ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Coming off a much-needed mid-week bye, the Navy women's basketball team heads into Saturday's matchup with Lafayette invigorated and with its eyes on a season sweep. After knocking off the Leopards (5-16. 2-8 PL) in Easton, Pa. on January 5, the Mids (15-6, 7-3 PL) will be looking to complete its second sweep in two games as they came from behind to defeat the Bucknell Bison in overtime the last time out on February 1. Tip-off of Saturday's action is set for 4 p.m. at Alumni Hall; the game is presented by First Command. Prior to the contest, Navy will host a brief ceremony to honor its managers and practice players that will be graduating from the Naval Academy in May.

Saturday's Navy-Lafayette 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 Lafayette
The Mids and Leopards have met 85 times in a series that began on Feb. 16, 1980  ... All-time, Navy leads Lafayette, 57-28 with a 34-10 advantage in games played in Annapolis and a smaller 21-17 edge in matchups in Easton ... Both squads have swept a season series over the past two years, Lafayette 2-0 in 2023 and Navy 3-0 in 2024 ... Last February's win by the Mids in Easton was the program's first at the Kirby Sports Center since the 2018 season ... In the last ten overall matchups of the series, each team has won five contests, with Lafayette securing a four-game streak over the 2022 and 2023 seasons followed by Navy taking the last four meetings in 2024 and 2025.
    Last Five Games:
    Jan. 5, 2025 (A): Navy 71 - Lafayette 49
    March 9, 2024 (H): Navy 67 - Lafayette 45
    Feb. 28, 2024 (A): Navy 58 - Lafayette 49
    Jan. 13, 2024 (H): Navy 56 - Lafayette 47
    March 1, 2023 (H): Lafayette 74 - Navy 64

Most Recent Navy-Lafayette Matchup ... January 5, 2025 in Easton
The Navy women's basketball team continued its winning ways and posted its second Patriot League victory in as many games with a decisive 71-49 win on the road over Lafayette on Sunday afternoon. Trailing 19-14 after the first quarter, the Mids (10-3, 2-0 PL) completely flipped the scoreboard with a dominant 23-9 rebuttal in the second quarter before extending their lead over the second half of action at the Leopards' (4-9, 1-1 PL) Kirby Sports Center. 

Zanai Barnett-Gay had a hand in 16 of Navy's 28 baskets on Sunday as she led all players with 20 points on 9-16 shooting, while dishing out a game-high seven assists. She filled up the box score with six additional rebounds, three steals and a block. She was joined in double figures by three other teammates: Mary Gibbons, who scored 13 points on 4-6 shooting from three-point range, Julianna Almeida, who recorded a career-best 11 points to go along with seven rebounds and Kyah Smith, who went for 11 points, four rebounds and a game-high +19 plus-minus statistic.

The action on Sunday began with a significant Lafayette feel to it as the hosts jumped out to a 7-0 lead over the initial two minutes of the first quarter. Just as quickly as the Leopards scored their seven points, the Mids fired back with seven of their own with a three-pointer by Almeida and back-to-back baskets by Lizzie Holder coming in a run of three possessions. With the scored 7-7 at 6:44, Lafayette scored 10 of the next 14 points over the next four minutes to re-take a six-point lead, 17-11. Almeida's second three-pointer of the period cut the Mids' deficit to three points before a late Leopard field goal by Kay Donohue concluded the quarter at 19-14 in favor of Lafayette. 

Lafayette matched its biggest lead of the game on its first possession of the second quarter with a Tasha Chudy layup to make it 21-14. Down, but definitely not out, Navy had a loud rebuttal with baskets on five straight possessions, with two makes each, one a jumper and one a three-pointer, from both Almeida and Smith, to flip to score to 26-21 by 7:26. After the Leopards briefly cut it back to three, the Mids' lightning fast attack re-engaged with an 11-3 run to inflate the visitors' lead to 37-24 by 1:43. Barnett-Gay was the engine of this run with nine individual points. A pair of baskets by Lafayette tightened the score to 37-28 at halftime. The 14-point swing from the first quarter saw Navy shot 52.9 percent (9-17) from the field and 50.0 (3-6) from three-point land, while turning seven Lafayette turnovers into 13 points.

