NORFOLK, Va. – Competing in the postseason for the first time since 2018, the Navy women's basketball team went down battling with action in the 2024-25 WNIT Tournament at Old Dominion University on Saturday. Trailing by double-digits throughout most of the middle portion of the contest, the Mids (19-12) forced the Monarchs (18-15) into eight turnovers and out-scored them by nine in the third quarter before pulling within eight points early in the fourth. Unfortunately for the visitors, a lengthy shooting slump in the final stanza short-circuited their comeback attempt as ODU won by a score of 63-42 to advance into the second round of the WNIT.

Zanai Barnett-Gay (So., Glenn Dale, Md.) led all players with 24 points, to go along with eight rebounds and a game-high three steals. Morgan Demos (Jr., Downers Grove, Ill.) provided strong secondary production with four points and team-highs of 10 rebounds and three assists.

"I think that we came out a little timid early," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "We had some opportunities early that we didn't take; we were feeling our way through the game a little bit instead of being in attack mode. Coming out in the second half, we really attacked them. We made the most of our opportunities and fought our way back into it, cutting it to eight. We just couldn't make shots after that point; we were right there on the cusp. Unfortunately we couldn't get any of the next 17 shots to go down.

"When you go 15-of-73 for the game, it's really hard to win. The tough part for me in this one was that the majority of them were good shots; we had quality shots throughout the game. Some went in-and-out, some were a little short. Potentially their length and physicality affected us, but I don't know; we were wide open a whole bunch of times, we just missed them."

"We came into this game looking to take care of the basketball and we did that only turning the ball over 14 times. We wanted to limit them on the offensive boards and we did that and only allowed them to grab seven o-boards. We also wanted to extend possessions with offensive boards of our own; we did that with 18 o-boards. We did everything we wanted to do in this game except for make shots. I'm so proud of our kids. That had a tremendous effort today and fought throughout. We left that arena today, bloodied and bruised. This was a tough, physical matchup. ODU is an older, more experienced team. It was a good measuring stick for our kids."

The action at Chartway Arena opened nearly even as the teams traded early baskets with Navy going up 2-0 on a Barnett-Gay layup at 9:30 before ODU held one-point advantages of 5-4 and 8-7. After Julianna Almeida (Fr., North Arlington, N.J.) sank a three-pointer to make it 8-7 at 5:57, the Monarchs tightened up defensively and held the Mids to an 0-9 shooting effort down the stretch and out-scored them 6-0 to take a 14-7 lead into the quarter break.

An 8-2 start to the second period jolted ODU out to a 22-9 lead by the 7:54 mark. The Monarchs' lead stayed between 11 and 14 points over the next five minutes as the score slowly crept up to 29-15 by 2:44. Barnett-Gay netted all six points for the Mids during this span. Seven unanswered points by the Monarchs over the ensuing 2:04 gave the hosts a 36-15 lead before Demos corralled an offensive rebound and immediately put it back for a second-chance basket with 11 seconds left in the half.

Equal in rebounds and nearly equal in turnovers, 9-8, the main factor in Old Dominion's 19-point halftime lead was a 41.9 percent (13-31) to 18.8 percent (6-32) edge in field goal shooting in the first half. Navy also struggled with its shot from beyond the arc with just a 1-10 showing.

Taking a chance to gather itself during the halftime intermission, Navy came out in the second half on a mission. Back-to-back baskets, first a jumper by Almeida and next at pull-up three-pointer by Barnett-Gay cut the Mids' deficit to 14, 36-22, within the initial 59 seconds of the third quarter. Navy kept pace with ODU over the next five minutes with each team recording seven points. Barnett-Gay continued to lead the way for the Mids with a hand in all seven points as she scored four individually, while Mary Gibbons (Fr., Holden, Mass.) knocked down a corner three-pointer off of a steal and assist from Barnett-Gay. With the score 43-29 at 4:09, Navy kept inching closer with a 9-5 run over the final four minutes of action in the quarter. Barnett-Gay capped the period with five points over the Mids' last two possessions.

