ANNAPOLIS, Md. - With the regular season winding down and only four Patriot League games remaining for each squad, Saturday's matchup between the Navy and Holy Cross women's basketball teams in Worcester, Mass. will play a large role in postseason seeding as the Mids (15-10, 7-7 PL) and Crusaders (16-9, 9-5 PL) are separated by just two games in the standings. Up 1-0 in the 2025 series, Navy will be looking for the season sweep and a potential tie-breaker over Holy Cross. A win on Saturday would also move the Mids one step closer to clinching a top-six seed and first round bye. Tip-off at the Hart Center is set for 2 p.m.

Saturday's Navy-Holy Cross 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.

Navy versus Holy Cross
The Mids and Crusaders have met 75 times in a series that began on January 18, 1992 … All-time, Holy Cross leads Navy, 51-24 with a 27-10 advantage in games played in Worcester … The two teams had never met prior to the Mids joining the Patriot League in 1991-92 … The series has had multiple lengthy streaks in its history with Holy Cross winning the first eight games, followed by streaks of seven, 10 and 11 consecutive wins by the Crusaders; overall they won 36 of the first 40 games in the series (1992-2008); beginning with the 2009-10 season, Navy swung momentum in its direction with sweeps of the 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2107 and 2018 season series … Over the last 10 contests, the series edge goes to Holy Cross, 8-2 though Navy's most recent win at the Hart Center came in dramatic fashion on March 7, 2022 in the quarterfinals of the Patriot League Tournament as Jennifer Coleman banked a game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer.
    Last Five Games:
    Jan. 8, 2025 (H): Navy 67 - Holy Cross 56
    Feb. 24, 2024 (A): Holy Cross 71 - Navy 63
    Jan. 10, 2024 (H): Holy Cross 69 - Navy 54
    Feb. 4, 2023 (H): Holy Cross 71 - Navy 52
    Jan. 2, 2023 (A): Holy Cross 53 - Navy 40

Most Recent Navy-Holy Cross Matchup ... January 8, 2025 in Annapolis
Faced with a matchup versus the two-time defending Patriot League champions with a hold of first place on the line, the Navy women's basketball team led from the opening seconds of the contest versus Holy Cross on its way to a 67-56 victory on Wednesday night. A 14-point first quarter advantage and confident playmaking down the stretch when pressed in the fourth quarter enabled the Mids (11-3, 3-0) to knock off the Crusaders (9-5, 2-1 PL) at Alumni Hall and extend their undefeated start to the Patriot League portion of its 2024-25 season.

Kyah Smith led Navy's offensive performance with 15 points on the strength of three three-pointers, with an additional five rebounds and two assists off the bench. Though scoreless in the first half, but effective in other aspects of the game, the Patriot League's leading scorer, Zanai Barnett-Gay rallied in the second half with 13 points to go along with 11 total rebounds and three assists. A sign of the well-rounded offensive effort by the Mids on Wednesday, four more players scored between six and nine points.

Toni Papahronis sparked Navy early with five of the Mids' points, including the game-opening three-pointer. Bolstered by her individual success, as well as a Maren Louridas' triple, Navy was up 10-7 over Holy Cross at the 5:59 mark. Over the next four minutes of action from that point, the Mids rattled off nine more unanswered points to break open a 19-7 advantage. Smith spearheaded this run with five points. After the Crusaders halted the Mids' run with a Simone Foreman jumper, three-pointers on consecutive possessions by Smith and Lizzie Holder wrapped up the quarter with Navy ahead 25-11. The Mids' 14-point led was aided by 5-9 shooting from three-point range and a 12-0 advantage in bench scoring.

The teams traded baskets over the opening two minutes of the second quarter to advance the score to 29-15. Following a two-plus minute drought Kaitlyn Flanagan got Holy Cross back into the scoring column with a three-pointer at 5:24. Morgan Demos jolted Navy into a quick 6-0 run with an offensive rebound and putback at 4:23 before capping the run with a layup at 1:46. Another Foreman basket was quickly answered back by Smith's third three-pointer of the first half to send the game into the locker room at 38-22.

Held scoreless in the first half, Barnett-Gay got her shot to fall early in the third quarter with back-to-back field goals within the first two minutes. With the score 42-24 at 8:17, Holy Cross fought its way back to a 10-point deficit via a 12-4 run over the next 4:15. As quickly as the Crusaders shaved eight points off the Mids' advantage, the home team fired back with a 9-1 run of its own to go back up 18. The freshman duo of Julianna Almeida and Mary Gibbons accumulated seven of these points with Gibbons knocking down her first three-pointer of the game during this run. Four straight points by Holy Cross closed out the third quarter with a score of 55-41.

The Crusaders used that late momentum to continue their comeback into the fourth with 12 of the first 14 points of the final stanza to make it a 57-53 game by the 3:14 mark. The ever-dangerous three-point shot that energized the Mids' effort in the first quarter came back for them down the stretch as Barnett-Gay knocked down her first trey of the game at 2:25 to give her squad a bit more breathing room before later slashing to the hoop for her 10th and 11th points to make it 62-56 with 1:21 remaining in regulation. The icing on the Mids' victory came courtesy of an Almeida corner three with 35 seconds left and two final free throws by Barnett-Gay to send the game final at 67-56. 

For the game, Navy out-shot Holy Cross, 37.1 percent (26-70) to 32.9 (23-70) from the field, 40.9 percent (9-22) to 15.0 (3-20) from three-point range and 75.0 percent (6-8) to 70.0 (7-10) from the foul line.

