ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The postseason is here and Navy's quest for a title begins on Monday with a Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal matchup versus Holy Cross at home. A three-time league champion in 2011, 2012 and 2013, the fourth-seeded Mids (19-10. 11-7 PL) will host a Crusader (18-11, 11-7 PL) team that they swept in the regular season, by 11 points at home in January and nine on the road two weeks ago in Worcester. That sweep coupled with a sweep of Bucknell allowed Navy to garner the fourth seed coming out of a three-way tie breaker as all of the teams finished the regular season with identical 11-7 league marks. Winners of four straight games to conclude the regular season, the Mids will be looking to carry over that momentum into Monday's contest with an eye on advancing in the tournament semifinals on Thursday evening. Tip-off in Annapolis is set for 6 p.m. at Alumni Hall on Monday night.

Monday's Navy-Holy Cross 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 in the Patriot League Tournament
The Mids are 29-29 all-time in Patriot League Tournament action and have won three league championships (2011-12-13) during the program's 33-year history with the conference ... In its first four years under the guidance of head coach Tim Taylor, Navy is 3-3 as the Mids did not participate in the 2021 tournament due to COVID-19 protocols, but returned in 2022 with a first round home victory over ninth-seeded Colgate and a buzzer-beating upset win at the top-seed Holy Cross. Navy fell in the first round of the 2023 tournament at American, 78-71. Last season, the Mids knocked off the Lafayette Leopards in the first round at home, 67-45, before dropping a tight 69-64 battle on the road at Colgate in the quarterfinals ... Navy is 17-12 all-time in quarterfinal action and 16-4 in tournament games played on their home court ... The last time the Mids hosted a tournament quarterfinal contest was in 2018; the third-seeded Navy squad advanced with a 63-55 victory over Loyola.

Navy versus Holy Cross
The Mids and Crusaders have met 76 times in a series that began on January 18, 1992 … All-time, Holy Cross leads Navy, 51-25 with a 23-14 advantage in games played in Annapolis… The two teams had never met prior to the Mids joining the Patriot League in 1991-92 … The series has had multiple lengthy streaks in its history with Holy Cross winning the first eight games, followed by streaks of seven, 10 and 11 consecutive wins by the Crusaders; overall they won 36 of the first 40 games in the series (1992-2008); beginning with the 2009-10 season, Navy swung momentum in its direction with sweeps of the 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2107, 2018 and 2025 season series … Over the last 10 contests, the series edge goes to Holy Cross, 7-3 though Navy took the most recent meeting in the Patriot League Tournament in dramatic fashion on March 7, 2022 in the quarterfinals of the as Jennifer Coleman banked a game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer ... The teams have met in 10 Patriot League Tournament games and the Crusaders have come out on top in seven of those matchups.
    Last Five Games:
    Feb. 22, 2025 (A): Navy 66 - Holy Cross 57
    Jan. 8, 2025 (H): Navy 67 - Holy Cross 56
    Feb. 24, 2024 (A): Holy Cross 71 - Navy 63
    Jan. 10, 2024 (H): Holy Cross 69 - Navy 54
    Feb. 4, 2023 (H): Holy Cross 71 - Navy 52

Most Recent Navy-Holy Cross Matchup ... February 22, 2025 in Worcester
Navy clinched a top-six seed in the upcoming Patriot League Tournament with a well-rounded victory over Holy Cross on Saturday afternoon. Coming into the day three games up on seventh-place Lafayette with four games to go, the Mids (16-10, 8-7 PL) left nothing to fate as they received strong performances from throughout their roster and led for over 36 minutes as part of a 66-57 win on the Crusaders' (16-10, 9-6 PL) home court.

In a complete showing of top-to-bottom accomplishment at the Hart Center, all six Mids that played more than 12 minutes on Saturday finished with seven or more points. Zanai Barnett-Gay led her squad with 18 points to go along with six rebounds, six assists and a steal. Julianna Almeida recorded her first career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds over a team-high 38 minutes. Kyah Smith gave Navy its third double-digit scorer with 10 points off the bench. Maren Louridas added a career-high 13 rebounds in addition to scoring seven points and assisting on three other baskets.

