TAMPA, Fla. – In its final tune-up before Patriot League play, the Navy women's basketball team went on the road and took on a battle-tested South Florida squad that has played four teams that are currently ranked in the top-15 nationally. The Mids (6-5) were up for the challenge in front of a boisterous crowd at the Bulls' (7-6) Yuengling Center and had the game knotted at 50-50 mid-way through the third quarter and were within seven points in the middle stages of the fourth quarter before the hosts pulled away for the 86-74 victory.

Not one to shy away from the spotlight against an NCAA Tournament caliber club, Zoe Mesuch (Fr., Clintondale, N.Y.) started out hot and put together a complete scoring performance with a career-best 21 points on 8-14 shooting and a 5-9 mark from three-point range. She was joined in double figures by Zanai Barnett-Gay (Jr., Glenn Dale, Md.), who netted 17 points, to go along with three assists, Julianna Almeida (So., North Arlington, N.J.), who went for 13 and Kate Samson (Sr., Richmond, Va.), who tallied 12 points and six rebounds, including a team-high 10 in the second half.

"There were so many positives to take from this game and this trip overall," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "We wanted to use this trip as a springboard for Patriot League play and get some quality team bonding time. I really feel like we were able to accomplish that. We played in front of a really good environment today, this was a Power 4 type of atmosphere. There's not many times our kids get the chance to experience something like that. I felt that we had a lot of really good moments at times throughout the game. There were some things that we'll have to clean up. USF is a really good basketball team, that has played a lot of games. They made some shots this afternoon. We tried to switch some things up defensively and they'd respond immediately and made us pay. They had such good rhythm on offense, we just had to try things to break it up.

"We were ready for this style of up-and-down action. That's a style that we're comfortable playing. We've been looking into trying different lineups and figuring out who plays well together and who hasn't played well together. We've been diving into the analytics to see what the numbers and trends say. We're trying to have a better flow out there. The non-conference has really helped us to identify holes, expose us a little bit, but more than anything, prepare us for Patriot League play. I think today's game was a huge test for us. I felt that we competed really well. That was a heck of a basketball game. That was a fun game to watch!"

The action opened with Navy jumping out to a quick 5-2 lead as Barnett-Gay knocked down a three-pointer on her first attempt of the game before Maren Louridas (Sr., Delmar, N.Y.) grabbed an offensive rebound and shuffled a pass in the paint to Samson for an easy second-chance basket. South Florida fired back with six unanswered points to bolt into the lead, 8-5 by the 4:50 mark. The Bulls stayed out in front of the Mids for the next three minutes until Mesuch nailed her second straight three-pointer to swing the scoreboard back in Navy's favor, 15-14 at 1:50. The teams traded baskets over the final 100 seconds of the quarter and retired to their respective benches knotted, 17-17.

Playing at a frenetic pace, the Mids took 23 shots in the first quarter and forced the Bulls into seven turnovers. Those errors resulted in a 10-0 points off turnover statistical advantage for Navy.

The score advanced up to 23-23 by the 7:13 juncture of the second quarter. Mary Gibbons (So., Holden, Mass.) recorded both of the Mids' makes during this early stretch as she was a perfect 2-for-2 from three-point range. The Bulls edged out to a one-possession lead for the next three-plus minutes as it was 33-31 at the 3:56 mark before they rattled off a 10-2 run to go ahead by 10, 43-33 with 1:19 left in the quarter. Once again, Mesuch found success from long distance as she sank her third trey of the half to draw Navy within seven before a late USF basket concluded the first half at 45-36. The Bulls shot 11-17 from the field in the quarter to build up their nine-point lead.

South Florida came out in the second half and put Navy immediately on the ropes with back-to-back baskets and into a 12-point deficit, 50-38 by the 8:49 point of the third quarter. Undaunted, a game Midshipmen squad had a loud rebuttal to the tune of 12 unanswered points on 5-6 shooting. Almeida (5), Samson (4) and Mesuch (3) provided all of the firepower for Navy during this run that knotted the contest, 50-50 at 6:03. Four of those five baskets came courtesy of assists and two were the result of turnovers. The teams went back-and-forth on the scoreboard for the next four-plus minutes as USF pulled ahead by a four-point margin, 62-58 with 1:28 remaining in the quarter. A final conversion by the Bulls gave the hosts a six-point lead through 30 minutes of action.

Once again, South Florida jumped on Navy out of the quarter break, this time with seven consecutive points over a run of 2:05 to go up a game-high 13 points, 71-58. The hosts held a double-digit lead for the next 3:09 until Barnett-Gay and Mesuch went back-to-back with three-pointers at 5:12 and 4:46, respectively. With the score 76-69 following Mesuch's basket, the Bulls re-engaged its potent offense and smothering defense and saw its advantage bubble back into double-digit territory for the final 3:48 of the game to earn the 86-74 victory. In the final period of play, the Mids were held to just 18.8 percent (3-16) shooting from the field, but stayed in it with eight successful free throws.

For the game, South Florida out-shot Navy, 58.3 percent (35-60) to 37.7 (26-69) from the field and 53.8 percent (7-13) to 39.3 (11-28) from three-point range. The Mids held a slight edge in foul shooting, 68.8 percent (11-16) to 52.9 (9-17).

The Bulls had a significant advantage in rebounding, 45-29 on the afternoon, including 12 offensive caroms. They turned those extended possessions into 18 second change points versus just seven for the Mids. Samson was the most active on the boards for Navy with six rebounds.

The Mids' ball handling was on-point on Sunday with a 13-to-7 assist-to-turnover ratio. Barnett-Gay and Mesuch led the squad with three assists each.

Defensively, Navy forced USF into 16 turnovers and was credited with five steals. The Mids were extremely efficient in their work off of those miscues with a 26-5 advantage in points off of turnovers.

"We put this non-conference schedule together to make it as tough as we could and test us," commented Taylor. "We played Richmond, Florida and USF, three really good NCAA Tournament level teams. Longwood and a few of the other teams we played will also be in the thick of it for their respective conference titles too. We put together a four-game in eight-day stretch to try and prepare us for the Patriot League Tournament. We're going to be better for this non-conference slate that we played. We're getting better every game and people are getting more acclimated to the college game. We're still quite a young team. I'm excited about where we are and I think we can continue to improve as we move into conference play."

Navy will now take a brief break for the holidays as the Mids disperse across the country. Next up for the team will be the Patriot League season opener on Wednesday, Dec. 31 at Boston University. Tip-off at the Terriers' home court is set for 2 p.m.