnett-Gay was the early spark plug for the Mids with two of the treys, while Smith added the third. Navy's success continued as it scored eight more unanswered points to break out to a 17-2 advantage by 3:35 when Smith capped the run with her third three-pointer of the quarter. The Mids' defense also continued humming as Barnett-Gay poked away a Leopard dribble and was found for the breakaway layup by Sydne Watts to make it 20-4 at 1:49. A three-pointer by Lafayette's Halee Smith with 39 seconds remaining closed the quarter at 20-7 in favor of Navy. The Mids knocked down 62.5 percent (5-8) of their three-pointers in the period, while the Leopards shot just 11.8 percent (2-17) from the floor. Navy forced five turnovers and was rewarded with seven points off those errors.

The Mids' offense kept clicking to start the second quarter as they scored six of the first seven points. Following Watts' jumper at 7:04 that made it 26-8, Lafayette fired back with a 13-6 run to close the quarter as it used a pair of three-pointers by Kylie Favours to bolster their effort during this stretch.

Coming out of the locker room up 32-21, Navy extended its lead back into double-digits in short order as Maren Louridas answered a Mikayla Andrews jumper with a three-pointer from the wing at 8:39 to make it 35-23. With their backs against the wall, the Leopards fought back and held the Mids without a basket for over four-plus minutes and tightened the game to two, 35-33 at 3:56. The teams traded a pair of free throws over the next two possessions and the margin stayed at two. With the score 37-35, Navy re-engaged its offense with six unanswered points the next three times down the court. Trailing by eight in the waning seconds of the period, Abby Antognoli grabbed a loose ball beyond mid-court and heaved a desperation three-pointer that swished in with all zeroes showing.

The fourth quarter opened with Navy holding onto a 43-38 lead. Barnett-Gay helped the Mids extend their advantage out to seven with a driving layup 47 seconds into the stanza. A 7-2 response by Lafayette over the next 3:42 drew the hosts back to within two, 47-45. That was as close as the Leopards got to overtaking the Mids as their offense was stunted and scored just four points over the final 5:31 of play. Ahead by six, 51-45, after an offensive rebound and putback by Kate Samson at 3:58, Navy closed out the wire-to-wire win with seven of the final 11 points as Barnett-Gay provided the dagger with a three-pointer at 1:19.

In its 58-49 victory, Navy out-shot Lafayette, 35.6 percent (21-59) to 32.0 (16-50) from the floor and 35.0 percent (7-20) to 27.8 (5-18) from three-point range. The Leopards held a slight 70.6 percent (12-17) to 64.3 (9-14) edge in foul shooting.

Comparing the Teams

(2023-24 Stats)	Navy	Lafayette
Record / League-Only	13-16, 9-9 PL	10-19 / 5-13 PL
Home / Away / Neut. Record	10-6 / 3-10	3-9 / 7-10
Points Per Game	61.6 PPG	56.2 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	64.2 PPG	63.5 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	38.1 %	40.8 %
3-Point Percentage	27.8 %	32.9 %
Free Throw Percentage	67.2 %	69.3 %
Rebounds Per Game	36.7 RPG	32.2 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	12.2 / 15.0	11.5 / 15.3

Individual Leaders

(2023-24 Stats)	Navy	Lafayette
Points Per Game	Zanai Barnett-Gay, 18.3 ppg	Makayla Andrews, 13.4 ppg
Rebounds Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 6.4 rpg	Kayla Drummond, 6.7 rpg
Assists Per Game	Kyah Smith, 3.4 apg	Abby Antognoli, 3.2 apg
Field Goal Percentage	Kate Samson, 45.8 %	K. Drummond, 60.4 %
3-Point Percentage	Sydne Watts, 33.8 %	Halee Smith, 40.7 %
Free Throw Percentage	Z. Barnett-Gay, 76.7 %	M. Andrews, 77.0 %

Last Time Out -- Wednesday at Bucknell 
With playoff seeding on the line, the Navy women's basketball team took care of business on Wednesday night with a gritty 55-49 victory over Bucknell. Hoping to claw its way into a bye into the quarterfinals of the upcoming Patriot League Tournament, the Mids (13-16, 9-9 PL) held up their end of the bargain and contained the Bison (12-17, 9-9 PL) to the tune of 26.2 percent shooting and just six points in the third quarter on the road at Sojka Pavilion. The victory moved Navy into a four-way tie for fifth place, but unfortunately, the tie-breakers didn't go the Mids' way and they will head into the Patriot League Tournament as the seventh seed.

