ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The next chapter in the ascent of the Navy women's basketball program will be written on Saturday afternoon as the Midshipmen will participate in their first postseason contest since 2018 with action in this year's WNIT Tournament. Selected as one of 48 teams in the field of the 2025 WNIT, Navy will go head-to-head with Old Dominion University in a first round matchup hosted on the Monarchs' campus in Norfolk, Virginia. The Mids (19-11) and Monarchs (17-15) will face off for the just the second time ever as their first showdown occurred as part of the 2014 WNIT Tournament. Tip-off at Chartway Arena is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday with the winner set to advance to the second round and a date with Purdue Fort Wayne on Tuesday evening.
Saturday's Navy-ODU game will have live stats provided online, though unfortunately there will not be a streaming element to the contest.
Navy in Postseason Action
The Mids are 1-6 all-time in postseason competition with three previous trips to the NCAA Championship Tournament (0-3 ... 2011 vs. DePaul; 2012 vs. Maryland and 2013 vs. Kentucky), as well as three prior ventures into the WNIT (1-3 ... 2014 vs. ODU-loss; 2017 vs. George Washington-win and Virginia Tech-loss; 2018 vs. Virginia Tech-loss)
Navy versus Old Dominion University & Sun Belt Conference
The Mids and Monarchs have just once before on March 20, 2014 as part of that season's WNIT Tournament ... Navy fell in Norfolk by a score of 68-60 ... Broadening the scope of Saturday's matchup, the Mids will be taking on a member of the Sun Belt Conference for the 18th time in program history; they're 8-9 all-time ... Marshall (Five games: Navy leads, 3-2), Appalachian State (Three games: App St. leads, 2-1), Coastal Carolina (Two games; Navy leads 2-0), Texas State (Two games; tied 1-1) and Troy (Two games; tied 1-1) are the five teams that Navy has played more than once as the Mids have single meetings against James Madison (0-1), Louisiana (0-1) and ODU (0-1) ... The first-ever Navy-Sun Belt meeting was versus James Madison on Jan. 11, 1985; the Dukes won 60-53 ... The most recent Navy-Sun Belt showdown was the Navy-ODU game during the 2014 WNIT.
Last Five Games (Navy vs. Sun Belt):
March 20, 2014 (A): Old Dominion 68 - Navy 60 (WNIT)
Dec. 29, 2013 (A): Navy 72 - Marshall 68
Dec. 30, 2012 (H): Navy 67 - Marshall 51
Nov. 21, 2008 (N): Texas State 77 - Navy 58 (2008 Columbia Classic)
Dec. 16, 2007 (A): Marshall 70 - Navy 58
Most Recent Navy-Old Dominion Matchup ... March 20, 2014 in Norfolk
In a close, competitive contest, Shae Kelley scored 16 of her 22 points in the second half to help Old Dominion hold off the Navy, 68-60 at the Ted Constant Convocation Center in Norfolk, Va., in a WNIT first-round game. The loss brings Navy's 2013-14 season to a close. The Mids posted a school-record 24 wins and won the first outright Patriot League regular season title in program history with a 15-3 mark in league games.
It also closes out the career of the most successful class in Navy women's basketball history. The quintet of Audrey Bauer, Jade Geif, Alix Membreno, M.L. Morrison and Kara Pollinger amassed a school single class record 83 overall wins and 44 league regular season wins, won at least a share of three league regular season titles, three Patriot League Tournament titles, and four-straight trips to the post season, three of which were NCAA Tournament appearances.
Both offenses were clicking in the first half, especially in the early moments of the game. The teams combined for 20 points in the opening five minutes of play and 43 points in the first 10 minutes. The lead changed hands seven times in those 10 minutes, and it soon changed again when a three-point shot by Bauer gave the Mids a 26-25 advantage with 9:15 left in the half.
Old Dominion (18-15) tallied the next four points to regain the lead at 29-26 before taking a 33-28 lead. Membreno soon scored on a layup to make it a three-point game at 33-30 with 4:35 remaining on the clock. However, those would be the final points of the half scored by the Mids as they went into halftime trailing, 39-30.
