ANNAPOLIS, Md. - After completing the non-conference portion of its schedule with the second-most wins over the past decade, the Navy women's basketball team will turn its attention to Patriot League play this Thursday evening with a short trip to Washington, D.C. for a showdown versus American University. The Mids (8-3) will look to continue its growth as they built that 2024-25 non-conference success off a 7-3 close to the Patriot League regular season in 2023-24. Tip-off to Thursday night's game is set at 7:00 p.m. at the Eagles' (0-11) Bender Arena.

The Navy-American 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 American
The Mids and Eagles have met 69 times in a series that began on February 16, 1978  ... All-time, American leads Navy, 43-26 on the strength of its dominant 27-6 mark over 33 meetings at Bender Arena; that trend is reversed as the Mids hold a 19-14 edge in games at Alumni Hall ... Navy broke an 11-year/14-game losing streak at Bender Arena on Feb. 14, 2024 with a 69-55 victory; prior to that Navy's last three wins in this series dating back to 2017 have all come at home (March 1, 2017, Feb. 28, 2018, and Jan. 17, 2021) ... 2024's season sweep was the first for the Mids since 2013; in the 27 games since that 2013 sweep, Navy is just 7-20  ... Since the Eagles joined the Patriot League in 2001-02, American is 28-19 against Navy ... In the last 10 American-Navy games, the Eagles are 7-3 overall with the Mids.
    Last 5 Games:
    March 2, 2024 (H): Navy 73 - American 57
    Feb. 14, 2024 (A): Navy 69 - American 55
    March 4, 2023 (A): American 78 - Navy 71 **Patriot League Tournament First Round
    Feb. 22, 2023 (H): American 61 - Navy 49
    Jan. 28, 2023 (A): American 62 - Navy 55

Most Recent Navy-American Matchup ... March 2, 2024 in Annapolis
Navy 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 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, 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 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. 

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 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 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 sank her first triple of the day at 2:57 before Sam Schofield 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.

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.

2023-24 Series Highlights
Both Maren Louridas (Feb. 14) and Zanai Barnett-Gay (March 2) had 23-point outings to lead Navy to a 2-0 season series sweep of American ... Over the two-game set, Barnett-Gay led all players with a 17.5 points per game average, while Louridas and Kyah Smith followed with averages of 15.5 and 13.0 ... Seven-point leads by the Mids over the Eagles in both contests helped lead to victories as Navy led for over 37 minutes in game one and 38 in game two ... Defensively, Navy forced American into 17.0 turnovers per game, while holding the Eagles to just 21.9 percent (7-32) from three-point range.

Comparing the Teams

(2024-25 Stats)	Navy	American
Record / League-Only	8-3 / 0-0 PL	0-11 / 0-0 PL
Home / Away / Neut. Record	4-3 / 3-0 / 1-0	0-5 / 0-4 / 0-2
Points Per Game	71.0 PPG	55.0 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	59.3 PPG	71.1 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	38.8 %	34.1 %
3-Point Percentage	33.3 %	27.5 %
Free Throw Percentage	64.3 %	66.0 %
Rebounds Per Game	44.7 RPG	37.1 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	14.6 / 15.7	13.0 / 19.4

Individual Leaders

(2024-25 Stats)	Navy	American
Points Per Game	Zanai Barnett-Gay, 19.0 ppg	Cecilia Key, 9.5 ppg
Rebounds Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 7.2 rpg	C. Key, 6.3 rpg
Assists Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 3.0 apg	Ivy Bales, 2.8 apg
Field Goal Percentage	Kate Samson, 49.5 %	C. Key, 41.3 %
3-Point Percentage	Mary Gibbons, 42.3 %	Laura Nogues, 37.0 %
Free Throw Percentage	Z. Barnett-Gay, 73.8 %	Molly Driscoll, 76.7 %

Last Time Out -- Thursday, Dec. 19 vs. Delaware in Annapolis
Coming off an extended break for final exams, the Navy women's basketball team showed zero rust on Thursday night as it broke out to 10-0 run in the first quarter before weathering comeback after comeback from an experienced University of Delaware team on its way to an ultimate 79-69 victory at Alumni Hall. After taking that early lead, the Mids (8-3) saw the Blue Hens (3-7) power right back with a 12-0 run of their own to jump in front late in the first quarter. From that point on Thursday night the game stayed within two possessions until the fourth period when Navy opened the frame 9-10 from the field to seal the victory for good and cap its non-conference slate with the second-most wins before league play over the last 20 years.