In the stanza, Navy forced ODU into eight turnovers and flipped those miscues into a 10-0 scoring advantage. The Mids were also active on the offensive glass with six o-boards, that resulted in four second chance points.

"We came out in the second half and started pressing, going more up-tempo and pushing the ball a little bit more," commented Taylor.
"We made some offensive adjustments. Z was knocking shots down, we were able to knock down a couple of threes. We played with great toughness during that stretch; we matched their toughness."

With the score 48-38 through three quarters of play, Navy's comeback effort drew even closer as Kyah Smith (So., Richmond, Va.) came down the court the first time the Mids had the ball on offense and sank a pull-up jumper at 9:36 to make it 48-40. The momentum that Navy had built up and rode into the early portion of the fourth quarter came to a screeching halt after that field goal by Smith as Navy was unable to record its second made basket until the final minute of regulation play. That stretch of 0-17 shooting allowed ODU to re-engage its offense and pull away with 13 straight points and go up 61-40. Saran Moschella (So., Staten Island, N.Y.) netted the Mids' final field goal with a driving layup from the baseline with 56 seconds left in the contest. The Monarchs closed out their victory with one final basket with 42 ticks remaining to make it 63-42.

For the game, ODU out-shot Navy, 43.1 percent (22-51) to 20.5 (15-73) from the field and 35.7 percent (5-14) to 16.7 (4-24) from three-point range. The Mids were a perfect 8-8 from the foul line, while the Monarchs shot 82.4 percent (14-17).

ODU had a six-rebound edge on Saturday, 47-41. The Mids were active on the offensive glass with 18 o-boards versus seven for the Monarchs. Demos led Navy with 10 rebounds. Barnett-Gay and Maren Louridas (Jr., Delmar, N.Y.) each grabbed eight caroms a piece.

Defensively, the Mids forced the Monarchs into 24 turnovers and were credited with 10 steals. Barnett-Gay spearheaded Navy's defense with three steals. Almeida and Demos added two thefts each. Demos had a team-high two blocks.

"The biggest thing that we'll take out of this experience is that we had a great year," reflected Taylor. "From where we were two years ago to playing in the postseason, we've shown tremendous growth. Our kids have continued to show up every day, practice hard and push our opponents to the max. With the injuries that we've had this year, we saw how our team deals with adversity. We had a lot of people step up into new roles, in different positions and do new things. Our ability to cope with this adversity should bode well for us in the future. Playing in a game like this, in an environment and against a physical, athletic opponent like ODU, will help us next year, especially with the non-conference schedule that we're putting together; we'll be ramping it up with some Power 4 and NCAA Tournament caliber teams.

"What all of this does is gives us a taste of the postseason. When I first got here, that was our goal, to get back to the NCAA Tournament. We want to make that a perennial thing. If we're going to do that we have to take that in steps; I think this year we took a lot of those important steps."

Navy concludes its 2024-25 season with a record of 19-12. That record marks a five-win increase from 2023-24 and continues the Mids ascent back towards the top of the Patriot League as they previously increased their win total by 13 the season before. At the end of the regular season, Navy was one of just eight teams nationally to add five or more victories to their win total over the past two seasons.

"I'm really excited about what lies ahead," said Taylor in closing. "We don't have any seniors on this year's team and we'll continue to get our post players healthy and back in action. We're also adding a really talented recruiting class. I'm excited to see where we'll go.

"I'd like to thank the fans of Navy Women's Basketball and our administration for supporting us and staying with us through this vision of what we're trying to accomplish here within the program. That support means the world to us. We're getting more alumni back and involved. We're heading in the right direction in so many different aspects. I really would like to thank everyone that supports Navy Women's Basketball, we really appreciate it; we feel that love and will continue to grow."