ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's basketball team fell victim to a hot-shooting Lafayette squad that knocked down a season-high 60 percent of its three-point shots on Saturday afternoon and came away with a 61-60 victory. In a nip-and-tuck game, that had 11 lead changes and 10 ties, the Leopards (6-16, 3-8 PL) broke out to a 17-11 lead in the first quarter before the Mids (15-7, 7-4 PL) re-took short-lived leads in the third and fourth quarters. Three points by Tasha Chudy in the final possessions of the contest at Alumni Hall pushed Lafayette ahead for the one-point win on the road. Saturday's game was sponsored by First Command.

Zanai Barnett-Gay (So., Glenn Dale, Md.) filled up the box score for the Mids on Saturday as she tied her career-high with 29 points on 13-23 shooting to go along with 13 rebounds, three blocked shots and two assists. Julianna Almeida (Fr., North Arlington, N.J.) provided solid secondary support with 11 points and six rebounds. In her third career start, Morgan Demos (Jr., Downers Grove, Ill.) scored eight points and eight rebounds, while blocking a pair of shots.

"We lost this game in the first half," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "We lost this game when we didn't keep them off the offensive glass. They got seven offensive rebounds and turned that into 11 points. We had a lack of composure and effort on our three-point defense; they shot 60 percent. Plus three of those chances came off of offensive rebounds in the first half. We talked about it pregame; the only way that they were going to beat us was by making the threes; they made nine and we only made three. That's the difference in a one-point game.

"You've got to tip your hat to Lafayette, they came in on the road and played their butts off. Anybody in this league can beat you at any time if you don't show up. They had a good game plan."

The action opened evenly as both teams recorded seven points over the initial 5:15 of the first quarter. In a chain of play, that Taylor lamented about, Tasha Chudy grabbed an offensive rebound for Lafayette and immediately shot a pass out to Abby Antognoli, who swished a three-pointer from the wing at 4:08 to help the Leopards go ahead 10-7. That triple was quickly followed up with another three-pointer by Antognoli. Barnett-Gay short-circuited that 6-0 run and drew Navy back within four, 13-9. The Leopards netted four of the final six points of the quarter to take a 17-11 lead into the break. Lafayette grabbed five offensive rebounds and knocked down four three-pointers in the quarter.

The visitors extended their lead out to a game-high 10 points, 25-15 by the 5:55 juncture of the second quarter. The Mids' comeback effort kicked off on the ensuing possession as Mary Gibbons (Fr., Holden, Mass.) knocked down a pull-up jumper. Two more baskets, by Barnett-Gay and Demos, swiftly drew Navy back within four by the 4:14 mark. A three-pointer by Almeida at 1:27 cut the Mids' deficit to just two, 27-25. After Lafayette went 2-2 from the foul line in its final possession of the first half, Navy responded with one more long-range strike as Kyah Smith (So., Richmond, Va.) sank a three-pointer right as the quarter expired to make it 29-28 in favor of the Leopards.

The Mids re-took the lead for the first time since early in the first quarter when Demos converted both of her free throw attempts at 7:25 to make it 32-31. A layup by Demos on Navy's next possession advanced the score to 34-33 for the hosts. Another field goal, this one by Barnett-Gay, gave the Mids their largest lead of the game, 36-33. Lafayette dialed up the three-ball once again as Sauda Ntaconayigize pulled the Leopards even the next time down the court before a second trey in as many possessions flipped the score to 39-36. A 6-2 individual run by Barnett-Gay helped Navy edge back into the lead 42-41 by the 1:48 mark. The back-and-forth action continued down the stretch as Lafayette netted four of the final five points to hold a 45-43 lead through 30 minutes of play.

Barnett-Gay's strong second half carried into the fourth quarter as she notched her 19th and 20th points of the game with a jumper 10 seconds into the period. A 5-0 run by the Leopards darted the visitors into the lead before an immediate 6-0 rebuttal by the Mids swung the score back in favor of Navy, 51-50 by 6:33. A trading of baskets, first by Chudy and later by Barnett-Gay as part of an and-one conversion, made it a 54-52 with just over five minutes left in regulation. The fans at Alumni Hall were treated to a thrilling close to the contest as the score was tied at 54-54, 56-56 and 58-58 as the clock ticked under two and a half minutes. Chudy's career-best scoring performance saw the sophomore successfully record her seventh field goal of the game to give Lafayette a 60-58 lead with 2:14 left. A single free throw by Chudy with 42 seconds remaining increased her squad's advantage to 61-58. A driving layup by Almeida six seconds later drew Navy to its final score of 61-60 as both teams' final offensive possessions were stymied by strong defensive efforts.

For the game, Lafayette out-shot Navy, 40.4 percent (21-52) to 34.8 (24-69) from the field and 60.0 percent (9-15) to 13.0 (3-23) from three-point range. The Mids were efficient from the foul line knocking down 81.8 percent (9-11) versus a 71.4 (10-14) mark for the Leopards.

On the strength of a seven-rebound lead at halftime, Lafayette took Saturday's rebounding battle, 41-38. Barnett-Gay grabbed a game-high 13 boards with four from the offensive end and nine on defense.

Navy was extra careful with its ballhandling as the Mids only turned the ball over three times. That total is the second lowest and program history and is the best mark during the DI era of the program as the Mids' record is two turnovers versus George Mason on Dec. 6, 1983.

Defensively, Navy forced Lafayette into 14 turnovers, including four shot clock violations. Additionally, the Mids blocked five shots. Barnett-Gay was credited with a career-best three blocks. Demos finished with two blocks and two steals.

"Zanai and Morgan were 16-30 and the rest of the team was 8-39, that's not good enough," commented Taylor. "Our ball movement wasn't very good today; it was sticking a lot. I'm just disappointed. We let some of their players get way too many open shots. They had #10 [Tasha Chudy] step up, make some big time shots and get 15 points. We weren't good enough today. I felt it started all the way back in our shootaround."

Navy will turn its attention to a stiff upcoming test as it begins its week on Wednesday with a road game at first-place Lehigh before coming home and taking on second-place Army. The tip-off in Bethlehem is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Stabler Arena.