WEST POINT, N.Y. – An inauspicious start by the Navy women's basketball team on Sunday afternoon at Army saw the visitors fall behind 21-12 in the first quarter and never recover as the final three quarters were nearly even at 38-37. After 40 minutes of hard fought action, the game at Christl Arena went final with the Black Knights (14-4, 6-2 PL) victorious by a score of 59-49 over the Mids (14-5, 6-2 PL).

Julianna Almeida (Fr., North Arlington, N.J.) and Zanai Barnett-Gay (So., Glenn Dale, Md.) led Navy's offensive effort on Sunday as both players netted 15 points. Defensively, Toni Papahronis (Jr., Edmond, Okla.) was everywhere and recorded a career-high four blocks.

"We got away from our game plan and what we wanted to do in the first quarter," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "They made us pay for that, hit three three-pointers and scored 21 points. After that it was almost even. We missed a lot of gimme layups today. We started the fourth quarter off by missing two wide open shots. Those are shots you've got to make in games like this. We also had lapses on defense, it's a six-point game late and Reese Ericson is wide open for the three-pointer and she made it. Those are things that we've got to do to win.

"We just have to be better finishing around the rim. We couldn't get anything. We had good looks and we just missed them. We were 5-12 from the foul line and they're 8-12; that's at least three points we gave away. We gave up 14 offensive rebounds. A couple of times we had steals or rebounds and we get rid of the ball too quick and turn the ball right back over. Those always seemed to crop up at inopportune times today. We've just got to be better."

The action at Christl Arena opened evenly as an early 4-0 lead by Army was quickly answered back by Navy as Barnett-Gay pushed her squad ahead 5-4 by the 6:23 mark with her second basket of the contest. A driving layup by Trinity Hardy at 5:35 helped the Black Knights re-take the lead 7-5 and ignite a larger 14-4 run for Army as the hosts went up ten, 19-9 by the 1:38 mark. A step-back three-pointer by Barnett-Gay on the ensuing possession helped the Mids cut their deficit into single digits, though a response by Hardy before the end of the quarter gave the Black Knights a 21-12 lead at the quarter break. As a team, Army shot 8-14 from the floor and 3-7 from three-point range in the period.

Baskets by Lizzie Holder (So., Stillwater, Minn.) and Barnett-Gay over the first two minutes of the second quarter allowed Navy to draw within five points in short order. From that juncture at 8:08 when it was 21-16, Army had a loud 11-4 retort to break out to a game-high 14-point lead of 32-18 by 4:36. Down, but not out, the Mids buckled down defensively and held the Black Knights scoreless for over four minutes. With Army's offense at bay, Navy chipped away at its deficit with eight unanswered points. Morgan Demos (Jr., Downers Grove, Ill.) sparked this run with a pair of successful field goal attempts. After Almeida pulled the Mids back to within six, 32-26, a Kya Smith layup before the buzzer gave the Black Knights an eight-point lead going into the locker room.

The second half opened with a trading of baskets over the initial minute of play with Army's Smith scoring first before Maren Louridas (Jr., Delmar, N.Y.) fired back with her first three-pointer of the game. That was the first of two long range field goals for the Mids in the quarter as Almeida found her stroke from beyond the arc at 6:07 to make it a 40-33 game. Unfortunately, for Navy, that trey and a later jumper by Almeida at 4:35 only drew the team to within seven as Army was quick to respond throughout the quarter. The frame concluded with the Black Knights ahead 47-38.

Offense was hard to come by in the fourth quarter as each team only recorded one field goal over the first five-plus minutes of play, an 'and-one' for Army and a three-pointer for Barnett-Gay. With the game still at a nine-point margin of 50-41, Barnett-Gay found Holder slicing through the drive for an easy layup at 4:04 to make it a 50-43 game. The action loosened up down the stretch, but in a back-and-forth manor as layups by Almeida and Gibbons in consecutive possessions cut Navy's deficit to six by the 1:52, but a dagger three-pointer by Reese Ericson 10 seconds later put the Mids' comeback effort on ice as the hosts held on for the 59-49 victory.

"Zanai's foul trouble had a major impact on us," commented Taylor about Barnett-Gay's issue with fouls on Sunday. "She's the best player in the league and only plays 27 minutes because of foul trouble; that's huge. In the 27 minutes she played she scored 15 points; if she plays 35 that could be the difference. We'll have to look at the film on a few of those calls. That's a good [referee] crew we had today."

For the game, Army out-shot Navy from the field, 34.8 percent (23-66) to 33.3 (20-60) from the field, 27.8 percent (5-18) to 23.5 (4-17) from three-point range and 66.7 percent (8-12) to 41.7 (5-12).

Army won the rebounding battle, 48-39 on Sunday as both Kya Smith and Camryn Tade posted double-digit rebounding totals of 15 and 10, respectively. Louridas and Demos paced the Mids with eight rebounds a piece.

Defensively, Navy forced 15 turnovers and were credited with seven steals. In the post, the Mids' defense had their way with the Black Knights as they finished with 10 blocks. Papahronis led her squad with four rejections, while Demos turned aside three shots. Holder added two more blocks.

"I'm proud of this team; I love my kids," said Taylor in closing. "They fought for 40 minutes and left it all out there. They competed all the way to the end. I still want this team over any other one out there."

Navy will be back in action on Wednesday evening with a home tilt versus Lehigh. Tip-off between the Mids and Mountain Hawks is set for 7 p.m. at Alumni Hall.