The third quarter was a roller coaster as an initial field goal by Barnett-Gay was responded to with an 8-0 run by the Leopards to help them pull within three, 39-36 at 8:09. After a timeout to re-group and adjust their game plan, the Mids countered with an 11-4 run over the next six minutes to go back up by double digits. Three-pointers by Smith and Gibbons were leading factors in Navy's success during this stretch. Ahead 50-40, the Mids extended their lead to 11 with under a minute to go before the quarter break with another Gibbons triple that made it 53-42.

Lafayette's last gasp at victory came early in the fourth quarter as Halee Smith knocked down a shot to draw the Leopards back to a single-digit deficit of nine, 53-44 at 9:17. From that juncture, the Mids sailed to their second straight conference road win with eight unanswered points, six coming from Gibbons via her three-point marksmanship. Up 61-44 at the final media timeout (4:25), Navy added four points to its final margin of victory as Morgan Demos, Barnett-Gay, Smith, Saran Moschella and Toni Papahronis all recorded field goals, while Lafayette only tallied five total points to wrap up the contest with a final score of 71-49.

For the game, Navy out-shot Lafayette from the field, 45.2 percent (28-62) to 42.0 (21-50), from three-point range, 35.7 percent (10-28) to 25.0 (3-12), and from the foul line, 62.5 percent (5-8) to 57.1 (4-7).

The Mids were extremely crisp with their ball-handling with a 17-to-9 assist-to-turnover. Barnett-Gay had a game-high seven helpers, one shy of her career-best. 

Comparing the Teams

(2024-25 Stats)	Navy	Lafayette
Record / League-Only	15-6 / 7-3 PL	5-16 / 2-8 PL
Home / Away / Neut. Record	7-4 / 7-2 / 1-0	3-7 / 2-9 / 0-0
Points Per Game	67.6 PPG	55.5 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	60.4 PPG	68.5 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	38.1 %	39.0 %
3-Point Percentage	32.2 %	31.7 %
Free Throw Percentage	66.7 %	78.4 %
Rebounds Per Game	41.1 RPG	31.5 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	13.7 / 14.0	11.5 / 14.6
Common Non-PL Opponents	Wagner - W, 79-46 Dartmouth - L, 61-58 (ot)	Wagner - W, 74-45 Dartmouth - L, 60-47

Individual Leaders

(2024-25 Stats)	Navy	Lafayette
Points Per Game	Zanai Barnett-Gay, 19.2 ppg	Abby Antognoli, 12.6 ppg
Rebounds Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 7.9 rpg	Kay Donahue, 4.7 rpg
Assists Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 3.3 apg	A. Antognoli, 3.8 apg
Field Goal Percentage	Kate Samson, 49.5 %	Tasha Chudy, 40.8 %
3-Point Percentage	Mary Gibbons, 38.3 %	Sauda Ntaconayigize, 38.6 %
Free Throw Percentage	Z. Barnett-Gay, 77.9 %	Teresa Kiewiet, 90.3 %

Last Time Out -- Saturday, February 1 at Bucknell in Lewisburg, Pa.
Down, but never out, the Navy women's basketball team turned in a comeback for the ages versus Bucknell on Saturday afternoon as the Mids fought their way out from 17-point deficit in the second quarter to force overtime and eventually complete the comeback in extra time, 79-75. A substantial nine-point swing in the fourth quarter by the Mids (15-6, 7-3 PL) pulled them even and briefly into the lead over the Bison (11-10, 6-4 PL) at Sojka Pavilion before out-scoring the hosts 10-6 in overtime.