Comparing the Teams

(2024-25 Stats)	Navy	Holy Cross
Record / League-Only	15-10 / 7-7 PL	16-9 / 9-5 PL
Home / Away / Neut. Record	7-7 / 7-3 / 1-0	7-3 / 9-6
Points Per Game	66.8 PPG	61.7 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	61.9 PPG	56.7 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	37.7 %	41.6 %
3-Point Percentage	31.5 %	31.7 %
Free Throw Percentage	68.6 %	75.3 %
Rebounds Per Game	40.2 RPG	35.3 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	13.2 / 13.8	15.2 / 15.2

Individual Leaders

(2024-25 Stats)	Navy	Holy Cross
Points Per Game	Zanai Barnett-Gay, 19.4 ppg	Simone Foreman, 14.8 ppg
Rebounds Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 7.8 rpg	S. Foreman, 7.6 rpg
Assists Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 3.2 apg	Kaitlyn Flanagan, 5.3 apg
Field Goal Percentage	Morgan Demos, 48.1 %	Lindsay Berger, 53.3 %
3-Point Percentage	Julianna Almeida, 40.3 %	Mary-Elizabeth Donnelly, 41.2 %
Free Throw Percentage	Z. Barnett-Gay, 78.7 %	S. Foreman, 86.8 %

Last Time Out -- Wednesday vs. Colgate
Not one to be ever counted out, the Navy women's basketball team continues to battle as it fought for 45 minutes on Wednesday night versus Colgate and overcame an 11-point first quarter to force overtime, but fell in extra time by a score of 76-72. A substantial disparity in free throws was the undoing for the Mids (15-10, 7-7 PL) as the Raider (20-7, 10-4 PL) went to the charity stripe 35 times and converted a Patriot League single-game season-high 31 foul shots. Navy's defense spurred its comeback as it held Colgate to only three field goals in the fourth quarter and one in overtime.

Julianna Almeida and Saran Moschella provided the Mids with strong efforts throughout the game as Almeida helped Navy fight back in the first half with 11 of her game-high 21 points, while Moschella caught fire in the second half with 13 of her eventual 17 points. Kyah Smith and Zanai Barnett-Gay gave the Mids four scorers in double figures as Smith knocked down a trio of three-pointers on her way to 11 points, while Barnett-Gay did a little bit of everything with 10 points, six rebounds, five assists and five steals.

Colgate was strong from the jump on Wednesday as the visitors won the opening jump ball and almost immediately converted a layup just four seconds into the contest. The duo of Almeida and Maren Louridas kept Navy in range with seven early points as the hosts took their only lead of the first half at the 5:15 mark, 7-6. From that juncture, the Raiders caught fire and rattled off 12 unanswered points over the next 4:05. A three-pointer on the Mids' second-to-last possession by Smith pulled her squad within eight, 18-10 at the quarter break. As a team, Colgate shot 9-14 from the field in the initial stanza.

The three-ball played an important role in Navy's comeback effort in the second quarter as consecutive treys from Barnett-Gay at 7:53 and Almeida at 7:00 drew the Mids to within three, 21-18. In a theme that would dominate the remaining 27 minutes of regulation and throughout overtime, five straight free throw conversions by Colgate's Morgan McMahon on back-to-back possessions short-circuited that run and increased her club's lead back to eight. Trailing 26-18, Navy clawed its way back even with an 8-0 run between 5:07 and 1:52. A pair of second-chance baskets, first by Moschella and later by Almeida sparked this run. A 4-2 close to the quarter in favor of the Raiders allowed the guests to take a 30-28 lead into the halftime intermission. Navy's defense held Colgate to just 2-10 shooting from the field, but the Raiders countered with an 8-9 performance from the charity stripe.

The ebbs-and-flows of action continued in the third quarter with neither team making more than two shots in a row over the first seven-plus minutes of the period. Moschella was the engineer of Navy's offense in the third as she opened up with six of the Mids' first eight points. Her three-pointer from the corner at 8:25 kick-started this streak that culminated with a physical and-one layup and conversion at 5:23. With the score 43-38 for Colgate at 3:06, a quick 5-0 individual run by Smith drew Navy even by the 2:39 mark. A perfect 6-6 mark from the foul line down the stretch by the Raiders helped them finish the quarter up 51-47 over the Mids.

A 6-2 start to the fourth quarter allowed Navy to once again pull even with Colgate. A jumper on the first possession by Almeida and a three-pointer by Moschella spearheaded this comeback attempt. Another basket by Moschella at 7:02 gave Navy its first lead since early in the first quarter. The edge was short-lived as four straight conversions from the foul line by Christina Midgette shot the Raiders back into the lead. Following two of Colgate's only three made field goals of the period at 2:18 and 1:48, the visitors held a 61-57 lead. The will of Navy showed through over the final 91 seconds of regulation as Morgan Demos battled through the paint for a layup before Barnett-Gay came up with her fourth steal of the game and Almeida made Colgate pay with a three-pointer coming out an in-bounds with 52 seconds left. The Raiders converted on each of their final two possessions, while Barnett-Gay went 2-2 from the foul line to send the game to overtime knotted at 64-64.

A long three-part offensive possession, that included a pair of offensive rebounds resulted in the Mids' largest lead of the game, three, 67-64 when Smith swished a straight-away three-pointer at 3:54. A near mirror image of that occurred for the Raiders less than a minute later when a 1-2 showing at the foul line was extended with two offensive rebounds that ultimately were turned into a made field goal to re-tie the game. The heart and hustle continued in the second half of the overtime period as an offensive board and putback by Demos pushed Navy ahead 69-67 at 1:48. Four straight free throws over the next 59 seconds swung Colgate back into a lead that the visitors wouldn't relinquish for the rest of the period as they held on for a 76-72 victory.