NEWARK, Del. – The Navy women's basketball team kicked off its 2025-26 campaign in fine fashion with a 68-61 victory over the University of Delaware on the road on Friday night. After trailing during the early portion of the contest, the Mids (1-0) ran off eight straight points late in the first quarter and never looked back as they led by as much as 21 points before holding on for a seven-point win over the Fightin' Blue Hens (1-1) at the Bob Carpenter Center.

Zanai Barnett-Gay (Jr., Glenn Dale, Md.) overcame a slow start with only one first half field goal to finish with a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds. She was joined atop the team leaderboard in points by Zoe Mesuch (Fr., Clintondale, N.Y.), who knocked down four three-pointers on her way to 16 points in her collegiate debut. Julianna Almeida (So., North Arlington, N.J.) spearheaded Navy's first half success with all 11 of her points coming in the opening 20 minutes of play on Friday night.

"I thought we played well in stretches and were up 21 at one point, but we lost our composure a little bit at the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth to allow Delaware to get back in the game," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "It was hard to get into a flow for either team in the second half as there were 40 foul shots taken and nearly every possession had a stoppage that allowed Delaware to set its defense. In the first half, we were able to get out and run; our offense was nicely flowing. In-game adjustments played an important role in our success tonight and that's a credit to our assistant coaches, who made some great observations and suggestions throughout. That was a big key for us.

"We got a lot of contributions from throughout our roster especially at the end of the game when three of our players had fouled out. I thought Christina Liggio stepped up for us late with some clutch free throws and passes. Zoe and Mary hit two back-to-back three's late to build our lead back to double digits. Z did a little of everything with a double-double, a team-high in assists and some clutch baskets for us in the fourth. Zoe had a great first game with 16 points and Julianna carried us in the first half and had a good well-rounded game in 34 minutes of action."

The game opened with a Delaware feel to it as the home squad scored eight of the contest's first 12 points over the initial 3:33 of action. Almeida was credited with the first points of Navy's 2025-26 season with a 2-2 showing at the foul line, while Morgan Demos (Sr., Downers Grove, Ill.) recorded the Mids' first basket with a layup during this span. Trailing 8-4, Navy rattled off an 8-0 run to take the lead on the strength of a pair of Kate Samson (Sr., Richmond, Va.) field goals. The teams traded points over the final 1:53 of the quarter and the Mids retired to their huddle at the quarter break up 14-12.

After leading Navy offensively with six points in the first quarter, Almeida dialed up from long range on the Mids' first possession with a three-pointer to jolt her team up five, 17-12. After the Blue Hens fired back with a rebuttal of their own to make it 17-14, the Mids turned in a 9-4 run to go up eight, 26-18. The run was bookended by field goals from Navy's vaunted freshmen class as Christina Liggio (Fr., Colts Neck, N.J.) converted a layup at 8:37 before Mesuch found the bottom of the net with three-pointer at 5:36. Shooting 5-5 from the field over this span, the Mids' keen marksmenship continued as they were able to extend their advantage out to 11 points capped by a Samson layup at 2:22. After an exchange of free throws, Mesuch registered her third made field goal of the quarter as she banged home a three-pointer with 44 seconds remaining in the quarter to close the half with Navy up 37-23.

Up 14 points coming out of the locker room to start the second half, Mesuch immediately looked to extend the Mids' lead as Barnett-Gay found her on the wing for a three-pointer on Navy's first possession of the half. An offensive rebound and putback by Demos next time down the court added another two points to the visitors' advantage to make it 42-23 by the 8:51 mark. The Mids' lead hovered between 17 and a game-high 21 deep into the quarter before the Blue Hens recorded the final nine points of the stanza and turned a 52-31 score into a 12-point margin of 52-40.

Delaware continued to tighten up the scoreboard into the fourth quarter, though Navy did enough to hold the host team at bay. The three-point shot was particularly influential in the Mids' defense of their lead in the fourth as Mesuch and Mary Gibbons (So., Holden, Mass.) went back-to-back with treys at 3:07 and 2:36, respectively to give Navy a double-digit cushion of 63-53. Gibbons' field goal was the final make for Navy as it went 5-6 from the foul line down the stretch to hold on for a hard fought 68-61 victory. Liggio was active at the charity stripe with three of those successful makes in the final 39 seconds.

For the game, Navy out-shot Delaware, 39.6 percent (21-53) to 36.4 (20-55) from the field, 25.0 percent (6-24) to 0.0 (0-10) from three-point range and 74.1 percent (20-27) to 63.6 (21-33) from the foul line.

The Mids dominated the rebounding battle with a 10-carom advantage, 42-32 on Friday night. Navy grabbed 12 of those rebounds on the offensive end, while Delaware grabbed 11. Barnett-Gay tied for the game high with 10 rebounds. Demos was right behind her with eight rebounds of her own in just over 19 minutes of action.

Defensively, Navy forced Delaware into 17 turnovers. Almeida led the Mids with two steals. Samson was credited with the team's only blocked shot on the evening.

"This was a great road win and everyone that was healthy and dressed played which is a positive moving forward," commented Taylor. "Considering the circumstances where we weren't able to actually get into the arena prior to the game for practice or shootaround against a perennially good basketball team we have to be pleased with our overall performance. It wasn't perfect, but we will grow and get better."

Navy will now turn its attention to its home opener versus Longwood on Wednesday, Nov. 12. Tip-off between the Mids and Lancers is set for 7 p.m. at Alumni Hall on the campus of the United States Naval Academy.