ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Coming off an important road win at Holy Cross on Saturday that clinched a top-six seed in the upcoming Patriot League Tournament, the Navy women's basketball team will be looking to continue its quest to move up the conference leaderboard with a Wednesday night matchup versus American at home. Holding a road victory over the Eagles (1-25, 1-14 PL) from January 2 in Washington, D.C., the Mids (16-10, 8-7 PL) aim to secure its third season sweep of the season after previously completely sweeps over Bucknell and Holy Cross. Tip-off for the game that is presented by NABSD is set for 7 p.m. at Alumni Hall.

Wednesday's Navy-American 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 American
The Mids and Eagles have met 70 times in a series that began on February 16, 1978  ... All-time, American leads Navy, 43-27 on the strength of its dominant 27-7 mark over 34 meetings at Bender Arena; that trend is reversed as the Mids hold a 19-14 edge in games at Alumni Hall ... Navy broke an 11-year/14-game losing streak at Bender Arena on Feb. 14, 2024 with a 69-55 victory; prior to that Navy's last three wins in this series dating back to 2017 have all come at home (March 1, 2017, Feb. 28, 2018, and Jan. 17, 2021) ... 2024's season sweep was the first for the Mids since 2013; in the 28 games since that 2013 sweep, Navy is just 8-20  ... Since the Eagles joined the Patriot League in 2001-02, American is 28-20 against Navy ... In the last 10 American-Navy games, the Eagles are 6-4 overall with the Mids ... Navy is currently on a three-game winning streak over American
    Last 5 Games:
    Jan. 2, 2025 (A): Navy 66 - American 59
    March 2, 2024 (H): Navy 73 - American 57
    Feb. 14, 2024 (A): Navy 69 - American 55
    March 4, 2023 (A): American 78 - Navy 71 **Patriot League Tournament First Round
    Feb. 22, 2023 (H): American 61 - Navy 49

Most Recent Navy-American Matchup ... January 2, 2025 in Washington, D.C.
Navy kept up its momentum from a strong non-conference performance with a 66-59 victory over American University on the road on Thursday night. Starting strong with 21 points in the first quarter, the Mids (9-3, 1-0 PL) weathered an even 20 minutes of play in the middle of the contest before breaking out to a 13-point advantage in the fourth quarter and holding off the Eagles (0-12, 0-1 PL) down the stretch at Bender Arena.

Zanai Barnett-Gay was everywhere for Navy as she filled the box score with a game-high 26 points to go along with seven rebounds, five assists and two steals. The Mids leaned on their bench for secondary scoring on Thursday with Mary Gibbons and Morgan Demos combining for 22 points, 13 for Gibbons and nine for Demos. A career-high scoring total by Demos was augmented by a career-best rebounding effort of 12 rebounds over 29 minutes of action in the post.

Coming off a 27-point game versus Delaware before the extended holiday break, Barnett-Gay was back to her high-scoring ways almost immediately on Thursday as she opened the game with all seven of Navy's points over the first 2:01 of action. After Ellie Pingree drew American even at 7-7 at 7:26, back-to-back baskets from Julianna Almeida and Demos jolted Navy out into the lead. Though challenged throughout the majority of the ensuing 37:11 and tied twice, Almeida's field goal spotted the Mids a lead that they would never relinquish for the rest of the game. With the score 11-7 at 6:04 both teams traded shots for most of the next three minutes with American twice pulling within one before Navy had rebuttals. Ahead by just one, 18-17 with less than two minutes in the quarter, Gibbons loudly entered the box score as knocked down a three-pointer to re-extended the Mids' advantage to four at the break, 21-17.

The competitive shot-for-shot action continued into the second quarter as baskets by Maren Louridas and Almeida were answered by a pair of Laura Nogues makes, the first a three-pointer and the second an 'and-one' conversion that tied the score at 25-25 at the 7:40 juncture of the quarter. A driving layup by Barnett-Gay briefly put Navy back into the lead before an immediate answer on the other end by American. With the score tied 27-27, the Mids scored six of the next seven points to re-build their lead out to five, 33-28 by 4:08. Each team recorded four points down the stretch as they retired to the locker room at halftime with the score 37-32.

The three-ball sparked Navy in the early happenings of the third quarter as makes by Louridas, Barnett-Gay and Gibbons in quick succession bolstered the Mids' attack out to a 46-38 advantage over the initial 2:45 of the period. Unfortunately for the visitors those were their only made field goals of the quarter as they were only able to muster three free throws to their grand total of 12 points. With their shot not falling, the Mids buckled down defensively and held the Eagles fairly in-check as the hosts only shaved one point off their halftime deficit with 13 points to their name in the third quarter.

Through 30 minutes of play and the score 49-45, Navy made a concerted effort to put some breathing room between itself and American out of the gate to start the fourth quarter. An efficient span of play over the first four and a half minutes did just that as the Mids broke out to a 13-point lead courtesy of an 11-2 run. A pair of fast break layups, first by Gibbons as part of an 'and-one' at 7:24 and later a Papahronis block and then reception of a lengthy Almeida lead pass at 5:24 capped this fruitful stretch for Navy and made it 60-47. Four successful foul shots and a Demos offensive rebound and tip-in rounded out the Mids' scoring over the final five minutes to seal the 66-59 victory.

For the game, American out-shot Navy from the field, 40.4 percent (21-52) to 36.9 (24-65) and from three-point range, 26.7 percent (4-15) to 21.7 (5-23). The Mids held a slight edge at the foul line, 68.4 percent (13-19) to 65.0 (13-20).