Zanai Barnett-Gay and Kate Samson played a leading role in the Mids' success as the duo combined for 45 points on 19-31 shooting with 15 rebounds. Individually, Barnett-Gay posted season-highs with 27 points and six assists to go along with eight caroms, while Samson was 8-11 from the field to tie her career-high of 18 points with an additional seven boards, three helpers and a game-high +26 plus-minus statistic. Off the bench, Mary Gibbons jolted the Navy offense with nine points, including a pair of three-pointers, one that was part of a four-point play.

The Mids opened play on fire on Thursday night as the duo of Barnett-Gay and Samson went shot-for-shot over the first 2:09 of first quarter to sprint Navy out to a 10-0. The hosts scored on each of their first four possessions and were 4-5 from the floor with a three-pointer by Barnett-Gay at 8:19 and an and-one conversion by Samson at 7:51 putting the exclamation point on this stellar start. A veteran club with four starters in their fifth years of collegiate competition, Delaware calmly re-grouped and countered back with a 12-0 run of its own over the next 5:06. Trailing 12-10, the Mids closed out the quarter with four unanswered points, two each from Samson and Gibbons to take a two-point lead.

With the score 14-12, the Blue Hens drew even and then took the lead within the first two possessions of the second quarter to go up 16-14. In a theme that would continue for most of the next two quarters, shot-for-shot rebuttals, Navy responded with a Julianna Almeida three-pointer off a crisp Kyah Smith assist at 8:41. Smith had a direct hand in the Mids' ensuing two baskets as she dished out assists to Barnett-Gay on another trey at 7:32 before hitting Samson for a driving layup at 6:26. Leading 22-20, Navy extended its advantage out to six with four points in quick succession by Samson and Maren Louridas. Down 28-22 at 4:00, Delaware scored 11 of the next 14 points to swing back into the lead 33-31. Two free throws by Nia Henley and a fadeaway jumper at the buzzer by Almeida off an in-bounds pass from Henley sent the Mids to the locker room up 35-34.

The tight nip-and-tuck action continued throughout the third quarter as Navy went up four, 40-36 following Barnett-Gay's third three-pointer of the game at 8:10 before Delaware clawed back even 43-43 by the 4:26 mark. The Blue Hens took their final lead of the game at 3:18 when Erica Wanzer knocked down a trey to make it 46-45. Louridas sparked a 7-0 run for the Mids as next time down the court she banged home a corner three before Gibbons converted a four-point play as she sank a three of her own from the top of the arc and was fouled on her follow-through to give Navy a 52-46 lead at 1:40.

Ahead 54-50 coming out of the quarter intermission, Navy never looked back in the fourth period as the Mids made nine of their first 10 shots, including nine straight. Once again, the three-ball was a weapon for Navy as Gibbons, Smith and Louridas found nothing but net on their attempts from distance during this lights out offensive run. Augmenting the Mids' marksmenship from long range was Barnett-Gay's dynamic driving and mid-range game as she scored 12 points during this portion of play. A game Delaware team tried to stay close, but Navy's lead had bubbled up to 11, 77-66 by the time the Mids had missed their second shot of the quarter. Over the final 3:54 of the game the teams traded single field goals to close out the scoring at 79-69. As a team, Navy shot 10-16 from the floor in the fourth quarter, with Barnett-Gay going 6-8 on her way to 14 points.

For the game, Delaware out-shot Navy from the field, 49.1 percent (28-57) to 48.4 (31-64), though the Mids were better from three-point range, 45.5 percent (10-22) to 41.2 (7-17) and from the foul line, 70.0 percent (7-10) to 46.2 (6-13). Navy's three-point shooting percentage was a season-high, while its 10 makes tied its season-best output versus Radford.

The Mids won the rebounding battle, 35-32 over the Blue Hens and had an 11-9 edge in offensive boards. Barnett-Gay and Louridas tied for the game-high with eight rebounds each, while Samson added seven caroms.

Navy's ball movement was excellent on Thursday night with a 19-to-13 assist-to-turnover ratio. Barnett-Gay had a season-high six helpers, while Smith (4), Samson (3) and Louridas (3) all provided strong secondary play-making.