Matched up against the Patriot League's Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, Ashley Solfikanich, Morgan Demos had a career-best performance as she blew past her previous-high of nine points as she posted 20 on Saturday to go along with nine rebounds over 34 minutes of action. A well-rounded offensive effort from across Navy's ranks, Zanai Barnett-Gay and Mary Gibbons were next in the scoring column for the Mids with respective totals of 16 and 15 points before Julianna Almeida and Kyah Smith rounded out the group of five double-digit scorers with 13- and 10-point performances, respectively.

Navy had an inauspicious start to Saturday's contest as it was down 13-4 by the 5:42 mark of the first quarter. After consecutive baskets by Smith, a three-pointer at 3:20, and Barnett-Gay, a pull-up jumper at 2:40, the Mids were quickly back within four, 13-9. Unfortunately for Navy, those were the last made field goals of the opening period as Bucknell closed out the frame on a 9-0 run. The Bison extended their unanswered scoring streak to 11-0 before eventually stretching it out to 14-1 to blow its lead out to 17, 27-10 by the 8:24 juncture of the second quarter. From that point in the action, Navy's plebes took over and helped their squad significantly cut into their deficit with a 15-4 run over the next five and a half minutes. Gibbons was the engineer with a four-point play to start the run before later adding four more free throws. Almeida was influential too during this span with a pull-up three-pointer. With the score 31-25 at 2:58, Bucknell was able to add two points to its advantage before the break to make it 35-27.

Gaining confidence from their successful second quarter, the Mids further carved into their deficit and drew within one point over the first three minutes of play in the third quarter. Five points by Barnett-Gay sparked this 9-2 run that made it 37-36 Bucknell at 7:05. The teams traded baskets for the next two-plus minutes as the score increased to 39-38, 41-40, 43-42 and finally 45-44. Following that layup by Demos at 4:15 that drew Navy within one point, Bucknell had an emphatic rebuttal with nine unanswered points to jolt back up by 10, 54-44 by the 1:47 mark. A three-pointer by Gibbons pulled the Mids back within single-digits before a pair of late Bison free throws ended the frame with a 56-47 score.

The success that Navy had found in spurts over the second and third quarter finally resulted in a streak that pushed the Mids into the lead as the visitors opened the fourth period on a 13-2 run. Demos tallied the first six points of this stretch and eight in total with Almeida adding a jumper and Smith a three-pointer. With Navy ahead 60-58, Bucknell used its strong outside marksmanship with a pair of treys by Isabella King to re-take the lead at 61-60 and later 64-62 by the 4:40 mark. A 6-0 response by the Mids swung the scoreboard back in their favor 68-64 following a steal and layup by Barnett-Gay at 2:13. The three-ball extended Bucknell's chances one final time as Reese Zemitis knotted the game at 69-69 with 36 seconds left in regulation. Neither team was able to convert on their final possessions and the game concluded 40 minutes of play tied 69-69. 

The game was decided in overtime by strong defense and clutch foul shooting. Bucknell made the first field goal of the period when Zemitis banged home a three-pointer at 2:12 to re-tie the score, 73-73. Two ensuing free throws by King put the Bison up, 75-73 with 1:18 left to play. With Bucknell putting on a full-court press versus Navy, the Mids confidently navigated the pressure and found Demos all alone under the hoop for an easy layup for her 19th and 20th points of the game. Deadlocked at 75-75, Navy re-gained the ball following a Solfilkanich miss with 36 seconds left and Almeida drove to the lane before getting fouled. Showing the utmost composure, the freshman went 2-2 at the line to give the Mids a lead that they wouldn't relinquish for the remainder of the game as the Bison missed two more shots and saw Barnett-Gay force one final turnover with 10 seconds left. Navy added two important free throws to clinch the 79-75 come-from-behind victory.

For the game, Bucknell out-shot Navy, 38.8 percent (26-67) to 37.3 (25-67) from the field, 43.8 percent (7-16) to 30.0 (6-20) from three-point range and 88.9 percent (16-18) to 82.1 (23-28) from the foul line. Of note, Navy's free throw percentage was a single-game season-high.

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.