HAMILTON, N.Y. - In a rematch from last year's Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals, Navy and Colgate gave the loud, boisterous crowd at Cotterell Court 40 minutes of nip-and-tuck hard-fought action on Wednesday. With over 1,600 fans in attendance as part of the Raiders' (13-5, 3-2 PL) annual education day promotion, the Mids (12-4, 4-1 PL) led at the conclusions of the first and third quarters, but ultimately fell late as the host team pulled away with a 20-12 run over the last eight-plus minutes of play and flipped a 42-42 tie into a 62-54 final decision.

Zanai Barnett-Gay (So., Glenn Dale, Md.) continued her standout sophomore campaign as she led all players with 23 points and 16 rebounds. Her rebounding total was a new career-best and all 16 boards were gathered on the defensive end, a number that ranks second all-time in program history for most defensive rebounds in a game. Off the bench, Kyah Smith (So., Richmond, Va.) added 10 points and three assists over 32 minutes.

"We uncharacteristically did not take care of the ball the way we needed to and had too many unforced turnovers today," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "Turnovers on the first two possessions of the game and 12 in the first half did not allow us to get in a rhythm offensively and we did not take as many shots as we normally do. Some of that was due to Colgate's defense and offensive pace.

"Offensively, we had some really good shots that did not fall, but we also had stretches where our ball movement and person movement were not good. We were too stagnant and didn't put enough pressure on them."

Navy had a well-balanced attack to open the action on Wednesday morning as three different Mids recorded baskets to help the Mids grab a 6-5 lead by the 5:57 mark of the first quarter courtesy of makes by Barnett-Gay, Maren Louridas (Jr., Delmar, N.Y.) and Toni Papahronis (Jr., Edmond, Okla.). Barnett-Gay continued her hot start with back-to-back three-pointers at 5:20 and 4:44 to jolt Navy out to a 12-5 advantage. Colgate fought back with five straight points before Mary Gibbons (Fr., Holden, Mass.) put an end to its run and made it 14-10 at 2:18. The teams traded baskets down the stretch before Lizzie Holder (So., Stillwater, Minn.) converted an 'and-one' on the Mids' last possession to give the visitors a short-lived seven-point lead as Morgan McMahon answered right back for the Raiders with the quarter's final basket.

Coming out in the second quarter with the score 19-14, Colgate immediately fought back to draw even with five points over the opening 1:33 of play. Navy re-engaged its offense with strong results soon after with nine of the next 12 points to pull ahead 28-22 following a Louridas three-pointer at 4:20. Unfortunately for the Mids that was their final field goal of the half as the Raiders had a 7-0 rebuttal to close out the period with the lead 29-28.

Colgate carried that late momentum over into the second half as the hosts netted four more unanswered points to take a then game-high lead of five, 33-28 by the 8:18 juncture. The roller coaster action continued as Navy's defense shut down Colgate for over six minutes. During that scoreless period of time, the Mids rattled off nine straight points, six from Barnett-Gay and three more from Papahronis. With the score 37-33 at 2:59, the Raiders shaved a point off of its deficit before the quarter break as they trailed by three, 40-37 through 30 minutes of action.

Navy and Colgate kept up their back-and-forth battle going into the fourth as an early Taylor Golembiewski layup was quickly countered by a precise Holder post-up move. Trailing 42-39, an 'and-one' conversion by Golembiewski at 8:20 evened the score at 42-42. The Mids went nearly four scoreless minutes from that Holder field goal until Barnett-Gay added to the team's scoring total with a layup and successful 'and-one' of her own at 4:45 to end the Raiders 9-0 run and make it 48-45. Barnett-Gay kept powering Navy's late push with four of her team's next six points as the Mids crept closer by the 2:19 juncture with a score of 54-51. A free throw by Smith over a minute later slashed one more point off Colgate's lead. From that mark with the score 54-52 at 1:09, the Raiders closed the game with a perfect 6-6 showing from the foul line and an additional layup by Madison Schiller to seal the 62-54 victory.

"Colgate made some extremely tough shots and cashed in on their free throws in the fourth quarter," commented Taylor. "I thought our defense was solid for most of the game, but we had some breakdowns in the last couple of minutes that hurt us. To win on the road, you have got to be rock solid defensively all game."
 
For the contest, Navy out-shot Colgate, 39.2 percent (20-51) to 37.5 (21-56) from the field and 29.4 percent (5-17) to 17.6 (3-17) from three-point range, but the Raiders held a significant edge at the foul line with nearly twice as many attempts and an 85.0 percent shooting line (17-20), while the Mids only had 11 free throws and converted 81.8 percent (9-11).

Navy won the rebounding battle by six on Wednesday, 37-31, with a minor 8-7 advantage in offensive caroms. Barnett-Gay was a maven on the glass with a game-high 16 rebounds, all on the defensive side of the court. That total is the second-most on the defensive end by a Midshipmen player in program history, trailing only Jennifer Coleman's 20 defensive caroms at Lafayette on Feb. 9, 2022.

Defensively, the Mids forced 15 turnovers and were credited with five steals. Papahronis led Navy with a pair of thefts.

"We will use this as a learning experience and get better," said Taylor in closing. "This group is resilient so we will get back to work and keep trying to improve each day."

Following a lengthy ride back from Hamilton, Navy will next be in action at home on Saturday versus Bucknell. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. between the Mids and Bison.