ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's basketball team came out of the gates in its 2025-26 season home opener on Wednesday evening with a quick-strike offensive attack that saw the Mids break out to a 26-12 lead over Longwood through one quarter of play. The fans at Alumni Hall were treated to more of the same imposing action by the Mids (2-0) in the second quarter as they ran out to a 22-point halftime lead over a Lancer (2-1) squad that opened its season with two dominant wins of their own by an average of 62 points. That convincing first half of play trickled into the third quarter before Navy had to withstand a valiant late game push by Longwood in the fourth that tightened the game to a final score of 74-66.

Zanai Barnett-Gay (Jr., Glenn Dale, Md.) was the immediate spark plug for Navy's success on Wednesday as she netted 12 of her game-high 25 points in the first quarter. The junior guard filled up the box score with her second straight double-double as she added 13 rebounds to go along with six assists and two steals over 36 minutes of action. Her backcourt mate Zoe Mesuch (Fr., Clintondale, N.Y.) provided strong support with 15 points and three assists in her home collegiate debut.

"At times tonight we looked really, really good," commented head coach Tim Taylor. "The ball was constantly moving. We executed some of our downhill plays really well. I thought that first quarter could've been the best single quarter that I've seen from Zanai since she's been at Navy. She was getting up the floor and was explosive; the ball was really moving.

"They [Longwood] were pressing up and it was leaving us with some wide-open shots. It's hard to pass up open threes. I thought we didn't really shoot the ball all that well tonight, but down the line, those are shots that we're going to make. If we make a few of those threes, we really would've stretched it out, especially in the first half."

Coming in off of two dominant victories, Longwood looked to impose its style of chaotic, fast-paced defense that saw its opponents turn the ball over a combined 72 times. After an initial run of play saw the teams knotted at 4-4 at the 7:24 mark, the Mids came down the court the next possession and Julianna Almeida (So., North Arlington, N.J.) drew in the defense and kicked out to Barnett-Gay on the wing for a three-pointer. That basket kickstarted a 17-2 run over the next 4:19. The Mids shot 7-10 during this span, including six straight makes from 5:31 to 2:50. Barnett-Gay and Mesuch combined to score the first 10 points of the run as each player knocked down a three and added a layup. Barnett-Gay bolstered her stat line with five more points in quick succession during the second half of this stretch of play. Trailing 21-6, Longwood scored on consecutive possessions before Navy closed out the stanza with five of the final seven points. For the period, Navy shot 10-17 from the field and built up a 26-12 lead.

After netting 12 points to equal Longwood's entire output as a team, Barnett-Gay continued to thrive on the offensive end as she netted Navy's first seven points over the opening 4:31 of the second quarter. Following her three-pointer off a Maren Louridas (Sr., Delmar, N.Y.) assist at 5:29 to make it 33-18, the Mids' defense shined once again as the Lancers were held scoreless over the final 5:03 of the quarter.  Longwood closed the half with a stretch of 0-8 shooting and two turnovers. With the Lancers at bay, the Mids added to their advantage with a 9-0 run to conclude the half.

Coming out of the locker room up 42-20, Navy briefly saw its lead fall to 18 points at the 8:28 and 7:46 marks before immediately posting a rebuttal. On back-to-back possessions, a three-pointer by Mesuch and driving layup by Almeida gave the Mids a 23-point lead of 49-26 at 6:18 before Quinn Boettinger (Fr., Schwenksville, Pa.) and Mesuch went back-to-back and gave Navy a 26-point advantage of 57-31 with 53 seconds left in the quarter. Longwood scored the final basket of the period to tighten the score to 57-33 through 30 minutes of play.

With the Lancers' defense keying a bit more on Barnett-Gay, Mesuch made them pay as she connected for her third three-pointer of the contest just 39 seconds into the fourth quarter to expand the Mids' lead to a game-high 27 points. Moving along in the fourth quarter, a pair of successful free throws from Lizzie Holder (Jr., Stillwater, Minn.) made it a 69-47 game with 5:12 left in regulation. Showing the gumption that had the team come within six points of making the 2025 NCAA Tournament as the Big South Conference runner-up, Longwood closed the game with an intense, physical comeback that shaved 17 points off of its deficit with a 19-2 run from those Holder free throws through the 30-second mark of the quarter. A 3-4 effort at the foul line, the first make from Almeida and later two more from Christina Liggio (Fr., Colts Neck, N.J.), sealed the 74-66 victory for the Mids.

"We're trying to find where our kids can play and in what situations, so we made some subs late," remarked Taylor about the fourth quarter. "It's early in the season so we're trying to see how our team and certain players handle pressure. Some of that is on me. We played 14 again for the second straight game. We're trying to get our entire roster real time in-game reps. It's important to see what we're capable of. We can learn from everything. We re-inserted our starters down the stretch and calmed everything down.

"The only thing that I'm disappointed about tonight was that we got pushed around towards the end. They [Longwood] were getting hands on balls that we have to come away with. We need to improve that part of our game."
 
For the game, Navy out-shot Longwood, 45.0 percent (27-60) to 35.1 (27-77) from the field and 24.1 percent (7-29) to 18.2 (4-22) from three-point range. The Lancers held a slight 80.0 percent (8-10) to 72.2 (13-18) advantage at the foul line.

For the second consecutive game, the Mids had a significant edge in rebounding as they out-hustled the Lancers on the glass by nine, 47-38. Barnett-Gay led all players with 13 caroms.

Navy's ball movement on Wednesday night resulted in 20 assists on 27 made baskets. Barnett-Gay paced all players once again as she finished with six helpers. Almeida was also efficient with four assists.

Defensively, the Mids forced the Lancers into 12 turnovers and were credited with five steals. Barnett-Gay had a hand in two of those steals. Additionally, five separate Navy players tallied one block each.

Navy will now turn its attention to a Sunday afternoon showdown versus the University of Florida. Tip-off between the Mids and Gators is set for 1 p.m. at Alumni Hall.

"We want to play against long, physical, athletic teams like Delaware, Longwood and coming up on Sunday, Florida," said Taylor. "These experiences will undoubtedly help us down the road. Next week with games against Florida and Richmond is going to be extremely challenging, but a lot of fun."