ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's basketball team continued its run of hot play on Wednesday as it wrapped up the regular season with a 60-47 victory over Boston University. Needing to defeat the Terriers (11-18, 5-13 PL) to have a chance at the number four seed in the upcoming Patriot League Tournament, the Mids (19-10, 11-7 PL) used a dominant second quarter to turn a tied 17-17 score into a 13-point halftime lead that they would hold onto for the entire second half at Alumni Hall.

With its victory and a loss by Holy Cross to Army, Navy finished in a three-way tie with Holy Cross and Bucknell. On the strength of a 4-0 record against the Crusaders and Bison, the Mids were awarded the fourth seed, while a season sweep by Holy Cross over Bucknell gave the Crusaders the fifth seed and left the Bison to settle for the sixth position.

Kyah Smith (So., Richmond, Va.) sparked Navy's effort with an efficient 17 points off the bench on Wednesday via a 5-9 shooting mark from the floor, a 2-4 mark from three-point range and a perfect 5-5 showing from the foul line. Zanai Barnett-Gay (So., Glenn Dale, Md.) filled up the box score with 11 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals over 38 minutes of action, while Morgan Demos (Jr., Downers Grove, Ill.) tallied her fifth double-digit scoring output of the season with 10 points to go along with four assists and a game-high three steals. A selfless and under-the-radar performance came from Toni Papahronis (Jr., Edmond, Okla.), who grabbed a career-best 11 rebounds, while spending the majority of her time on Wednesday matched up against Boston's 6'5 center Anete Adler and held her to just 4-10 shooting from the floor.

"I thought we did a great job of defending tonight," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "We held them [BU] to 47 points, that's a great defensive effort. Granted they missed some shots, but I thought that we were really aggressive. Our guards helped out a lot. We were pretty locked in; we didn't miss many assignments all game. Toni was phenomenal; the stats do not tell the story of the things that she was doing out there. To play nearly 30 minutes, grab 11 rebounds and be constantly banging around in the post, something she's not used to, and make two key jumpers when we were making our run in the second quarter is pretty darn good.

"We're still finding our identity as we go along. At halftime, Zanai and Julianna [Almeida] were a combined 1-10 and we were up 13. That's a testament to our team, our depth and other people stepping up. Eventually, they got going in the second half, but everyone played a role in this win."

Boston University opened the early action with a 9-4 lead over the first five minutes of play on Wednesday. A steal and fast break outlet pass from Barnett-Gay to Demos at 4:54 drew the Mids within three before a three-pointer from Julianna Almeida (Fr., North Arlington, N.J.) knotted the game at 9-9 on the ensuing possession. A scoreless stretch over two-plus minutes slowed down the scoring as Smith tallied the final basket of the quarter at 1:27 to make it 11-9. A single free throw by BU the next time down the court ended the period with an 11-10 score.

The game stayed close with the teams trading points for most of the first three-plus minutes of the second quarter as the score was knotted 17-17 at 6:36 following a Papahronis jumper. Another jumper by Papahronis, 48 seconds later, kick-started a dominant close to the half by the Mids. While not scoring herself on Navy's next possession, Papahronis facilitated on Demos' fourth made basket of the half and Mids were off to the tune of an 18-5 run. Smith was particularly effective in a span between 3:33 and 2:33 with eight straight points, including a three-pointer, a 3-3 trip to the foul line and a pull-up jumper. A three-pointer by Mary Gibbons (Fr., Holden, Mass.) with 40 seconds left in the period sent Navy into the locker room up 35-22. As a team, the Mids shot 8-15 from the field and 6-7 from the foul line in the quarter, while turning five Terrier turnovers into 11 points. The points off of turnovers stat was key in the first half as Navy out-scored BU, 15-0 in the category.

The Mids stretched their lead out to a game-high 15 points on their first possession of the second half as Demos found Barnett-Gay cutting through the lane for a layup. With the score, 37-22, Boston focused on making a comeback and did just that with 13 of the next 18 points over the next six minutes. Threatened, but not shaken, Navy ratcheted up its defense and held BU to 0-3 shooting and a turnover over the ensuing three minutes of play. A second-chance basket by Saran Moschella (So., Staten Island, N.Y.) and two successful free throws by Barnett-Gay extended the Mids' lead from 42-35 to 46-36 in short order. A layup by the Terriers before the expiration of the quarter made it an eight-point game through three.

An extremely slow and grinding defensive effort by teams monopolized play to start the fourth quarter as the scoreboard stayed stuck on 46-38 for over three minutes before Barnett-Gay took advantage of another second-chance opportunity and sank a jumper at 6:34 to give Navy a double-digit lead. That basket sparked the duo of Barnett-Gay and Almeida down the stretch in the fourth quarter as the talented pair combined to score the Mids' next nine points and bubble the host's lead back out to 15, 55-40 with 4:14 left in regulation. A brief 6-2 run by Boston pulled the Terriers within four points, before Navy's team captain Maren Louridas (Jr., Delmar, N.Y.) put the finishing touches on the win with a dagger three-pointer from the wing with 56 seconds remaining.

In its 60-47 victory, Navy out-shot Boston, 34.9 percent (22-63) to 32.0 (16-50) from the floor and 76.9 percent (10-13) to 50.0 (10-20) from the foul line, while the Terriers held a slight 38.5 percent (5-13) to 30.0 (6-20) edge in three-point shooting.

The Mids were strong on the glass on Wednesday with a 44-36 advantage in rebounds on the strength of 19 offensive caroms. The trio of Papahronis, Barnett-Gay and Almeida combined for 29 of those rebounds with Papahronis grabbing a career-high 11 boards, while Barnett-Gay and Almeida had nine each. As a team, Navy recorded 14 second-chance points versus only three for BU.

Navy's ball movement was crisp with 15 assists on 22 made baskets. Almeida, Barnett-Gay and Demos all finished with four helpers. Papahronis rounded out her statline with three assists.

Defensively, the Mids forced the Terriers into 14 turnovers and were credited with six steals. Demos led all players with three steals; Barnett-Gay had a pair of steals. Navy translated those 14 turnovers into a 17-7 scoring advantage over BU.

"If Kyah is playing like that, we're a hard team to beat because we have so many weapons," commented Taylor. "We needed her tonight, especially in the first half. She bailed us out. Defensively, she's improved so much during this latter stretch of the season. She's really competing and making winning plays.

"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 in the postseason."

At the conclusion of Patriot League action on Wednesday night, Navy ended tied for fourth place with Holy Cross with an 11-7 record. Due to the head-to-head tie-breaker (2-0), the Mids earned the opportunity to host the Crusaders in the quarterfinals of the Patriot League Tournament on Monday night. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. for Alumni Hall.