WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Navy women's basketball team kept up its momentum from a strong non-conference performance with a 66-59 victory over American University on the road on Thursday night. Starting strong with 21 points in the first quarter, the Mids (9-3, 1-0 PL) weathered an even 20 minutes of play in the middle of the contest before breaking out to a 13-point advantage in the fourth quarter and holding off the Eagles (0-12, 0-1 PL) down the stretch at Bender Arena.

Zanai Barnett-Gay (So., Glenn Dale, Md.) was everywhere for Navy as she filled the box score with a game-high 26 points to go along with seven rebounds, five assists and two steals. The Mids leaned on their bench for secondary scoring on Thursday with Mary Gibbons (Fr., Holden, Mass.) and Morgan Demos (Jr., Downers Grove, Ill.) combining for 22 points, 13 for Gibbons and nine for Demos. A career-high scoring total by Demos was augmented by a career-best rebounding effort of 12 rebounds over 29 minutes of action in the post.

"You take wins any way you can get it," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "Playing our first league game on the road and playing our first game without Kate in the line-up this year, we had to make some adjustments. I thought American did a really good job of using their size and taking advantage of our switching. I thought we also made some good adjustments at the end of the third quarter going with two bigs. Toni [Papahronis] was really good for us tonight.

"We went through a long stretch in the third quarter without Z getting any touches so we drew up some things and our kids did a great job of executing and making some shots. Morgan Demos played a quality game throughout as she came up with big rebounds and big baskets; she just around the ball and made a lot of big plays. Mary hit some clutch shots for us when we needed them."

Coming off a 27-point game versus Delaware before the extended holiday break, Barnett-Gay was back to her high-scoring ways almost immediately on Thursday as she opened the game with all seven of Navy's points over the first 2:01 of action. After Ellie Pingree drew American even at 7-7 at 7:26, back-to-back baskets from Julianna Almeida (Fr., North Arlington, N.J.) and Demos jolted Navy out into the lead. Though challenged throughout the majority of the ensuing 37:11 and tied twice, Almeida's field goal spotted the Mids a lead that they would never relinquish for the rest of the game. With the score 11-7 at 6:04 both teams traded shots for most of the next three minutes with American twice pulling within one before Navy had rebuttals. Ahead by just one, 18-17 with less than two minutes in the quarter, Gibbons loudly entered the box score as knocked down a three-pointer to re-extended the Mids' advantage to four at the break, 21-17.

The competitive shot-for-shot action continued into the second quarter as baskets by Maren Louridas (Jr., Delmar, N.Y.) and Almeida were answered by a pair of Laura Nogues makes, the first a three-pointer and the second an 'and-one' conversion that tied the score at 25-25 at the 7:40 juncture of the quarter. A driving layup by Barnett-Gay briefly put Navy back into the lead before an immediate answer on the other end by American. With the score tied 27-27, the Mids scored six of the next seven points to re-build their lead out to five, 33-28 by 4:08. Toni Papahronis (Jr., Edmond, Okla.) put the exclamation point on this run with an athletic offensive rebound and putback layup around a host of Eagle defenders. Each team recorded four points down the stretch as they retired to the locker room at halftime with the score 37-32.

The three-ball sparked Navy in the early happenings of the third quarter as makes by Louridas, Barnett-Gay and Gibbons in quick succession bolstered the Mids' attack out to a 46-38 advantage over the initial 2:45 of the period. Unfortunately for the visitors those were their only made field goals of the quarter as they were only able to muster three free throws to their grand total of 12 points. With their shot not falling, the Mids buckled down defensively and held the Eagles fairly in-check as the hosts only shaved one point off their halftime deficit with 13 points to their name in the third quarter.

Through 30 minutes of play and the score 49-45, Navy made a concerted effort to put some breathing room between itself and American out of the gate to start the fourth quarter. An efficient span of play over the first four and a half minutes did just that as the Mids broke out to a 13-point lead courtesy of an 11-2 run. A pair of fast break layups, first by Gibbons as part of an 'and-one' at 7:24 and later a Papahronis block and then reception of a lengthy Almeida lead pass at 5:24 capped this fruitful stretch for Navy and made it 60-47. Four successful foul shots and a Demos offensive rebound and tip-in rounded out the Mids' scoring over the final five minutes to seal the 66-59 victory.

For the game, American out-shot Navy from the field, 40.4 percent (21-52) to 36.9 (24-65) and from three-point range, 26.7 percent (4-15) to 21.7 (5-23). The Mids held a slight edge at the foul line, 68.4 percent (13-19) to 65.0 (13-20).

Navy continued its run of strong rebounding efforts as it out-grabbed American by seven on Thursday, 42-35 with a dominant 19-10 advantage in offensive rebounds. Demos led all players with a career-best 12 caroms, six on the offensive end and six on the defensive side. Barnett-Gay and Almeida each gathered seven rebounds.

The Mids were efficient with their ball-handling with 13 assists and only 12 turnovers. Barnett-Gay was the top facilitator with five assists.

Defensively, Navy forced American into 18 turnovers and was credited with seven steals. Almeida, Barnett-Gay and Demos each had two steals.

"It was a gritty, tough win tonight," said Taylor in closing. "I thought that American played well. I'm proud of our kids and proud of their effort. We hadn't played a game in two weeks and hadn't been on the road since November so we had to overcome some of those things. I'm pleased that we didn't turn the ball over; we only had 12 turnovers. I thought that we rebounded the ball well.

"Overall, we have some things that we need to clean up defensively; I thought that our rotations weren't good enough, especially on some of their drives and I didn't think our rotations in the press were good enough either; we gave them some easy baskets. We have a lot of things to work on coming out of this game. The bottom line is you win championships in March, so each day leading up to that we have to get better. I really feel that this team is buying into that process."
 
The Mids will continue their early Patriot League schedule with another road bout on Sunday in Easton, Pa. against the Lafayette Leopards. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.