ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Coming off a pair of dominant 25-plus point wins on the road last week, the Navy women's basketball team will looking to keep the momentum going with two straight home games within the friendly confines of Alumni Hall this week. First up in the homestand is a Wednesday night matchup versus American at 7 p.m. The contest between the Mids (9-6, 3-1 PL) and the Eagles (4-11, 2-2 PL) promises to be a clash of styles as Navy prides itself on explosive offensive production with a 71.1 points per game scoring average, while American hopes to slow the pace down as they've yet to score more than 66 points in a game this year and have out-scored their opponents 60.8 to 56.3 in their four victories this season. The Mids have swept the Eagles in each of the last two seasons with three of those wins coming by 14 or more points.

Wednesday's Navy-American 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 1430 AM, online at WNAV.com or through the iHeart and Audacy platforms.  

Navy versus American
The Mids and Eagles have met 71 times in a series that began on February 16, 1978  ... All-time, American leads Navy, 43-28 on the strength of its dominant 27-7 mark over 34 meetings at Bender Arena; that trend is reversed as the Mids hold a 20-14 edge in games at Alumni Hall ... Navy broke an 11-year/14-game losing streak at Bender Arena on Feb. 14, 2024 with a 69-55 victory ... 2024's season sweep was the first for the Mids since 2013 and they mirrored that outcome again in 2025  ... Since the Eagles joined the Patriot League in 2001-02, American is 28-21 against Navy ... In the last 10 American-Navy games, the Eagles are 6-4 overall with the Mids ... Navy is currently on a four-game winning streak over American
    Last 5 Games:
    Feb. 26, 2025 (H): Navy 88 - American 60
    Jan. 2, 2025 (A): Navy 66 - American 59
    March 2, 2024 (H): Navy 73 - American 57
    Feb. 14, 2024 (A): Navy 69 - American 55
    March 4, 2023 (A): American 78 - Navy 71 **Patriot League Tournament First Round

Most Recent Navy-American Matchup ... February 26, 2025 in Annapolis
The Navy women's basketball team found itself in a tight battle versus American for over 20-plus minutes on Wednesday before turning up the pressure, forcing 15 second half turnovers and outscoring the Eagles 50-28 over the third and fourth quarters on its way to a record-setting 88-60 victory at Alumni Hall.

The 88 points scored on Wednesday are the most-ever by a Midshipmen squad over a Patriot League foe in a regulation length game as the previous-high was 87 against Army in the Patriot League Tournament Semifinals on Feb. 27, 1999.

Navy's attack was well-balanced as 10 of the 11 players that appeared on Wednesday night scored points led by a career-best outing from Mary Gibbons, who tallied 23 points on 7-8 shooting from three-point range. Her seven makes are tied for the eighth-most by a Mid in a single-game and equals Taylor Dunham's output from Feb. 28, 2018 versus American. Gibbons was joined in double figures by Zanai Barnett-Gay, who recorded 17 points, while Maren Louridas, who added a season-high 13 points to go along with a team-high six rebounds. Morgan Blackford and Morgan Demos nearly gave Navy five players in double digits as both players recorded nine points on the evening.

The action started out evenly as the game was tied at 8-8, 10-10 and 12-12 over the initial six minutes of play. Demos provided the early spark for the Mids' offensively as she scored six of her team's first eight points, with all of them coming over a 72-second span of play between 8:44 and 7:32. A three-pointer by Gibbons at 2:58 gave Navy a brief 15-14 lead as American had an immediate rebuttal courtesy of a Grace Koepke layup. Baskets by Barnett-Gay and Saran Moschella over the Mids' final two possessions of the quarter tied the game for a fourth time at 19-19.

The game continued at a basket-for-basket pace into the second quarter as the teams were knotted again at 21-21 and 23-23. Following a free throw by the Eagles' Molly Driscoll at 7:36 to give the visitors a 24-23 edge, Gibbons swung the lead back into the Mids' favor with her second three-pointer of the game and Navy would never look back as they were up for the ensuing 27:20. That trey kicked off an 8-0 run with a Julianna Almeida jumper sandwiched in-between another Gibbons three-pointer at 4:51. With the score 31-24, the Eagles shaved a single point off their deficit over the final four-plus minutes of the half as the teams retired to their respective locker rooms with Navy ahead 38-32.

