ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's basketball team closed out action at the 2025 Navy Classic with a disappointing 69-67 overtime loss to Duquesne on Sunday afternoon. Leading for over 28 minutes and by 12 points going into the fourth quarter, the Mids (5-2) were unable to get their shot to fall on offense and keep the Dukes (6-2) off the offensive glass in the fourth quarter as they only hit one of their 14 field goal attempts, while allowing nine offensive rebounds as they were out-scored 16-4 in the stanza. In overtime, Navy came up just two points short as Duquesne pulled out the come-from-behind victory at Alumni Hall.

Julianna Almeida (So., North Arlington, N.J.) and Christina Liggio (Fr., Colts Neck, N.J.) led the Mids' individual efforts on Sunday as duo combined for 26 points, 14 for Almeida and a career-high 12 for Liggio. Almeida rounded out her stat line with a career-best 12 rebounds to go along with three assists and three steals in 42 minutes of action. Liggio came off the bench and played in 23 minutes, adding three rebounds and two assists, while shooting 5-of-7 from the field with a pair of three-pointers. Zanai Barnett-Gay (Jr., Glenn Dale, Md.) and Saran Moschella (Jr., Staten Island, N.Y.) nearly made it four Mids in double-figures as they each registered nine points for the game.

"We did a lot of uncharacteristic things for us today," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "We didn't rebound the way that we need to. We got stops, but gave up 22 offensive rebounds; we can't do that. We weren't boxing out like we know how to. We turned them over 23 times, but turned around and had too many unforced turnovers of our own, especially late. 

"We had a bad stretch in the fourth quarter where we were fouling way too much. We have to be better, we can't be fouling a jump shooter. We got some really good looks in the fourth quarter, but couldn't get the ball to go down; 1-14 is tough. There were times that we rushed some of those good looks." 

The game opened with a significant Duquesne feel to it as the visiting Dukes scored the first eight points on Sunday and held Navy without a point until the 6:16 mark of the first quarter when Kate Samson (Sr., Richmond, Va.) scored with an offensive rebound and putback layup. After a Duquesne basket made it 10-2 at 5:26, Navy responded with nine unanswered points to dart into the lead 11-10 within a span of 2:51. Liggio ignited this run with five straight points before Almeida put an exclamation point on it with a three-pointer at 2:31. The teams traded field goals over the final two-plus minutes as the Dukes took a slight 15-13 lead into the first quarter break.

Trailing by two coming out to start the second quarter, the Mids kicked off the action with a 9-0 run with Almeida and Liggio once again spearheading the attack. The Jersey duo recorded seven of Navy's nine points during this span, including Liggio's second three-pointer of the game. As quickly as the Mids pulled up to a seven-point lead, 22-15, the Dukes responded back on the strength of back-to-back three-pointers from Alexis Bordas to make it a 22-21 game with 3:26 left in the stanza. With her team slightly skidding the newly-inserted Saran Moschella came off the bench and was lights out from three-point range over the final 3:10 of the quarter as she sank all three of her attempts from long range to give Navy a short-lived 31-25 lead before Mackenzie Blackford swished a three-pointer of her own at the buzzer to draw Duquesne to within three, 31-28 at halftime.

The Dukes mirrored that late trey with a trey on their first possession of the second half to immediate pull back even with the Mids, 31-31. The back-and-forth competition continued as Zoe Mesuch (Fr., Clintondale, N.Y.) connected from long range for Navy on the ensuing possession to engage a small 11-5 run over the next three-plus minutes. With the score 42-36, the Mids were able to extend their advantage out to 14 points in the second half of the third quarter as the three-ball kept falling for the hosts as Barnett-Gay and yesterday's hero Mary Gibbons (So., Holden, Mass.) joined the three-point barrage. Following Liggio's 11th and 12th points of the game to put Navy up 56-42, Bordas went 2-2 at the foul line with four seconds in the quarter to help Duquesne shave two important points off its deficit.

In the third quarter, the Mids shot 10-of-18 from the field and 3-of-5 from three-point range, while forcing the Dukes into five turnovers.

The fourth quarter opened with neither team making a shot from the field for over three minutes, though Duquesne was able to register four made free throws versus just one for Navy to make it a 57-48 game at the 7:21 juncture of the period. Following a Reina Green three-pointer pulled the Dukes even closer at 57-51, Quinn Boettinger (Fr., Schwenksville, Pa.) went 1-of-2 at the foul line to push the Mids' advantage back up to seven, 58-51 at 6:25. With Navy still in search of its first made field goal of the quarter, Duquesne kept its foot on the comeback pedal with eight straight points to go up 59-58 with 4:08 left in regulation. Almeida finally put an end to the Mids' field goal drought with a pull-up jumper at 3:46 to flip the one-point margin back in Navy's favor, 60-59. Defense ruled the late action even more as the teams combined to go 0-for-13 from the field (0-5 Navy and 0-8 Duquesne) with two turnovers each down the stretch. A 1-for-2 showing at the foul line by the Dukes' Harriet Ford with four seconds left knotted the game at 60-60 before the clocked showed all zeroes.

During that cold fourth quarter, Duquesne shot 23.5 percent (4-17) from the field, while Navy countered with a 7.1 percent (1-14) effort. The Dukes' comeback was bolstered by nine offensive rebounds, a pair of three-pointers and six free throws.

The action in overtime was even throughout as two-point leads by Duquesne were quickly responded to with 62-62 and 64-64 retorts by Navy. Following an 'and-one' conversion by Ford to put the Dukes up 67-64 with 57 seconds left in the period, Almeida calmly sank her second three-pointer of the game to re-tie the game once again, this time at 67-67 with 39 seconds remaining. Two free throws over Duquesne's final three possessions and a pair of empty results for Navy sealed the 69-67 come-from-behind victory for the Dukes.

"Overall, we fought for 45 minutes, which was good to see, but we didn't play tough enough and box out like we should have," said Taylor in closing. "That's something that we're going to have to work on. If you want to win a championship those are things that you've got to be able to do."

For the game, Navy out-shot Duquesne from the field, 32.5 percent (25-77) to 31.9 (23-72), while the Dukes out-shot the Mids from three-point range, 40.0 percent (10-25) to 34.5 (10-29) and from the free throw line, 59.1 percent (13-22) to 58.3 (7-12).

Duquesne also won the rebounding battle by a 56-52 margin on Sunday. The Dukes grabbed 22 offensive caroms versus 20 for the Mids. Almeida led the Mids with a career-best 12 rebounds. Barnett-Gay and Moschella tied for second on the squad with seven boards each.

Navy handled the ball well with 18 assists on 25 made baskets. Barnett-Gay was the lead facilitator with five assists.

Defensively, the Mids forced the Dukes into 23 turnovers and were credited with 12 steals. Barnett-Gay paced all players with five thefts. She finished with 10 steals on the weekend after picking the pocket of Manhattan five times on Saturday.

Navy will be back in action on Thursday with a road matchup at Radford. The Mids and Highlanders will go head-to-head in Radford, Virginia starting at 6 p.m.

Following Liberty's 68-56 victory over Manhattan to close out the two-day multi-team event, the 2025 Navy Classic All-Tournament Team was announced ...
2025 Navy Classic All-Tournament Team
Liberty: Avery Mills (MVP), Emma Stout
Duquesne: Alexis Bordas, Gabby Grantham-Medley
Manhattan: Brianna Davis
Navy: Zanai Barnett-Gay