ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Looking to build off the momentum of a key road win over Holy Cross on Saturday, the Navy women's basketball team found itself in a tight battle versus American for over 20-plus minutes on Wednesday before turning up the pressure, forcing 15 second half turnovers and outscoring the Eagles 50-28 over the third and fourth quarters on its way to a record-setting 88-60 victory at Alumni Hall.

The 88 points scored on Wednesday are the most-ever by a Midshipmen squad over a Patriot League foe in a regulation length game as the previous-high was 87 against Army in the Patriot League Tournament Semifinals on Feb. 27, 1999.

Navy's attack was well-balanced as 10 of the 11 players that appeared on Wednesday night scored points led by a career-best outing from Mary Gibbons (Fr., Holden, Mass.), who tallied 23 points on 7-8 shooting from three-point range. Her seven makes are tied for the eighth-most by a Mid in a single-game and equals Taylor Dunham's output from Feb. 28, 2018 versus American. Gibbons was joined in double figures by Zanai Barnett-Gay (So., Glenn Dale, Md.), who recorded 17 points, while Maren Louridas (Jr., Delmar, N.Y.), who added a season-high 13 points to go along with a team-high six rebounds. Morgan Blackford (So., Solon, Ohio) and Morgan Demos (Jr., Downers Grove, Ill.) nearly gave Navy five players in double digits as both players recorded nine points on the evening.

"Our defense did a great job in the second half," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "We didn't do a good job with that in the first quarter giving up 19 points on 7-12 shooting. We talked about focusing on our defense; we weren't doing what we had talked about leading up to the game. In the second half, our defense was turned up. I thought Toni Papahronis and Zanai really got after it.

"Mary had been struggling a little bit recently so it was nice to see her break out of that slump tonight; seven three-pointers, that's pretty darn good. She was making a lot of shots earlier in the season and we were really, really good during that stretch; she plays an important role to our success."

The action started out evenly as the game was tied at 8-8, 10-10 and 12-12 over the initial six minutes of play. Demos provided the early spark for the Mids' offensively as she scored six of her team's first eight points, with all of them coming over a 72-second span of play between 8:44 and 7:32. A three-pointer by Gibbons at 2:58 gave Navy a brief 15-14 lead as American had an immediate rebuttal courtesy of a Grace Koepke layup. Baskets by Barnett-Gay and Saran Moschella (So., Staten Island, N.Y.) over the Mids' final two possessions of the quarter tied the game for a fourth time at 19-19.

The game continued at a basket-for-basket pace into the second quarter as the teams were knotted again at 21-21 and 23-23. Following a free throw by the Eagles' Molly Driscoll at 7:36 to give the visitors a 24-23 edge, Gibbons swung the lead back into the Mids' favor with her second three-pointer of the game and Navy would never look back as they were up for the ensuing 27:20. That trey kicked off an 8-0 run with a Julianna Almeida (Fr., North Arlington, N.J.) jumper sandwiched in-between another Gibbons three-pointer at 4:51. With the score 31-24, the Eagles shaved a single point off their deficit over the final four-plus minutes of the half as the teams retired to their respective locker rooms with Navy ahead 38-32.

A 4-0 individual start to the third quarter by Driscoll pulled American within two points, 38-36, by the 9:03 mark before Navy loudly re-engaged its offense to the tune of a 9-0 run. Toni Papahronis (Jr., Edmond, Okla.) played a pivotal role in this stretch of the action as she knocked down a three-pointer from the corner before getting a steal, an offensive rebound and putback and finally a dramatic second steal as she dove into the backcourt for a loose ball and called timeout to keep possession as American players lunged towards her.

"When you see your teammates diving on the floor and giving up their bodies, that energizes everyone," exclaimed Taylor. "Those are the kind of plays that can win you championships. Eventually, that's what we're hoping to do here."

Up 47-36 at 6:53, Navy's lead bounded between eight and 11 for the next three-plus minutes before the Mids turned up the heat even more of the final 3:22 with a 10-2 close to the quarter. Eight of those points came from Gibbons, including back-to-back baskets from beyond the arc 28 seconds apart at 2:14 and 1:46. As part of its dynamic 25-12 third quarter effort, Navy forced nine American turnovers on six steals and extended three possessions with offensive rebounds. 14 of the Mids' points came off of turnovers or second chance opportunities.

Ahead 63-44 at the start of the fourth quarter, Navy cruised to the win as it never allowed American to get closer than 19 (68-49 at 7:05). Louridas found her stroke from distance over the first three minutes of the final stanza with a pair of three-pointers. With the score 73-49 at 6:52, Blackford was the story down the stretch as the sophomore walk-on from the Naval Academy's track & field program, scored nine of the Mids' final 15 points on 2-2 shooting from the field and five successful free throws. Those nine points set a new career-high for Blackford.
 
For the game, American out-shot Navy from the field by a slim 45.1 percent (23-51) to 44.9 (31-69) margin, though the Mids had better accuracy from three-point range, 38.5 percent (10-26) to 14.3 (3-21) and from the foul line, 59.3 percent (16-27) to 50.0 (11-22).

Navy won the rebounding battle by four, 41-37 and held a substantial edge on the offensive glass, 15-7. Louridas led the Mids with six caroms as Barnett-Gay, Papahronis, Kyah Smith (So., Richmond, Va.) and Moschella were all right behind with five rebounds a piece. Of note, four of Papahronis' rebounds were on the offensive end.

The Mids had excellent ball movement on Wednesday night with 18 assists on their 31 made baskets. Papahronis had a game-high four assists, while five of her teammates had multiple helpers, as well.

Defensively, Navy forced American into 27 turnovers, a total that is the most by a DI opponent of the Mids since Nov. 9, 2019 when Clemson turned the ball over 31 times. The Mids' defense was credited with 11 steals as Barnett-Gay (3), Papahronis (2), Louridas (2), Gibbons (2) and Kelli Giuliani (2) all recorded multiple thefts.

"We got a lot of contributions from a lot of different people," said Taylor in closing. "We had a little rough stretch, losing four in a row, but three of those were decided in the final possession. Now I feel we're building off a really good game at Holy Cross. I'm excited about where we're going. I think this team can continue to get better.

"Loyola always plays us tough. I don't care what the records are, they always play us tough. It'll be a battle. We're playing for a lot right now. We could potentially host a postseason quarterfinal game. We just have to take care of our business. Boston coming in here next Wednesday is going to be a tough one too; they just upset Lehigh. Both of these final two opponents have our attention."

With its eye on moving up the standings for the upcoming Patriot League Tournament, Navy will play its final regular season road game on Saturday as the team will make the short drive up to Baltimore for a 12 p.m. showdown at Loyola.

Patriot League Standings (through 16 of 18 games)
Lehigh 14-2
Army 13-3
Colgate 11-5
Holy Cross 10-6
Bucknell 10-6
Navy 9-7
Boston University 5-11
Lafayette 4-12
Loyola 3-13
American 1-15