A 4-0 individual start to the third quarter by Driscoll pulled American within two points, 38-36, by the 9:03 mark before Navy loudly re-engaged its offense to the tune of a 9-0 run. Toni Papahronis played a pivotal role in this stretch of the action as she knocked down a three-pointer from the corner before getting a steal, an offensive rebound and putback and finally a dramatic second steal as she dove into the backcourt for a loose ball and called timeout to keep possession as American players lunged towards her.

Up 47-36 at 6:53, Navy's lead bounded between eight and 11 for the next three-plus minutes before the Mids turned up the heat even more of the final 3:22 with a 10-2 close to the quarter. Eight of those points came from Gibbons, including back-to-back baskets from beyond the arc 28 seconds apart at 2:14 and 1:46. As part of its dynamic 25-12 third quarter effort, Navy forced nine American turnovers on six steals and extended three possessions with offensive rebounds. 14 of the Mids' points came off of turnovers or second chance opportunities.

Ahead 63-44 at the start of the fourth quarter, Navy cruised to the win as it never allowed American to get closer than 19 (68-49 at 7:05). Louridas found her stroke from distance over the first three minutes of the final stanza with a pair of three-pointers. With the score 73-49 at 6:52, Blackford was the story down the stretch as the sophomore walk-on from the Naval Academy's track & field program scored nine of the Mids' final 15 points on 2-2 shooting from the field and five successful free throws. Those nine points set a new career-high for Blackford.
 
For the game, American out-shot Navy from the field by a slim 45.1 percent (23-51) to 44.9 (31-69) margin, though the Mids had better accuracy from three-point range, 38.5 percent (10-26) to 14.3 (3-21) and from the foul line, 59.3 percent (16-27) to 50.0 (11-22).

The Mids had excellent ball movement on Wednesday night with 18 assists on their 31 made baskets. Papahronis had a game-high four assists, while five of her teammates had multiple helpers, as well.

Defensively, Navy forced American into 27 turnovers, a total that is the most by a DI opponent of the Mids since Nov. 9, 2019 when Clemson turned the ball over 31 times. The Mids' defense was credited with 11 steals as Barnett-Gay (3), Papahronis (2), Louridas (2), Gibbons (2) and Kelli Giuliani (2) all recorded multiple thefts.

Comparing the Teams

(2025-26 Stats)	Navy	American
Record / League-Only	9-6 / 3-1 PL	4-11 / 2-2 PL
Home / Away / Neutral Record	5-3 / 4-3	4-3 / 0-8
Points Per Game	71.1 PPG	55.3 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	64.2 PPG	65.0 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	41.5 %	35.6 %
3-Point Percentage	30.8 %	26.5 %
Free Throw Percentage	68.0 %	69.6 %
Rebounds Per Game	39.5 RPG	33.7 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	15.7 / 14.7	11.2 / 14.9

Individual Leaders

(2025-26 Stats)	Navy	American
Points Per Game	Zanai Barnett-Gay, 17.3 ppg	Molly Driscoll, 12.9 ppg
Rebounds Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 8.2 rpg	Charlotte Tuhy, 10.4 rpg
Assists Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay 4.2 apg	Lexi Salazar, 2.7 apg
Field Goal Percentage	Kate Samson, 51.6 %	C. Tuhy, 41.1 %
3-Point Percentage	Mary Gibbons, 38.8 %	C. Tuhy, 33.3 %
Free Throw Percentage	Z. Barnett-Gay, 78.7 %	M. Driscoll, 78.8 %

Last Time Out -- Saturday, January 10 at Lafayette in Easton
The Navy women's basketball team started out fast and kept its foot on the gas pedal for 40 minutes on Saturday as it rolled to a 97-58 road victory over Lafayette. After shooting 40.9 percent, but still scoring 24 points in the first quarter, the Mids (9-6, 3-1 PL) found that next gear and shot a scalding 65.9 percent over the final 30 minutes of action to turn a seven-point lead into a dominant 39-point margin of victory over the Leopards (6-9, 2-2 PL). Navy's effort on Saturday at the Kirby Sports Center saw the team break two records and post two more top-10 single-game all-time marks.

