ANNAPOLIS, Md. – With the temperatures hovering in the low 40s outside of Alumni Hall on Sunday, the Navy women's basketball team was unable to shake out of its current cold snap of results as the Mids fell by a score of 67-61 to the Iona Gaels. Dropping its third game in a week, the Mids (5-4) trailed for over 34 minutes versus a Gaels squad that picked up its fifth straight win and improved to 7-2 on the 2025-26 campaign.

After knocking down a combined 30 three-pointers over the past three games coming into Sunday, Navy couldn't find the touch from long range and only had three of its 18 attempts fall. An 82 percent showing at the foul line and a 17-8 advantage in points off of turnovers bolstered Iona's cause and helped secure the victory.

Individually, a quartet of Mids finished in double figures with Zanai Barnett-Gay (Jr., Glenn Dale, Md.) leading the way with 17 points and nine rebounds over 36 minutes of action. Coming off the bench, Quinn Boettinger (Fr., Schwenksville, Pa.) provided Navy with strong production in the post with 12 points on 6-9 shooting to go along with two blocks on the defensive end of the court. Julianna Almeida (So., North Arlington, N.J.) and Zoe Mesuch (Fr., Clintondale, N.Y.) rounded out the Mids' group of high scorers as Almeida filled up the box score with 11 points, six rebounds and five assists, while Mesuch was an efficient 4-7 from the field and knocked down one of Navy's three-pointers in the contest.

"Once again, offensive rebounding played a big factor in this result," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "To start the game off they had five offensive rebounds in four minutes. Then again to begin the fourth quarter they were crashing the glass and getting second chance points. We're having really terrible starts to the fourth quarter. We missed some defensive assignments in the fourth that were back breakers. Early on, we were supposed to be switching and go over, but all of a sudden we don't switch and they get a wide open layup. We shouldn't have been hedging. They converted those miscues into a 6-0 run and that's the ballgame. That's on us as coaches to make sure that our players understand what we're supposed to be doing." 

The action on Sunday opened evenly with both squads registering six points over the initial 4:04 of play. Navy's forward corps led the way during this early stretch as Morgan Demos (Sr., Downers Grove, Ill.), Kate Samson (Sr., Richmond, Va.) and Boettinger all made baskets from deep in the post. The Mids and Gaels continued trading points over the next four-plus minutes as the score advanced to 12-12 at 1:09 when Boettinger laid in her third field goal of the first period. A 5-0 run to close the quarter bolted Iona out to a 17-12 lead through 10 minutes of play.

After going scoreless in the first quarter, Mesuch put Navy's offense on her back in the second stanza with consecutive makes during the Mids' first two possessions to drew her squad back even 17-17 at 8:50. She continued to drive Navy's success with her third basket over the opening four possessions to make it a 20-19 game in favor of Iona by the 7:32 juncture of the quarter. A slight 9-4 run by Iona over the next six minutes built up the visitors' edge to six, 29-23, at 1:25. Almeida recorded the Mids' fifth made basket of the quarter to pull within four, 29-25, before a single free throw by the Gaels sent the game to halftime with a 30-25 score.

Iona continued to control the scoreboard throughout the majority of the third quarter as it tight-roped a two-possession advantage until the 4:09 mark of the period when Almeida found success from long range with her first three-pointer of the game to make it a 39-36 contest. A pair of free throws by Barnett-Gay at 2:18 pulled the Mids closer at 41-40 before Mesuch eventually drew Navy even with the final field goal of the quarter with 49 seconds remaining to deadlock the game at 42-42.

Bending, but not breaking the Gaels opened the fourth quarter on a 6-0 run that would prove to be the difference down the stretch of the contest. Trailing 48-42, Barnett-Gay scored four straight points to cut the Mids' deficit to as low as it would go in the final stanza as the Gaels had responses to every last punch the Mids had in their arsenal as Barnett-Gay later drew Navy to within three, 54-51 at 3:17 and 56-53 at 2:45. With the victory within its reach, Iona nailed nine of its 10 free throw attempts over the final 44 seconds to seal the 67-61 win.

For the game, Navy edged Iona in field goal shooting, 39.7 percent (23-58) to 39.3 (22-56), though the Gaels held significant advantages in three-point accuracy, 35.7 percent (5-14) to 16.7 (3-18) and at the foul line, 81.8 percent (18-22) to 66.7 (12-18).

"We had wide open looks from three-point range throughout the game," commented Taylor. "It's really strange because we had games like Richmond where we hit 3-21 and then we come back in our last three games and average 10 per game and shoot over 40 percent. Today we couldn't hit anything. I don't understand what that is, but its definitely something that we will be looking into. We've just got to re-group and find a way."

The rebounding battle ended even at 36-36 with Barnett-Gay grabbing a game-high nine caroms.

Defensively, the Mids forced the Gaels into 12 turnovers and were credited with four steals. Additionally, Boettinger blocked a career-best two shots on the day as part of five total rejections for Navy.

"We need to get back in the gym and have some good, quality practices," said Taylor in closing. "We've got to open up our rotation. We've been playing a certain group, but we're reaching a point where we're going to have to start looking at some different lineups."

The Mids will take the week off from competition to focus on the end of the semester and beginning of final exams. Navy will next be in action on the hardwood one week from today on Sunday, Dec. 14 versus Christopher Newport University. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. at Alumni Hall.