ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy women's basketball team has its eyes squarely on remaining undefeated in Patriot League play as it welcomes nearby Loyola University to Alumni Hall for a Saturday afternoon bout. After knocking off the two-time defending league champions Holy Cross on Wednesday with a dominant wire-to-wire win, the Mids (11-3, 3-0 PL) will take aim at a Greyhound squad (6-8, 0-3 PL) that was picked first in the league's preseason poll, but has recently been dealing with a rash of injuries. A win by Navy on Saturday would extend its spotless start in league play to four games, the most since the 2013-14 team opened with nine straight victories. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. at Alumni Hall.

Saturday's Navy-Loyola 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 versus Loyola
The Mids and Greyhounds have met 41 times in a series that began on January 28, 1979 ... All-time, Navy leads Loyola, 26-15 on the strength of the Mids' dominant 17-4 advantage in games played in Annapolis ... A two-game season sweep in 2021 by Navy helped end a four-game slide in the series; the two teams have since split the 2022, 2023 and 2024 series ... Since the Greyhounds joined the Patriot League in 2013-14, the Mids are 14-11 overall ... Over the last ten matchups, the series is knotted 5-5 with Navy going 4-1 at Alumni Hall; currently they've won four straight at home.
    Last Five Games:
    February 21, 2024 (H): Navy 53 - Loyola 51
    January 27, 2024 (A): Loyola 70 - Navy 67
    February 19, 2023 (A): Loyola 74 - Navy 50
    January 14, 2023 (H): Navy 63 - Loyola 43
    February 23, 2022 (A): Loyola 56 - Navy 42

Most Recent Navy-Loyola Matchup ... February 21, 2024 in Annapolis
Faced with the opportunity to exorcise the bad spirits of a dramatic 70-67 loss on the road at Loyola on Jan. 27, the Navy women's basketball returned the favor on Wednesday night with a thrilling come-from-behind victory of its own in front of its home crowd. Down 51-48 with 2:17 left in regulation, the Mids (10-15, 6-8 PL) ended the game on a 5-0 run and held the Greyhounds (13-12, 8-6 PL) to 0-3 shooting with one turnover in the visitors' final four possessions. Kate Samson was clutch on both ends of the court in the final three seconds as she laid in the go-ahead basket at 2.6 and then blocked Lex Therien's potential game-tying jumper at the buzzer to seal the 53-51 victory at Alumni Hall.

Samson filled up the box score on Wednesday night with her first double-double of the 2023-24 campaign with 12 points and 10 rebounds to go along with a pair of steals and blocks on defense. Kyah Smith was equally as critical to the Mids' success as she led all scorers with 17 points and facilitated with a game-high six assists, including Samson's go-ahead layup. Quiet through the first three quarters with just two points, Zanai Barnett-Gay led Navy's comeback quest in the fourth with eight points on 3-4 shooting with a straight-away three-pointer from beyond the arc early and an old-fashioned three-point conversion with an 'and-one' later in the final period. Her 10 points extended her streak of double-digit scoring efforts to all 24 games of her collegiate career.

The action on Wednesday night opened extremely even as the score was tied twice and the lead jockeyed between the teams four times in the first quarter. Smith and Samson paced Navy's early offensive work with four points each to spot the Mids a 10-9 lead at 4:22. A 6-0 run by Loyola between 1:50 and 0:29 saw the visitors jump out to 15-10 advantage. In control of the ball with one possession left in the period, Violet McNece left her mark on her first shot of the game with a corner three-pointer that swished through the net to close the Mids' deficit to just two, 15-13 through one quarter of play.