Zanai Barnett-Gay led all players on Wednesday with 23 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter. The 23-point outing was her third straight game with that exact total. Additionally, she grabbed eight rebounds to go along with four steals. Kyah Smith joined her in double-figures with 15 points, five rebounds and three three-pointers. Kate Samson nearly went for a double-double with eight points and 10 rebounds, with an additional four blocked shots.

Navy started out the game extremely fast with baskets on three of its first four possessions to break out to a 7-0 lead by 7:52. Maren Louridas kick-started the run with a corner three-pointer before Samson went back-to-back with baskets in the paint. A 6-2 response by Bucknell over the next 1:42 tightened it to a 9-6 margin. The Bison kept chipping away at their deficit and drew within one, 10-9 at 4:43. The momentum swung back in the Mids' favor over the next 3:17 as they scored all five of the game's points with Barnett-Gay capping the run with a steal and fast break layup. The final four points of the quarter were scored by Bucknell and the teams retired to their bench with the score 15-13 Navy.

A three-point basket by Smith the first time down the court for the Mids built out their lead temporarily to five points before the Bison answered back with seven of the next nine points to tie the game at 20-20 by the 5:30 mark. A trading of baskets down the stretch left the Bison going into the locker room ahead 26-25. Seven Midshipmen turnovers held the visitors back in the period as they shot 44.4 percent (4-9), while the Bison struggled at 28.6 percent (6-21) from the field.

The first half slugfest turned even grittier in the third quarter as field goals were extremely hard to come by as illustrated by Barnett-Gay registering the only basket of the first four minutes. With the score 27-26, the teams quickly exchanged two-point baskets at 5:22 and 4:41 before a four-plus minute drought of field goals. While Bucknell was able to re-take the lead with four free throws, 32-29, three unanswered points by Navy in the final 54 seconds left the teams deadlocked at 32-32 through 30 minutes of action. Overall, the Mids were 3-15 from the field in the period, while Bucknell only mustered one field goal on 13 attempts for a 7.7 percent mark.

Looking to capture its third straight win heading into the Patriot League Tournament, Navy sprinted out to a six-point lead of 39-33 in a matter of 2:18 to start the fourth quarter. A three-pointer by Smith and a coast-to-coast rebound and driving layup by Barnett-Gay added the exclamation mark to this short burst. Three consecutive points by Bucknell's Ashley Sofilkanich tightened the game up to a 39-36 margin at 5:29 before Navy blew open the competitive contest with a 9-0 run over the next 3:15. With their defense holding the Bison to 0-3 shooting with a pair of turnovers, the Mids rode its talented freshmen backcourt for all nine points, the first three coming off a Smith trey and the ensuing six by Barnett-Gay. Ahead 48-36 at 2:14, Navy held on at the foul line with a 7-8 mark as Bucknell shaved six points off its deficit to send the game final at 55-49.

For the game, Navy out-shot Bucknell, 35.2 percent (19-54) to 26.2 (17-65) from the field, 30.8 percent (4-13) to 13.3 (2-15) from three-point range and 72.2 percent (13-18) to 68.4 (13-19) from the foul line. In the second half, the Bison were held to just 18.5 percent (5-27) from the field by the Mids.

One of the Nation's Top Turnarounds
With their victory on March 6 over Bucknell, the Mids have increased their win total by 12 (from 1 to 13) ... Only seven DI teams have won 12 or more games from 2023 to 2024 (through 3/7):
    VCU | +19 | 7-22 to 26-4
    Navy | +12 | 1-29 to 13-16
    Detroit | +12 | 5-25 to 17-16
    Fairfield | +12 | 15-15 to 27-1
    North Texas | +12 | 11-20 to 23-7 
    TCU | +12 | 8-23 to 20-10
    ULM | +12 | 7-23 to 19-13

Parking / Shuttle
Fans are reminded that the general public does not have access to drive their vehicles on to the U.S. Naval Academy. Fans may park at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium for a fee and take a shuttle that will run every 10 minutes starting one hour before the game and will continue running until one hour after the game is completed. Fans 18 and over need a government-issued photo ID. Enter Gate 5 off Taylor Ave. to park at the stadium.