BOSTON – The Navy women's basketball team responded to a slow start on Wednesday morning with a record-setting second quarter on its way to a 74-64 win over Boston University. Mired in a seven-game losing streak to the Terriers (7-11, 1-6 PL), the Mids' (14-4, 6-1 PL) chances of ending that slump didn't look overly promise to begin the early tilt as they shot less than 20 percent in the first quarter and trailed 14-10 before catching fire and knocking down seven three-pointers as part of a 31-point second period. That mid-game burst jolted Navy into the lead and the Mids never looked back securing the road victory at Case Gymnasium.

One game after her double-digit scoring streak was snapped at 46 games, Zanai Barnett-Gay (So., Glenn Dale, Md.) was a force for the Mids with game-highs of 26 points and 10 rebounds. Julianna Almeida (Fr., North Arlington, N.J.) and Lizzie Holder (So., Stillwater, Minn.) provided strong secondary scoring as both players set new career-highs with point totals of 15 and 13, respectively.

"It's great to get another league win on the road," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "I thought we shared the ball extremely well. We had a lot of hard drives, that opened up catch-and-shoot opportunities especially in the second quarter. We had 11 assists on 15 baskets in the first half. I also thought we hit the boards hard and turned that into 16 second chance points.

"Boston would not go away today and kept making runs at us. I hate playing against Alex Giannaros as a competitor, but as a basketball purist, she is really good and makes big plays whenever we stretched the lead. We have to do a better job of playing without fouling; 20 free throws are too many."

The action on Wednesday morning started with a Boston flavor to it as the hosts invigorated the children in attendance for the special Education Day contest with a 6-0 start. A 5-0 response by Navy pulled the visitors closer; a three-pointer by Maren Louridas (Jr., Delmar, N.Y.) capped this run. After those two baskets, the Mids' shooting touch went cold with only one make, a Toni Papahronis (Jr., Edmond, Okla.) offensive rebound and putback, over the final seven minutes. While struggling from the field, Navy added three free throws to augment their offense as Boston completed the quarter up 14-10.

The second period had a completely different feel to it as the Mids burst through the gates with three straight three-pointers over three possessions; Almeida book-ended this streak with the team's first and third treys. With the score 19-18, the Terriers re-took the lead at 20-19 by the 8:15 mark and later, 23-21 at 6:50. The hosts extended that lead out to four at 27-23. From that juncture at 5:11, Navy rattled off 15 unanswered points to swing the lead back in its favor, 38-27. The Mids were 6-6 during that 2:38 stretch with Holder, Mary Gibbons (Fr., Holden, Mass.) and Barnett-Gay all knocking down three-pointers. Over the final two and a half minutes of the half, Boston at one point shaved five points off its deficit to make it 38-32 late, before a final three-pointer by Almeida sent Navy to the locker room up 41-32. For the period, the Mids shot 12-18 from the field and 7-10 from beyond the arc.

Navy re-established its 11-point lead on its first possession as Papahronis found Holder for a layup. Similar to the first quarter, the Mids struggled to find their shooting touch as they went scoreless for the next three-plus minutes before Gibbons found the bottom of the net for her second three-pointer of the game at 6:21 and Barnett-Gay followed her up with a triple of her own at 4:51 to make it 49-39. Those were the final field goals for Navy as Boston concluded the quarter with an 8-1 run to tighten the contest to 50-47.

The roller coaster action continued in the fourth quarter as the Mids opened up initial 3:35 of the period on an 8-1 run of their own to make it 58-48. The well-balanced scoring attack of Barnett-Gay, Holder and Almeida all kept adding to their strong individual performances during this span. An exchange of 5-0 runs, first by Boston from 5:57 to 5:18, and then by Navy from 4:59 to 4:29 advanced the score to 63-53. The back-and-forth clash saw the Terriers fight back one final time with seven straight points. With the score 63-60 at the 2:35, the Mids flexed their muscle down the stretch with 11 of the final 15 points. Barnett-Gay kick-started the streak with a pair of athletic long jump shots with two more successful free throws to give her 26 points for the game.

"Zanai was unreal in the fourth quarter," commented Taylor. "We ran a few plays for her and she came through with some big-time shots. She put up another double-double, while guarding one of the league's best players, Giannaros, most of the game."

For the game, Boston out-shot Navy in all three categories, 44.7 percent (21-47) to 41.3 (26-62) from the field, 46.2 percent (6-13) to 34.4 (11-32) from three-point range and 80.0 percent (16-20) to 68.8 (11-16) from the free throw line.

Bolstered by an 18-7 advantage in offensive rebounds, the Mids won the battle on the glass, 37-28 on Wednesday. Barnett-Gay and Almeida fronted Navy's rebounding attack with respective totals of 10 and seven. Of note, five of Almeida's seven boards were on the offensive end.

The Mids' ballhandling was a strength versus the Terriers with 15 assists on 26 made field goals and only had 13 turnovers. Barnett-Gay and Holder each tallied four assists. Holder's total was a career-high.

Defensively, Navy forced Boston into 16 turnovers and was credited with eight steals. The Mids blocked four shots in the contest. Holder paced Navy with two steals and a block.

"Lizzie had a great game on both ends of the floor," said Taylor. "She battled all day and finished plays. Most importantly she drove and made the extra pass to get our offense going. Julianna continues to get more comfortable and made some big shots and tough finishes. We got great contributions from Maren, Toni and Mary. It was a great team effort all around today."

After travelling home to Annapolis today, the Mids will be back on the road this weekend with a service academy showdown at Army. Tip-off at Christl Arena is set for 1 p.m. on Sunday with the action televised live on CBS Sports Network.