The Lady Monarchs connected on 53.1 percent of their shots in the first half while the Mids made 44 percent of their attempts. Additionally, Navy was 6 of 14 (42.9%) from three-point range and held ODU to 3 of 9 (33.3%) shooting from outside of the arc in the half.
Navy slowly chipped away at the deficit in the early part of the second half. It was still a seven-point ODU lead when a 10-0 run by the Mids gave them a 51-48 advantage with just under 11 minutes showing on the clock. The Lady Monarchs made a concerted effort to send the ball inside to Kelley over the ensuing few minutes. She scored the next 12 points for ODU on a pair of free throws, two more free throws, a layup and a foul shot, a layup and a missed foul shot, and a layup and free throw. Her effort gave the Lady Monarchs a 60-53 lead with 4:16 left in the game.
Chloe Stapleton drained a three-point shot to cut the margin down to four points at 60-56 with 3:50 left to play. ODU answered with a jumper, but Navy whittled the margin back down to three points on a basket by Pollinger with 1:20 showing on the clock.
The Mids responded with a great possession of defense. They forced ODU's Chelisa Painter to take a tough shot that missed the rim, but her teammate, Becca Allison scooped up the carom and threw the ball up toward the basket. The ball barely hit the side of the rim with one second remaining on the shot clock before rolling through the hoop to give the Lady Monarchs a 65-60 advantage with 50 seconds left to play.
Old Dominion would end the game shooting 45 percent from the floor despite making just 4 of 15 (26.7%) of its three-point shots. Navy connected on 42.9 percent of its field goal attempts for the game, and was 3 of 15 (20%) from three-point land in the second half and 9 of 29 (31.0%) from beyond the arc for the game.
Aiding the Lady Monarchs was their snaring 16 offensive boards to 10 for the Mids and amassing 40 overall rebounds to 31 for Navy. And though the Mids turned the ball over 10 times while forcing 11 turnovers, the Lady Monarchs held a 16-5 edge in points scored after turnovers.
Four Mids scored in double figures, with Bauer finishing the game with a team-high 17 points. Geif shot 50 percent (6-12) from the field in scoring 12 points while grabbing eight rebounds, Membreno also made 50 percent of her shots (5-10) on her way to tallying 14 points, six rebounds and eight assists, and Stapleton made 4 of her 11 three-point attempts to score 12 points. Pollinger, who was guarded a fair amount of the game by the taller Kelley, dished out seven assists while scoring five points.
Comparing the Teams
| (2024-25 Stats) |
Navy |
Old Dominion |
| Record / League-Only |
19-11 / 11-7 PL |
17-15 / 9-9 SB |
| Home / Away / Neut. Record |
9-8 / 9-3 / 1-0 |
10-6 / 6-7 / 1-2 |
| Points Per Game |
66.8 PPG |
67.3 PPG |
| Points Allowed Per Game |
61.0 PPG |
65.6 PPG |
| Field Goal Percentage |
38.0 % |
37.6 % |
| 3-Point Percentage |
30.8 % |
29.4 % |
| Free Throw Percentage |
68.9 % |
68.4 % |
| Rebounds Per Game |
40.3 RPG |
42.3 RPG |
| Assists/Turnovers Per Game |
13.4 / 13.5 |
12.0 / 15.5 |
Individual Leaders
| (2024-25 Stats) |
Navy |
Old Dominion |
| Points Per Game |
Zanai Barnett-Gay, 18.8 ppg |
En'Dya Buford, 13.1 ppg |
| Rebounds Per Game |
Z. Barnett-Gay, 7.7 rpg |
Simone Cunningham, 7.8 rpg |
| Assists Per Game |
Z. Barnett-Gay, 3.2 apg |
E. Buford, 4.3 apg |
| Field Goal Percentage |
Morgan Demos, 46.6 % |
S. Cunningham, 48.3 % |
| 3-Point Percentage |
Julianna Almeida, 37.2 % |
E. Buford, 35.9 % |
| Free Throw Percentage |
Z. Barnett-Gay, 79.7 % |
E. Buford, 81.3 % |
Last Time Out -- vs. Holy Cross in Patriot League Quarterfinals in Annapolis on March 10
The Navy women's basketball team exited the 2025 Patriot League Tournament on Monday evening with a 66-52 loss to Holy Cross. Seeded fourth and hosting a tournament quarterfinal game for the first time since 2018, the Mids (19-11) were unable to answer an early lead by the fifth-seeded Crusaders (19-11) as the visitors led for all but the first 24 seconds in the contest. Down 11 at half, Navy challenged Holy Cross with a valiant comeback attempt in the second half that whittled its deficit down to one, 34-33, at the 4:51 mark of the third quarter, but the Crusaders out-scored the Mids 32-19 over the final 14-plus minutes of the contest, bolstered by a 10-14 showing from the foul line in the fourth period.
