ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Coming in on a three-game winning streak to close the regular season, the Navy women's basketball team kept up its successful brand of play on Saturday with a dominant victory over Lafayette in the first round of the 2024 Patriot League Tournament. Seeded seventh for the tournament, the Mids (14-16) fought through a tough first quarter before shutting down the tenth-seeded Leopards (10-20) over the final five minutes of the second quarter and most of the third quarter. From the 5:31 juncture of the second stanza when it was 19-17 through the conclusion of the third, Navy out-scored Lafayette 33-8 to break open the game and cruise to the 67-45 win at Alumni Hall.

The Mids' received a complete team effort as nine different players scored, while three players, who went without a made field goal left their mark in an impactful manner as Violet McNece (Fr., Chesterfield, Mo.) posted a team-high +27 off the bench, while Toni Papahronis (So., Edmond, Okla.) assisted on a game-high five baskets with a +26 and Maren Louridas (So., Delmar, N.Y.) grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds. Offensively, Zanai Barnett-Gay (Fr., Glenn Dale, Md.) led a trio of Mids in double-figures as she finished with 15 points and five steals. Kate Samson (So., Richmond, Va.) controlled the post on both ends of the court with 13 points and two blocks, while Sydne Watts (Sr., Canton, Ga.) led a dominant bench performance with 10 points and a pair of three-pointers. As a unit, Navy's bench out-scored Lafayette 30-4 on Saturday.

"Today was a complete effort," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "We had Kyah, Kate and Z all get into foul trouble early in the second quarter, but everyone stepped up, contributed and filled their roles. Morganne [Andrews] came in and gave us a great four minutes and Sydne sparked our offense. Violet McNece was 0-3 from the floor, but was +14 in the first half, so she did a tremendous job of the doing the other things. Toni was +19 at the half; she did that without making a shot. She did so much for us creatively, she was driving the lane, making the extra pass; everything you want from your lead ball-handler. Maren did so many things for us; she grabbed 10 rebounds today and hustled to every loose ball.

"Other than that little 7-0 run by Lafayette to start the fourth quarter, where I had to call a timeout, I felt this may have been one of our best and most complete efforts of the year on defense."

The action in the first quarter saw two offensive swings as Navy broke out to an initial 6-0 lead capped by a Kyah Smith (Fr., Richmond, Va.) three-pointer at 7:24 before Colgate fought back with eight consecutive points over the next three-plus minutes. A patented interception and breakaway layup by Barnett-Gay at 3:33 drew the Mids even with the Raiders, 8-8. The teams traded points down the stretch as an 'and-one' conversion by Samson was immediately responded to by four made free throws in quick succession by Lafayette. Trailing by one in the waning seconds of the quarter, Barnett-Gay stripped the ball away from Mikayla Andrews and went coast-to-coast to beat the buzzer with a pull-up jumper and give Navy the 13-12 edge through 10 minutes of play.

That basket gave the Mids a lead that they wouldn't relinquish for the remaining 30 minutes, though they had to navigate some back-and-forth action to start the second quarter that saw them build out a four-point lead twice before the Leopards answered back in both occasions. With the score 19-17 at 5:31, Navy turned up its defensive intensity and held Lafayette without a field goal for the rest of the half. That intensity affected the offensive side of the ball too as they missed just two shots during that same span, while collecting 14 points. The senior bench duo of Watts and Morganne Andrews (Martinsburg, W.Va.) spearheaded the Mids with all 14 points as Watts scored the first five before Andrews rattled off six straight over three possessions from 2:17 to 1:05. A three-pointer by Watts on Navy's last time down the court ended the half with the Mids ahead 33-18. Navy's buzzing defense forced Lafayette into six turnovers and allowed the Leopards to only take nine shots in the entire period. The Mids converted those errors into eight points. Additionally, of Navy's 20 points in the stanza, 18 came from its bench, 10 from Watts, six from Andrews and the final two from Gia Pissott (So., Toms River, N.J.).

Leading by 15 points, the Mids extended their advantage to 20 points within the first 2:38 of the second half as they turned their offensive attention to Samson, who scored all six points, while the Leopards were only able to muster one free throw. The visitors broke their nine-minute streak without a field goal at 6:29 with a Mikayla Andrews jumper. That success was short-lived as Barnett-Gay immediately came down the court and banged home a three-pointer to put Navy up 21, 42-21. The Mids' defense re-engaged its constricting ways on the Leopards over the final five minutes of the period and allowed just four points on a pair of made field goals. Similar to the second quarter, Navy's offense clicked into gear at the same time to the tune of 10 points to make it a 52-25 game through three quarters.

Lafayette attempted its final comeback to start the fourth period as they went on a 9-2 run over the opening three minutes. With the score 54-34, Navy assured itself that it would advance to the quarterfinals of the Patriot League Tournament and never allowed the tenth-seeded Leopards to get closer than 20 the rest of the game. In control, the Mids extended their lead to a game-high 29 of 65-36 after a 45-second stretch of play between 3:37 and 2:55 when Morgan Demos (So., Downers Grove, Ill.) went back-to-back with a three-pointer, the first of her career, and a pair of free throws. A 9-2 run by Lafayette to conclude the contest finalized the score at 67-45 on Saturday.

For the game, Lafayette out-shot Navy from the field slightly, 33.3 percent (17-51) to 32.3 (21-65) and from three-point range, 33.3 percent (4-12) to 26.3 (5-19). The Mids were nearly flawless from the foul line with an 87.0 percent (20-23) to 63.6 (7-11) advantage.

Navy won the battle on the boards, 42-39 on Saturday afternoon. Louridas tied for the game-high with 10 rebounds. The Mids were extremely active on the offensive glass with 15 offensive rebounds, including four by Andrews and three more by Pissott.

Navy's ball-handling was crisp with a 14-to-8 assist-to-turnover. Papahronis was the leading facilitator with five assists.

Defensively, the Mids forced 19 Leopard turnovers and were credited with eight steals. Barnett-Gay grabbed a game-high five steals. Navy was also dynamic in its post defense with seven blocks. Samson and Pissott each had two rejections.

"What impressed me the most about today was how many loose balls and possessions were extended by our effort," commented Taylor. "Any time the ball was in the air, we had someone crashing and trying to get a hand on it. That's the kind of effort that you need to win in March. You need to win those 50/50 balls. In the past we hadn't always come up with those, but now we're winning so many more of those situations. Our confidence is growing. They trust each other. We didn't shoot the ball extremely well today, but we did an excellent job of moving the ball.

"We have a hard road ahead of us, but we just have to keep playing the way we've been playing recently."

Navy's victory advances the Midshipmen into the quarterfinals of the Patriot League Tournament. Next up for Navy is a Monday night matchup at the second-seeded Colgate Raiders. Tip-off at Cotterell Court is scheduled for 6 p.m. The two teams split the regular season series with the Raiders winning at home in early January and the Mids holding court in Annapolis in early February.