That basket kick-started a run by Navy that extended to 7-0 with baskets by Smith and Sydne Watts over the opening 85 seconds of the second quarter to give the hosts a 17-15 lead. The back-and-forth action continued as Loyola tied the game for the fourth time at 17-17 on the ensuing possession before briefly taking the lead, 19-17 at 7:29. Another 7-0 rebuttal by the Mids shot the team into the lead by five in a matter of 92 seconds. Smith knocked home a driving layup and three-pointer to start the run before Barnett-Gay jumped into the Greyhound passing lane and took the steal coast-to-coast to make it 24-19 going into the second quarter media timeout. Coming out of that break, the momentum swung back to Loyola with a 6-0 run to go ahead 25-24. The lead swapped two more times over the final two minutes as the Greyhounds went into halftime up 27-26.

Loyola scored its first two times down the court to open up a five-point lead within the first 83 seconds of the second half. The Greyhounds' lead bounced between three and five points for the next three minutes until Samson converted one of her two free throw attempts at 4:33 to pull the Mids back to just a two-point deficit, 35-33. The low-scoring period ended with Loyola netting four of the final six points to make it 39-35 at the close of the quarter. While shooting 5-9 from the field, the Greyhounds were hamstrung by seven turnovers. The Mids benefitted from those errors as all nine of their points in the stanza came as a response to a turnover.

Uncharacteristically quiet through the first three quarters, Navy's leading scorer, Zanai Barnett-Gay sparked the Mids in the fourth with five points in a matter of 55 seconds. Ahead for the first time since 1:52 of the second quarter, 40-39, Smith stretched Navy's lead to three with a pair of free throws at 8:16. A short 4-0 run by Loyola swung the scoreboard back in the visitors' favor before Barnett-Gay recorded her second pick-and-score of the game at 6:51 with an additional free throw coming to complete the 'and-one' and put Navy back in front by two, 45-43. The Greyhounds looked to break the Mids' heart again with a similar late game rally with eight of the next 11 points to go up 51-48 with 2:17 left in regulation. Unfazed by its tenuous position, Navy's defense buckled down and shut out Loyola with four empty possessions down the stretch. Following a 1-2 showing at the foul line by Samson, Toni Papahronis drew the Mids even with 41 seconds left as she grabbed an offensive rebound and immediately bounced back up for the putback. With the ball and 19 seconds to play, Samson put her squad ahead with 2.6 seconds left after Smith drove the lane and found Samson for the step-through layup between a pair of Loyola defenders. Samson made sure her go-ahead bucket stood up as the game-winner as she cleanly blocked Lex Therien, the reigning Patriot League Player of the Week, at the buzzer.

For the game, Loyola out-shot Navy, 41.2 percent (21-51) to 38.5 (20-52) from the field and 87.5 percent (7-8) to 66.7 (10-15) from the foul line. The three-point shot didn't factor much into Wednesday's outcome as the Mids shot just 23.1 percent (3-13), while the Greyhounds converted 14.3 percent (2-14) of their long-range attempts.

Comparing the Teams

(2024-25 Stats)	Navy	Loyola
Record / League-Only	11-3 / 3-0 PL	6-8 / 0-3 PL
Home / Away / Neut. Record	5-3 / 5-0 / 1-0	4-3 / 2-5 / 0-0
Points Per Game	70.4 PPG	59.1 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	58.3 PPG	61.7 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	38.9 %	40.8 %
3-Point Percentage	33.2 %	30.2 %
Free Throw Percentage	65.0 %	61.8 %
Rebounds Per Game	43.9 RPG	32.9 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	14.6 / 14.4	12.2 / 16.1
Common Opponents	Radford - W, 78-73 ot Holy Cross - W, 67-56	Radford - W, 70-64 ot Holy Cross - L, 49-46

Individual Leaders

(2024-25 Stats)	Navy	Loyola
Points Per Game	Zanai Barnett-Gay, 19.1 ppg	Kimmie Hicks, 14.6 ppg
Rebounds Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 7.4 rpg	Koi Sims, 10.5 rpg
Assists Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 3.4 apg	Laura Salmeron, 2.2 apg
Field Goal Percentage	Kate Samson, 49.5 %	K. Sims, 50.4 %
3-Point Percentage	Mary Gibbons, 45.3 %	K. Hicks, 47.6 %
Free Throw Percentage	Z. Barnett-Gay, 76.6 %	K. Hicks, 83.7 %

