ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's basketball team left it all out on the line Saturday in a nip-and-tuck service academy battle versus Army at Alumni Hall. Following 40 minutes of hard fought action, the Black Knights (18-5, 10-3 PL) were able to overcome a 12-point first quarter lead by the Mids (15-9, 7-6 PL) and earn the 2025 Women's Basketball Star by a final score of 68-64. A six-point fourth quarter swing by the visitors on the strength of six forced turnovers allowed Army to come away with the victory in Saturday's game that was sponsored by USAA.

"I thought our kids played extremely well and fought hard throughout," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "This is a tough one. When we were running our offense in the first quarter and were really, really good. We got into a running match with them and took some quick shots versus slowing it down, getting quality looks and making them. We allowed them to get back into the game in the second quarter.

"One of our goals today was to get to the rim. We knew that getting to the rim would result in layups or foul shots. We wanted to get at least 18 free throw attempts; we did that. We went 17-18 from the foul line. We just need to convert two or three more of those layups. Our shots didn't fall at the end and we made some uncharacteristic turnovers. It's hard to put into words how I feel right now for these kids."

Julianna Almeida (Fr., North Arlington, N.J.) had a game that she won't soon forget as she went for a career-high 25 points on 8-15 shooting from the field, including a 5-7 mark from three-point range and a 4-5 effort from the foul line. Zanai Barnett-Gay (So., Glenn Dale, Md.) and Morgan Demos (Jr., Downers Grove, Ill.) provided strong secondary scoring with efforts of 15 and 12 points, respectively. Demos added team-highs of eight rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots over 37 minutes.

"Julianna was unbelievable today," commented Taylor. "I can say it flat out, she's the best freshman in the league. Other people may be putting up bigger numbers, but a lot of that has to do with different situations on different teams. I felt that since the first day she got here. She shows up everyday and works really, really hard. She's super competitive. She's everything I hoped she was going to be when we recruited her. She lives for the big stage and these moments. It was fun to watch her perform today. She was so pumped up and excited out there. She was on fire. I just wish I would've got her more shots today. She's only going to get better from here; today was just the start."

Playing in front of a strong and passionate home crowd at Alumni Hall, the Mids and Black Knights opened the action evenly over the first 2:05 as it was 5-5. After Almeida pulled Navy even at the point, the freshman quickly followed up her initial three-pointer with another one 30 seconds later to give her squad an 8-5 lead. An exchange of baskets advanced the score to 9-7 by the 7:14 mark. From that juncture, the Mids rattled off 14 unanswered points over the next 4:27 of play. Maren Louridas (Jr., Delmar, N.Y.) scored the first five points of this run before Demos and Barnett-Gay added two a piece. The scalding hot start of Almeida continued down the stretch of the 14-0 run with five more points, including her third three-pointer. With the score 23-7, Army shaved four points off its deficit to conclude the quarter at 26-14 in favor of Navy. Single-handedly, Almeida outscored the Black Knights, 15-14 in the period.

The Mids continued to hold a double-digit advantage for the first three-plus minutes of the second quarter as a pair of Louridas foul shots at 6:51 made it 28-18. As much as the pendulum of momentum swung in the way of Navy in the first quarter, it swung back for Army in the second quarter as the visitors tallied 15 of the next 17 points to take a 33-30 lead following a Kya Smith offensive rebound and putback with 53 seconds left in the stanza. A three-pointer from the corner by Saran Moschella (So., Staten Island, N.Y.) on the Mids' final possession sent the teams into the locker room knotted at 33-33. 12 points in the paint by the Black Knights and their defense holding the Mids to 2-14 shooting from the field was the story of their comeback in the second.

Army, a dangerous three-point shooting team that was held to just 2-10 in the first half, shook off the tough opening 20 minutes and knocked down two of its first three attempts from beyond the arc to re-take a three-point lead of 43-40 by the 6:51 mark. After a quiet second quarter Almeida found her stroke once again and scored seven of Navy's first nine points of the third period to pull her team within one, 43-42 at 5:55. Two successful free throws from Barnett-Gay pushed the Mids into the lead by one and Almeida immediately involved herself once again as she banged home her fifth three-pointer of the game at 4:42 to make it 47-43. A dynamic cut through the paint and crisp pass from Toni Papahronis (Jr., Edmond, Okla.) to Demos two minutes late gave Navy its largest lead of the second half, 51-46. The back-and-forth play continued over the final 2:40 of the quarter as a Fiona Hastick three-pointer and a 4-4 showing at the foul line drew Army back square with Navy, 53-53 before two free throws by Barnett-Gay gave the Mids a two-point lead at the break.

Shooting 4-5 from three-point range in the third quarter, the Black Knights went back to what worked as on their first possession Hastick hit from beyond the arc to swing the lead back in her team's favor, 56-55. Heating up in the second half after an extremely quiet first 20 minutes, Barnett-Gay registered five straight individual points in a run of 57 seconds to put Navy up 60-56 by 6:42. Defense reigned supreme over the next five minutes as the teams combined for just 10 points, four for the Mids and six for the Black Knights as a Demos layup at 1:57 tied it, 64-64. A steal and fast break layup by Army's senior captain Trinity Hardy with 62 seconds left in regulation gave the visitors a lead that they would hold on to as the Black Knights forced two additional turnovers over the Mids' last two possessions, while tacking on two free throws to seal the 68-64 victory. As part of its six-point fourth quarter swing, Army held Navy to 4-16 shooting and turned over the Mids six times.

For the game, Army out-shot Navy, 40.3 percent (25-62) to 34.5 (20-58) from the field, while the Mids held advantages from three-point range, 38.9 percent (7-18) to 33.3 (7-21) and at the foul line, 94.4 percent (17-18) to 84.6 (11-13).

The rebounding battle was deadlocked at 38-38 as both teams grabbed 13 offensive and 25 defensive caroms. Army's Kya Smith had a team-high 12 rebounds, while Demos and Louridas tied for top billing for Navy with eight each.

Defensively, the Mids forced the Black Knights into 12 turnovers and was credited with six steals. Barnett-Gay (3) and Papahronis (2) each had multiple steals. Demos and Almeida both blocked two shots on Saturday as Navy recorded five rejections.

Saturday consisted of two Army-Navy contests as the men battled it out on the hardwood at Alumni Hall in game two of the doubleheader. Navy was victorious in that game so the 2025 Army-Navy Series presented by USAA advances to 10-8 in favor of Army for the year. Next up, is a wrestling matchup between the Mids and Black Knights on Sunday afternoon.

The Mids will be back in action at home on Wednesday evening with a matchup versus Colgate at Alumni Hall. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.