Invigorated by their home crowd and celebrating their senior class, the Crusaders broke out to an early 5-2 lead over the opening two minutes before the Mids fired back with back-to-back baskets by Barnett-Gay and Toni Papahronis to take the lead 7-5 by the 6:50 mark. After Holy Cross pulled even a minute later, Navy ran off a streak of nine of the next 11 points to go up 16-9 at 2:59. Barnett-Gay scored seven of her team's points during this stretch. The Crusaders closed the quarter on an 8-2 run to tighten the game to an 18-17 score through 10 minutes of play.

The ebbs-and-flow of the contest flipped back to the Mids to start the second period as the visitors scored seven of the first nine points to build their lead back out to six, 25-19 over the first 2:37 of the quarter. Navy's juniors played a leading role in this strong start as Louridas sank a three-pointer at 8:02 before Morgan Demos found Papahronis for an easy layup at 7:23. The two-time defending Patriot League champions, Holy Cross twice cut its deficit to two points over the next six minutes before Barnett-Gay concluded the stanza with a pair of consecutive field goal conversions in the final 67 seconds to end the half at 33-27 in favor of Navy. Defensively, the Mids held the Crusaders to just 4-15 from the field as part of their 10-point output in the quarter.

The second half opened with the margin holding between four and seven points for Navy over the initial three-plus minutes. With the score 36-31, Simone Foreman helped Holy Cross draw within three points with a jumper at 6:05. A successful 'and-one' situation for Almeida 46 seconds later jolted the Mids back up six. The yo-yo action of the scoreboard saw the Crusaders whittle their deficit to three at 3:58 before Saran Moschella responded with a three-pointer and a minute later a similar basket-for-basket rebuttal occurred with Almeida nailing her first three-pointer of the game to make it 45-38 at 2:34. An exchange of field goals in the final 83 seconds of the quarter slightly improved Holy Cross' chances at the end of the stanza as the teams retired to their benches with Navy up 47-42.

The close competitive clash continued into the final quarter as the Mids bent, but never broke as the Crusaders were able to make it a one-possession game at 8:31 when it was 47-45 and later at 5:39 when the score was 51-48. Driving layups by Papahronis and Smith 28 seconds apart quickly gave Navy breathing room at 55-48. The Mids never allowed the Crusaders to get closer than five (57-52 and 62-57) to clinch the road victory. Smith led Navy's scoring effort in the fourth with six of the Mids' 19 points as six different players recorded points.

For the game, Navy out-shot Holy Cross, 39.4 percent (26-66) to 37.7 (23-61) from the field, while the Crusaders had nominal edges in three-point shooting, 36.4 percent (4-11) to 25.0 (6-24) and 63.6 percent (7-11) to 61.5 (8-13) from the foul line.

Navy had a substantial advantage in the rebounding, 47-36 as the Mids grabbed 12 offensive caroms versus five for the Crusaders. Louridas led all players with 13 boards, while Almeida snagged 10; both results were personal career-highs.

Navy had a strong day handling the ball as it finished with a 14-to-10 assist-to-turnover ratio. Barnett-Gay posted a game-high with six helpers.

Comparing the Teams

(2024-25 Stats)	Navy	Holy Cross
Record / League-Only	19-10 / 11-7 PL	18-11 / 11-7 PL
Home / Away / Neut. Record	9-7 / 9-3 / 1-0	8-5 / 10-6
Points Per Game	67.3 PPG	61.1 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	60.9 PPG	57.3 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	38.1 %	41.4 %
3-Point Percentage	31.3 %	31.6 %
Free Throw Percentage	69.0 %	75.4 %
Rebounds Per Game	40.4 RPG	35.0 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	13.4 / 13.6	15.3 / 14.9

Individual Leaders

(2024-25 Stats)	Navy	Holy Cross
Points Per Game	Zanai Barnett-Gay, 18.8 ppg	Simone Foreman, 13.9 ppg
Rebounds Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 7.8 rpg	S. Foreman, 7.5 rpg
Assists Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 3.1 apg	Kaitlyn Flanagan, 5.2 apg
Field Goal Percentage	Morgan Demos, 47.1 %	Lindsay Berger, 54.3 %
3-Point Percentage	Julianna Almeida, 39.5 %	Mary-Elizabeth Donnelly, 39.1 %
Free Throw Percentage	Z. Barnett-Gay, 79.3 %	S. Foreman, 85.5 %

Last Time Out -- Wednesday vs. Boston University in Annapolis
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 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 filled up the box score with 11 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals over 38 minutes of action, while Morgan Demos 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, 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.

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 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 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 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 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.

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.