Last Time Out -- Wednesday vs. Holy Cross
Faced with a matchup versus the two-time defending Patriot League champions with a hold of first place on the line, the Navy women's basketball team led from the opening seconds of the contest versus Holy Cross on its way to a 67-56 victory on Wednesday night. A 14-point first quarter advantage and confident playmaking down the stretch when pressed in the fourth quarter enabled the Mids (11-3, 3-0) to knock off the Crusaders (9-5, 2-1 PL) at Alumni Hall and extend their undefeated start to the Patriot League portion of its 2024-25 season.

Kyah Smith led Navy's offensive performance with 15 points on the strength of three three-pointers, with an additional five rebounds and two assists off the bench. Though scoreless in the first half, but effective in other aspects of the game, the Patriot League's leading scorer, Zanai Barnett-Gay rallied in the second half with 13 points to go along with 11 total rebounds and three assists. A sign of the well-rounded offensive effort by the Mids on Wednesday, four more players scored between six and nine points.

Toni Papahronis sparked Navy early with five of the Mids' points, including the game-opening three-pointer. Bolstered by her individual success, as well as a Maren Louridas' triple, Navy was up 10-7 over Holy Cross at the 5:59 mark. Over the next four minutes of action from that point, the Mids rattled off nine more unanswered points to break open a 19-7 advantage. Smith spearheaded this run with five points. After the Crusaders halted the Mids' run with a Simone Foreman jumper, three-pointers on consecutive possessions by Smith and Lizzie Holder wrapped up the quarter with Navy ahead 25-11. The Mids' 14-point led was aided by 5-9 shooting from three-point range and a 12-0 advantage in bench scoring.

The teams traded baskets over the opening two minutes of the second quarter to advance the score to 29-15. Following a two-plus minute drought Kaitlyn Flanagan got Holy Cross back into the scoring column with a three-pointer at 5:24. Morgan Demos jolted Navy into a quick 6-0 run with an offensive rebound and putback at 4:23 before capping the run with a layup at 1:46. Another Foreman basket was quickly answered back by Smith's third three-pointer of the first half to send the game into the locker room at 38-22.

Held scoreless in the first half, Barnett-Gay got her shot to fall early in the third quarter with back-to-back field goals within the first two minutes. With the score 42-24 at 8:17, Holy Cross fought its way back to a 10-point deficit via a 12-4 run over the next 4:15. As quickly as the Crusaders shaved eight points off the Mids' advantage, the home team fired back with a 9-1 run of its own to go back up 18. The freshman duo of Julianna Almeida and Mary Gibbons accumulated seven of these points with Gibbons knocking down her first three-pointer of the game during this run. Four straight points by Holy Cross closed out the third quarter with a score of 55-41.

The Crusaders used that late momentum to continue their comeback into the fourth with 12 of the first 14 points of the final stanza to make it a 57-53 game by the 3:14 mark. The ever-dangerous three-point shot that energized the Mids' effort in the first quarter came back for them down the stretch as Barnett-Gay knocked down her first trey of the game at 2:25 to give her squad a bit more breathing room before later slashing to the hoop for her 10th and 11th points to make it 62-56 with 1:21 remaining in regulation. The icing on the Mids' victory came courtesy of an Almeida corner three with 35 seconds left and two final free throws by Barnett-Gay to send the game final at 67-56. 

Barnett-Gay's late success scoring extended her streak of games with double-digit points to all 44 games of her young career.

For the game, Navy out-shot Holy Cross, 37.1 percent (26-70) to 32.9 (23-70) from the field, 40.9 percent (9-22) to 15.0 (3-20) from three-point range and 75.0 percent (6-8) to 70.0 (7-10) from the foul line.

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.