Navy continued its run of strong rebounding efforts as it out-grabbed American by seven on Thursday, 42-35 with a dominant 19-10 advantage in offensive rebounds. Demos led all players with a career-best 12 caroms, six on the offensive end and six on the defensive side. Barnett-Gay and Almeida each gathered seven rebounds.

Comparing the Teams

(2024-25 Stats)	Navy	American
Record / League-Only	16-10 / 8-7 PL	1-25 / 1-14 PL
Home / Away / Neut. Record	7-7 / 8-3 / 1-0	1-11 / 0-12 / 0-2
Points Per Game	66.8 PPG	53.7 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	61.7 PPG	70.7 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	37.8 %	35.3 %
3-Point Percentage	31.2 %	27.0 %
Free Throw Percentage	68.3 %	66.1 %
Rebounds Per Game	40.5 RPG	34.6 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	13.2 / 13.6	12.0 / 17.7

Individual Leaders

(2024-25 Stats)	Navy	American
Points Per Game	Zanai Barnett-Gay, 19.3 ppg	Cecilia Kay, 11.4 ppg
Rebounds Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 7.7 rpg	C. Kay, 8.7 rpg
Assists Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 3.3 apg	Laura Nogues, 2.8 apg
Field Goal Percentage	Morgan Demos, 47.8 %	C. Key, 40.8 %
3-Point Percentage	Julianna Almeida, 39.7 %	L. Nogues, 36.0 %
Free Throw Percentage	Z. Barnett-Gay, 78.2 %	Molly Driscoll, 74.4 %

Last Time Out -- Saturday, Feb. 22 at Holy Cross in Worcester
Navy clinched a top-six seed in the upcoming Patriot League Tournament with a well-rounded victory over Holy Cross on Saturday afternoon. Coming into the day three games up on seventh-place Lafayette with four games to go, the Mids (16-10, 8-7 PL) left nothing to fate as they received strong performances from throughout their roster and led for over 36 minutes as part of a 66-57 win on the Crusaders' (16-10, 9-6 PL) home court.

In a complete showing of top-to-bottom accomplishment at the Hart Center, all six Mids that played more than 12 minutes on Saturday finished with seven or more points. Zanai Barnett-Gay led her squad with 18 points to go along with six rebounds, six assists and a steal. Julianna Almeida recorded her first career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds over a team-high 38 minutes. Kyah Smith gave Navy its third double-digit scorer with 10 points off the bench. Maren Louridas added a career-high 13 rebounds in addition to scoring seven points and assisting on three other baskets.

Invigorated by their home crowd and celebrating their senior class, the Crusaders broke out to an early 5-2 lead over the opening two minutes before the Mids fired back with back-to-back baskets by Barnett-Gay and Toni Papahronis to take the lead 7-5 by the 6:50 mark. After Holy Cross pulled even a minute later, Navy ran off a streak of nine of the next 11 points to go up 16-9 at 2:59. Barnett-Gay scored seven of her team's points during this stretch. The Crusaders closed the quarter on an 8-2 run to tighten the game to an 18-17 score through 10 minutes of play.

The ebbs-and-flow of the contest flipped back to the Mids to start the second period as the visitors scored seven of the first nine points to build their lead back out to six, 25-19 over the first 2:37 of the quarter. Navy's juniors played a leading role in this strong start as Louridas sank a three-pointer at 8:02 before Morgan Demos found Papahronis for an easy layup at 7:23. The two-time defending Patriot League champions, Holy Cross twice cut its deficit to two points over the next six minutes before Barnett-Gay concluded the stanza with a pair of consecutive field goal conversions in the final 67 seconds to end the half at 33-27 in favor of Navy. Defensively, the Mids held the Crusaders to just 4-15 from the field as part of their 10-point output in the quarter.

The second half opened with the margin holding between four and seven points for Navy over the initial three-plus minutes. With the score 36-31, Simone Foreman helped Holy Cross draw within three points with a jumper at 6:05. A successful 'and-one' situation for Almeida 46 seconds later jolted the Mids back up six. The yo-yo action of the scoreboard saw the Crusaders whittle their deficit to three at 3:58 before Saran Moschella responded with a three-pointer and a minute later a similar basket-for-basket rebuttal occurred with Almeida nailing her first three-pointer of the game to make it 45-38 at 2:34. An exchange of field goals in the final 83 seconds of the quarter slightly improved Holy Cross' chances at the end of the stanza as the teams retired to their benches with Navy up 47-42.

The close competitive clash continued into the final quarter as the Mids bent, but never broke as the Crusaders were able to make it a one-possession game at 8:31 when it was 47-45 and later at 5:39 when the score was 51-48. Driving layups by Papahronis and Smith 28 seconds apart quickly gave Navy breathing room at 55-48. The Mids never allowed the Crusaders to get closer than five (57-52 and 62-57) to clinch the road victory. Smith led Navy's scoring effort in the fourth with six of the Mids' 19 points as six different players recorded points.

For the game, Navy out-shot Holy Cross, 39.4 percent (26-66) to 37.7 (23-61) from the field, while the Crusaders had nominal edges in three-point shooting, 36.4 percent (4-11) to 25.0 (6-24) and 63.6 percent (7-11) to 61.5 (8-13) from the foul line.

Navy had a substantial advantage in the rebounding, 47-36 as the Mids grabbed 12 offensive caroms versus five for the Crusaders. Louridas led all players with 13 boards, while Almeida snagged 10; both results were personal career-highs.

Navy had a strong day handling the ball as it finished with a 14-to-10 assist-to-turnover ratio. Barnett-Gay posted a game-high with six helpers.

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.