BOSTON – The Navy women's basketball team turned in a strong performance to kick off its slate of 2025-26 Patriot League action with a road victory over Boston University on Wednesday. The Mids (7-5, 1-0 PL) showed little rust coming off a 10-day break for the holidays and led from the first possession of the game, cruising with a double-digit lead for the final 32 minutes to take a 77-64 win over the Terriers (4-8, 0-1 PL) at Case Gymnasium.

Navy's defensive intensity resulted in 21 caused turnovers and 30 points off those Boston University to spark the visitors to victory. Those miscues also allowed the Mids to be aggressive in their attack with 22 fast break points scored on the afternoon.

Individually, the Terriers had no answer for the Mids' trio of Zanai Barnett-Gay (Jr., Glenn Dale, Md.) Zoe Mesuch (Fr., Clintondale, N.Y.) and Kate Samson (Sr., Richmond, Va.), who combined for 51 points on 20-35 shooting from the floor. Barnett-Gay led Navy with team-highs of 18 points, five rebounds and five assists. Mesuch spearheaded the Mids' first half attack with 10 of her 17 points to go along with four of her five ultimate steals. Samson was consistent throughout as she registered 16 points, four rebounds and two blocks in 20 minutes of action.

"Our game plan today was to get out and hit threes," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "We knew that was an area that we had an advantage, while they took advantage of their size down low early on. I thought [Anete] Adler had a really good game for them.

"We shared the ball really well and got out and pushed the pace. We had 18 assists today; our goal is 20 so we were right there. We've grown a lot since that small losing streak that we had a few weeks ago. Those three weeks since, we've got after it in practice and honed on into some things; I still think we can get better. I thought we had a handful of open shots that we missed. I thought Z was really disruptive defensively. When we had that really big run in the third quarter, Julianna [Almeida] did so many things that won't show up in the box score from a defensive stand point. She was switching, being aggressive, bumping cutters on screen. That effort disrupted them and allowed us to get out and run."

Wednesday's contest opened evenly as the game was knotted at 4-4 early before Barnett-Gay knocked down her first three-pointer of the day at 7:22. The teams traded baskets for the next two minutes before Navy got hot and turned a 9-8 lead at 6:07 into a 17-8 advantage by the 3:30 mark. Three-pointers by Mesuch and Mary Gibbons (So., Holden, Mass.) on consecutive possessions provided the majority of the offense during this run. After BU's Inez Gallegos made a basket at 2:14 to short-circuit Navy's run, the Mids closed out the quarter with eight of the final 10 points to take a 25-12 lead into the quarter break.

For the period, Navy shot 50 percent (9-18) from the field and 50 percent (5-10) from three-point range to strengthen its offensive effort.

The second quarter began with the Mids continuing to build on their lead as Lizzie Holder (Jr., Stillwater, Minn.) and Barnett-Gay went back-to-back with a layup and three-pointer, respectively, to go up 17, 30-13, by the 8:48 mark. Navy's advantage fluctuated between 12 and 17 for the remainder of the quarter as every small run by BU had a Navy rebuttal as the teams retired to the locker room with the score, 41-29. Samson, Mesuch, Julianna Almeida (So., North Arlington, N.J.) and Christina Liggio (Fr., Colts Neck, N.J.) all recorded field goals during that portion of the period; accentuated by Liggio's three-pointer at 1:57.

Coming out in the second half, Boston found some success early and pulled to within 10, 43-33 at 7:49. From that juncture in the third quarter, Navy flexed its offensive and defensive prowess to the tune of a 13-2 run as the Mids shot 4-4 from the field, including a three-pointer by Almeida, versus a 1-4 mark for the Terriers with two turnovers. Ahead 56-35, the teams matched points over the final 4:18 of the quarter with nine points each to wrap up the period, 65-44. Once again, points off turnovers played an integral role in Navy out-scoring BU by nine points in the third, as the Mids converted six Terrier turnovers into 11 points.

With the game in hand, Navy expanded its lead to a game-high 24 points within the first 2:09 of the fourth quarter as the visitors scored six of the period's initial nine points to go up 71-41. Samson continued her efficient outing with a 2-2 effort from the floor during this span of play. The Mids held the Terriers at a 20-plus point deficit for the next four minutes as they led 75-52 before the hosts shaved 10 points off of Navy's advantage late down the stretch to conclude the game at 77-64.
  
For the game, Boston out-shot Navy from the field, 48.2 percent (27-56) to 43.3 (29-67), though the Mids out-shot the Terriers from three-point range, 29.0 percent (9-31) to 27.3 (3-11) and the foul line, 83.3 percent (10-12) to 58.3 (7-12).

Boston edged Navy in the rebounding battle, 39-30. The Mids' rebounding was spaced out across their roster as 11 players finished with at least one carom. Barnett-Gay paced Navy with five boards.

The Mids' ball-handling was crisp on Wednesday with an 18-to-8 assist-to-turnover ratio. Barnett-Gay led Navy with five helpers.

Defensively, the Mids forced the Terriers into 21 turnovers and were credited with nine steals. Mesuch recorded a game-high five steals on the day. As a team, Navy converted those Boston University miscues into a 30-5 points off a turnover statistical advantage.

"After playing South Florida on the 21^st, we gave the team six days off," commented Taylor on the team's preparation. "Then when they came back we hit them hard for two days and then backed it off a bit. One of the things I was really pleased with was we played 10 kids nearly 10 minutes today. If we can continue to get those positive contributions from people it bodes well for us on the back-end of a two-game week moving ahead on Saturday, especially when we have to play a team as seasoned and good as Holy Cross.

"I thought Kate Samson did a great job of fighting through foul trouble; she had a war with Adler today. She's going to continue to get better as well in league play."

Navy will head back to Annapolis this evening and then turn its attention to its Patriot League home opener versus Holy Cross on Saturday. Tip-off between the Mids and Crusaders is set for 1 p.m. at Alumni Hall.