RADFORD, Va. – For the second straight game, the Navy women's basketball team found itself needing to extend play into overtime to decide a victor and unfortunately for the second straight game, the Mids came out on the short end of that overtime action as Navy fell on the road to Radford University by a score of 97-84 in double overtime on Thursday night. A 12-point swing in the fourth quarter in favor of Radford pulled the hosts even to force the additional periods of action. Tied 67-67 at the end of regulation and 78-78 at the end of the first overtime period, the host Highlanders (6-5) were nearly perfect in the second period of extra time as they shot 3-4 from the floor and 12-12 from the foul line to pull away from the Mids (5-3) at the Dedmon Center.

Tonight's overtime thriller came one year after the same two teams met up in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia as part of the Greenbrier Tip-Off Classic and went to overtime, though that matchup on Nov. 17, 2024 went the way of the Mids, 78-73.

Zoe Mesuch (Fr., Clintondale, N.Y.) led Navy's individual efforts with a career-best 20 points on 8-15 shooting from the floor and a 4-7 mark from three-point range. Zanai Barnett-Gay (Jr., Glenn Dale, Md.) recorded her fourth double-double of the season as she finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds with an additional five assists over 49 minutes of action. Julianna Almeida (So., North Arlington, N.J.) and Kate Samson (Sr., Richmond, Va.) gave Navy four players in double figures as they scored 13 and 10 points, respectively.

The action on Thursday evening opened evenly as the score was tied 7-7 at the under-five media timeout at 4:15. Coming out of that break, the Mids rattled off six unanswered points as Barnett-Gay and Mary Gibbons (So., Holden, Mass.) went back-to-back with three-points over a span of 31 seconds. The standout for the Highlanders on Thursday, Joi Williams knocked down the first of her eventual six three-pointers in an immediate response to that run. A driving layup by Morgan Demos (Sr., Downers Grove, Ill.) on Navy's final possession of the quarter gave the visitors a 15-10 lead through one quarter of play.

After shooting 50 percent from the field in the first quarter, the Mids continued at that clip with four baskets on their first eight shots in the second period to build out a 13-point lead of 27-14 by the 4:57 mark. Four points by Barnett-Gay and three-pointers from Almeida and Saran Moschella (Jr., Staten Island, N.Y.) highlighted this 12-4 run. Radford fought back with seven of the next nine points to cut its deficit to eight, 29-21, with 1:26 remaining in the quarter. The momentum pendulum swung back in Navy's favor to close the half as it re-built its lead to 12, 35-23, as a result of Moschella's second three-pointer of the stanza.

The Mids' offense kept humming following halftime as they opened the third quarter on an 8-3 run to increase their lead out to a game-high 17 points, 43-26, by the 7:08 juncture of the period. Six consecutive points from Almeida, including a four-point 'and-one' play capped this early run. On the ropes and nearly knocked out, Radford rallied to the tune of a 14-7 run and pulled within 10, 50-40 with 2:44 left in the quarter. Back-to-back three-pointers off the hands of Gibbons and Mesuch made sure that hope was short-lived and Navy was right back up 16 with 49 seconds. Another three by the Highlanders' Joi Williams closed the quarter at 57-45 in favor of the Mids.

As a team, Navy shot 8-15 from the field and 4-6 from downtown in the third quarter, though Radford was right there with 22 total points courtesy of 8-17 and 4-9 shooting marks, respectively.

The Mids slumped for the first time all game to start the fourth quarter as they hit just one of their first four shots and turned the ball over three times. This lull allowed the Highlanders to scrap their way back into the contest as they rattled off a 10-2 run to draw within four, 59-55 by the 6:27 mark. The hosts continued fighting back versus Navy and made it a one-point game, 63-62, over the next three-plus minutes. With her team ahead by just one, Samson flexed her physicality the next time down the court with an offensive rebound and putback at 2:46 to make it 65-62. Consecutive baskets by Radford's Cate Carlson, a three-pointer, and Anna Stromberg at 1:55 and 1:09 gave the Highlanders their first lead since early in the first quarter, 67-65.

With the pressure mounting, the Mids showcased their prowess and fight with two offensive rebounds on their final possession of regulation. A jump ball tie-up with 0.9 seconds on the clock forced Navy to draw up one final look at the hoop. An in-bounds pass by Almeida found Samson seven feet from the basket and in one motion, the senior center caught the pass and immediately put up a shot that banked off the backboard and through the hoop as time expired in regulation.

Radford shot 9-17 from the field and 4-9 from three-point range to complete its comeback in the fourth quarter.

In overtime, Navy controlled the majority of the action as it made five of its first seven shots. Mesuch was the sparkplug for the Mids over this initial 3:44 run of play as she made a three-pointer at 3:11 to push Navy ahead 74-71 and later sank a pull-up jumper at 1:56 to make it 76-73. After Barnett-Gay got an offensive rebound and putback basket to increase Navy's lead to 78-73 at 1:16, Radford rallied once again with baskets on its final two possessions, including a wild off-balanced fadeaway three-pointer by Williams with less than three seconds left in the period to knot the game at 78-78 and force five more minutes of action.

In the second overtime period, the Highlanders jumped on the Mids early and out-scored the visitors 10-4 over the first 3:17 to go up 88-82. Radford was 2-3 from the field and 6-6 from the foul line to build up its six-point advantage. A jumper by Barnett-Gay at 1:23 pulled her squad to within four, but unfortunately that was it offensively for Navy as Radford scored nine unanswered points with a three-pointer and six foul shots to seal the 97-84 double overtime victory.

Over the final 30 minutes of action (the second half and two overtimes), the Mids turned the ball over 11 times, which resulted in a 17-4 advantage in points off turnovers for the Highlanders, while the hosts knocked down 10 three-pointers after only going 2-9 from distance in the first half.

"That was a great game for fans to watch for sure with lots of crazy shots and nail-biting action," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "Unfortunately, it ended up being another tough loss for us. We need to try and figure out how to mitigate and stop runs. I was disappointed in our defensive discipline in the second half. In the first half we were locked in and shutting them down; we were contesting every shot. Then in the second half we had some really bad breakdowns defensively and gave up several threes in transition, as well as had some bad miscommunication on screens and bad mental lapses. We were not active enough in the second half on either end.

"We also have to clean up our issue with turnovers. We are making too many unforced errors. We will get back in the gym and work on cleaning up our execution."

For the game, the teams were nearly even in both field goal and three-point shooting percentages, as Radford shot 44.9 percent (35-78) from the field versus 44.4 (32-72) for Navy, while the Mids nailed 40.7 percent (11-27) of their three-point attempts versus 40.0 (12-30) for the Highlanders. The hosts held a significant advantage at the foul line knocking down 93.8 percent (15-16) of its shots, while Navy struggled at 64.3 percent (9-14).

The Mids won the rebounding battle, 47-41, courtesy of a 14-11 edge in offensive boards and a 33-30 margin in defensive caroms. Barnett-Gay led all players with 10 rebounds. That total resulted in her fourth double-double of the young 2025-26 campaign.

Defensively, Navy forced Radford into 12 turnovers and was credited with four steals. Almeida grabbed a team-high two steals on Thursday.

Navy will have a quick turnaround as it will be back in action on Sunday afternoon when it hosts Iona in rematch from last season. Tip-off between the Mids and Gaels is set for 3 p.m. with at least a 60-minute break following the conclusion of the men's Navy-Air Force game that tips at 12-noon at Alumni Hall.