ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy women's basketball team will host Colgate in the second leg of its 2024-25 season series on Wednesday night. Dropping two of their last three games by four or less points, the Mids (15-9, 7-6 PL) will look to climb back up the standings of the Patriot League leaderboard versus a Raider (19-7, 9-4 PL) club that is currently tied for third place with five games remaining in the regular season. Wednesday night's contest is a rematch from January 15 when the Raiders defeated the Mids by a score of 62-54. Tip-off at Alumni Hall is set for 7 p.m.

The Navy-Colgate game will have live stats provided online, as well as be broadcast on the ESPN+ platform. ESPN+ is a subscription-based streaming service that requires patrons to sign-up for monthly or yearly plans prior to tuning into the contest. An audio-only portion of the contests will also be available via WNAV: over the radio waves on 99.9 FM or 1430 AM, online at WNAV.com or through the iHeart and Audacy platforms. 

Navy versus Colgate
The Mids and Raiders have met 73 times in a series that began on January 15, 1992  ... All-time, Navy leads Colgate, 47-26 with a dominant 28-8 mark in games played in Annapolis, though the series is much tighter in Hamilton as both teams have 17 wins all-time... The two teams had not ever met prior to the Mids joining the Patriot League in 1991-92 ... Over the last ten matchups, the series leans to the Raiders 6-4.
    Last 5 Games:
    Jan. 15, 2025 (A): Colgate 62 - Navy 54
    March 11, 2024 (A): Colgate 69 - Navy 64 *Patriot League Tournament Quarterfinals
    Feb. 3, 2024 (H): Navy 59 - Colgate 58 
    Jan. 6, 2024 (A): Colgate 73 - Navy 56
    Feb. 25, 2023 (A): Colgate 53 - Navy 47

Most Recent Navy-Colgate Matchup ... January 15, 2025 in Hamilton
In a rematch from last year's Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals, Navy and Colgate gave the loud, boisterous crowd at Cotterell Court 40 minutes of nip-and-tuck hard-fought action on Wednesday. With over 1,600 fans in attendance as part of the Raiders' (13-5, 3-2 PL) annual education day promotion, the Mids (12-4, 4-1 PL) led at the conclusions of the first and third quarters, but ultimately fell late as the host team pulled away with a 20-12 run over the last eight-plus minutes of play and flipped a 42-42 tie into a 62-54 final decision.

Zanai Barnett-Gay continued her standout sophomore campaign as she led all players with 23 points and 16 rebounds. Her rebounding total was a new career-best and all 16 boards were gathered on the defensive end, a number that ranks second all-time in program history for most defensive rebounds in a game. Off the bench, Kyah Smith added 10 points and three assists over 32 minutes.

Coming out in the second quarter with the score 19-14 in favor of Navy, Colgate immediately fought back to draw even with five points over the opening 1:33 of play. Navy re-engaged its offense with strong results soon after with nine of the next 12 points to pull ahead 28-22 following a Maren Louridas three-pointer at 4:20. Unfortunately for the Mids that was their final field goal of the half as the Raiders had a 7-0 rebuttal to close out the period with the lead 29-28.

Colgate carried that late momentum over into the second half as the hosts netted four more unanswered points to take a then game-high lead of five, 33-28 by the 8:18 juncture. The roller coaster action continued as Navy's defense shut down Colgate for over six minutes. During that scoreless period of time, the Mids rattled off nine straight points, six from Barnett-Gay and three more from Papahronis. With the score 37-33 at 2:59, the Raiders shaved a point off of its deficit before the quarter break as they trailed by three, 40-37 through 30 minutes of action.

Navy and Colgate kept up their back-and-forth battle going into the fourth as an early Taylor Golembiewski layup was quickly countered by a precise Holder post-up move. Trailing 42-39, an 'and-one' conversion by Golembiewski at 8:20 evened the score at 42-42. The Mids went nearly four scoreless minutes from that Holder field goal until Barnett-Gay added to the team's scoring total with a layup and successful 'and-one' of her own at 4:45 to end the Raiders 9-0 run and make it 48-45. Barnett-Gay kept powering Navy's late push with four of her team's next six points as the Mids crept closer by the 2:19 juncture with a score of 54-51. A free throw by Smith over a minute later slashed one more point off Colgate's lead. From that mark with the score 54-52 at 1:09, the Raiders closed the game with a perfect 6-6 showing from the foul line and an additional layup by Madison Schiller to seal the 62-54 victory.

For the contest, Navy out-shot Colgate, 39.2 percent (20-51) to 37.5 (21-56) from the field and 29.4 percent (5-17) to 17.6 (3-17) from three-point range, but the Raiders held a significant edge at the foul line with nearly twice as many attempts and an 85.0 percent shooting line (17-20), while the Mids only had 11 free throws and converted 81.8 percent (9-11).

Navy won the rebounding battle by six on Wednesday, 37-31, with a minor 8-7 advantage in offensive caroms. Barnett-Gay was a maven on the glass with a game-high 16 rebounds, all on the defensive side of the court. That total is the second-most on the defensive end by a Midshipmen player in program history, trailing only Jennifer Coleman's 20 defensive caroms at Lafayette on Feb. 9, 2022.

Comparing the Teams

(2024-25 Stats)	Navy	Colgate
Record / League-Only	15-9 / 7-6 PL	19-7 / 9-4 PL
Home / Away / Neut. Record	7-6 / 7-3 / 1-0	11-2 / 8-5 / 0-0
Points Per Game	66.6 PPG	68.5 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	61.3 PPG	56.7 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	37.8 %	43.6 %
3-Point Percentage	31.3 %	33.3 %
Free Throw Percentage	68.3 %	76.5 %
Rebounds Per Game	40.4 RPG	33.2 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	13.3 / 13.6	14.8 / 12.0
Common Opponents	Delaware - W, 79-69	Delaware - L, 88-82

Individual Leaders

(2024-25 Stats)	Navy	Colgate
Points Per Game	Zanai Barnett-Gay, 19.8 ppg	Taylor Golembiewski, 13.2 ppg
Rebounds Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 7.9 rpg	Sophia Diehl, 5.6 rpg
Assists Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 3.1 apg	Anne Bair, 3.7 apg
Field Goal Percentage	Morgan Demos 50.5 %	Christina Midgette, 53.3 %
3-Point Percentage	Julianna Almeida, 40.0 %	A. Bair, 38.8 %
Free Throw Percentage	Z. Barnett-Gay, 78.8 %	T. Golembiewski, 88.5 %

Last Time Out -- Saturday vs. Army
Navy 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.

Julianna Almeida 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 and Morgan Demos 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.

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 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 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 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).

Parking / Shuttle
Fans are reminded that the general public does not have access to drive their vehicles on to the U.S. Naval Academy. Fans may park at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium for a fee and take a shuttle that will run every 10 minutes starting one hour before the game and will continue running until one hour after the game is completed. Fans 18 and over need a government-issued photo ID. Enter Gate 5 off Taylor Ave. to park at the stadium.