The award-winning duo of
Zanai Barnett-Gay and
Julianna Almeida led Navy on Monday with a combined 36 points. Barnett-Gay, the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year and All-Patriot League First Team honoree, filled up the line score with a team-high 19 points to go along with five rebounds and five assists, while Almeida, the Patriot League Rookie of the Year, shot 8-16 from the field for 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
Toni Papahronis had a well-rounded effort with eight points, six rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot.
Getting acclimated to a start time an hour earlier than their usual 7 p.m. tip, the Mids were quite slow out of the gate on Monday as they accounted for just four points through the opening five minutes of play. Luckily for the hosts, Holy Cross had its own struggles offensively as it only mustered six points in the same stretch. Coming out of the media timeout at 4:36, the Crusaders rattled off nine unanswered points over their next five possessions to bolt out to a 15-4 lead by the 2:42 mark. Navy scored the only two points of the final minutes of the quarter, a
Morgan Demos jumper, and the teams retired to their respective benches with the score 15-6. As a team, the Mids shot just 3-15 from the field in the stanza, while the Crusaders were nominally better at 6-17.
Freshman
Mary Gibbons looked to spark Navy's offensive effort in the second quarter as Demos found her on the wing for a three-pointer just 11 seconds into the period. Holy Cross' lead bounced between six and nine points for the next five-plus minutes before Meg Cahalan knocked down a free throw at 4:43 to make it 22-12. With Barnett-Gay saddled with her third foul of the first half, Almeida took over the final portion of the quarter for the Mids with six points on 3-5 shooting, though unfortunately, the Crusaders answered this run with seven points of their own to take a 29-18 lead into the halftime intermission.
Never one to be counted out, the Mids began the second half with a renewed vigor and started off the third quarter on a 13-3 run over the first 4:26 of play. Held scoreless in the first half, Barnett-Gay was on fire during this stretch with eight of Navy's first nine points before Almeida netted the final four points of this run. Three Holy Cross turnovers during this span resulted in three separate baskets for Navy. With the score 32-31 and soon after 34-33 at 4:51, the two-time defending Patriot League Champions flexed their postseason prowess and registered a 7-2 run to re-extend their lead out to six, 41-35 by the 1:50 mark. Papahronis put an end to this brief run with a driving layup at 1:32. Holy Cross added those two points back to its lead before the quarter break to make it 45-39 through 30 minutes of action. As a unit, Navy shot 8-13 during the period and out-scored Holy Cross, 21-16 overall.
The Mids stayed within two-to-three possessions of the Crusaders for most of the initial five minutes of the fourth quarter. With the score 51-43, Holy Cross' Kendall Eddy hit a three-pointer at 4:43 to push her squad ahead by double digits again before Papahronis immediately fired back with a three-pointer of her own just 11 seconds later. Unfortunately, that was as close as Navy would be for the rest of the game as two free throws by Barnett-Gay equaled that deficit of eight later at 2:18, 56-48. A 10-12 showing at the charity stripe over the final 98 seconds of regulation sealed the victory for the Crusaders, 66-52.
For the game, Holy Cross out-shot Navy in all three categories, 39.7 percent (23-58) to 33.9 (20-59) from the field, 28.6 percent (4-14) to 11.1 (2-18) from three-point range and 72.7 percent (16-22) to 66.7 (10-15) from the foul line.
"Overall, I'm so proud of our kids. We won 19 regular season games, while overcoming the loss of three post players and overcoming adversity throughout the year. I'm really proud of this group and what we've accomplished. I'm excited about what lies ahead potentially in the postseason."