The Mids' 97 total points were the most-ever against an NCAA DI opponent and their 39-point margin of victory was the highest-ever versus Lafayette in 87 meetings. Other new editions to the program's single-game record book were 26 assists tying the seventh-most all-time in a contest, while their 38 made fields tied for tenth all-time.

Individually, Zanai Barnett-Gay closed in on a triple-double for the second-straight game as she recorded 26 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists in 33 minutes of action. On Wednesday at Bucknell, she finished with 10 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists in Navy's blowout win over the Bison. Zoe Mesuch also played a pivotal role in the Mids' success on Saturday as scored 22 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field with a 6-of-12 mark from three-point range, while also assisting on a career-high eight baskets. Her previous high was four assists in a game. Quinn Boettinger gave Navy three players in double figures as she registered 10 points and seven rebounds in 17 minutes of playing time.

The action on Saturday opened evenly as Lafayette was undaunted by Navy's pace both offensively and defensively as it was 7-7 through three-plus minutes of play. After Morgan Demos briefly put the Mids up two, 9-7 at 6:20, the Leopards fired back with eight unanswered points to bolt out to a 15-9 advantage. Navy had a loud rebuttal of its own to the tune of seven straight points to pull ahead, 16-15 by the 3:17 mark. Julianna Almeida began this run with one of her go-to elbow jumpers at 4:55. A possession that perfectly encapsulated the Mids' heart and hustle mindset came during this segment of the action as Boettinger started the possession by batting a pass away for a steal before the Mids fought for three offensive rebounds and Mesuch finally found Christina Liggio cutting to the rim for a driving layup. A three-pointer by Liggio and later a second chance offensive rebound and put back by Boettinger increased Navy's lead to 21-15 just one minute later at 2:17. Three made free throws with less than a second remaining in the quarter by Barnett-Gay gave the Mids a 24-17 advantage.

Navy slowly started putting distance between itself and Lafayette within the first three minutes of the second quarter as the Mids broke out a 10-point lead, 29-19 at 8:37 before increasing it to 11, 31-20 at 7:17. Following that Barnett-Gay turnaround jumper, Lafayette never saw its deficit reach single digits again. Navy had its way shooting threes, but also dissecting Lafayette's interior defense as 12 off its points came inside the paint with nine more coming from beyond the three-point line. Boettinger served as the dominant post player, while Barnett-Gay was the athletic slasher to the hoop with Mesuch setting up shop from three-point range. That dynamic trio tallied 22 of the Mids' 24 points in the second quarter as the teams retired to their locker rooms at half time with Navy up 48-33.

As a team, Navy shot 66.7 percent (10-15) from the field and 50.0 percent (3-6) in the second quarter.

The Mids built off that scorching shooting performance from the second stanza with a somehow even better 6-6 start to the third quarter. Not missing a shot from the field until the 2:51 mark of the third quarter, Navy increased its lead with an overall run of 18-9. Mesuch was the spark plug during this span with eight points on 2-of-2 shooting from three-point range, as well as 2-of-2 from the foul line. Five other Mids provided the additional 10 points. With the score 66-42 following that first missed shot, Navy continued pulling away as the visitors took a 25-point lead into the quarter break, 75-50.

Overall, Navy shot 69.2 percent (9-13) from the field, 80.0 percent (4-5) from three-point range and 71.4 percent (5-7) from the foul line in its highest-scoring quarter of the game (27 points).

The Mids kept up the intensity on both ends of the court throughout all 40 minutes as the fourth quarter opened with a 14-4 run over the first 4:32 of play. Navy's guards made everything happen during this span of play as Mesuch hit two more three-pointers, Mary Gibbons ran out for a pair of fast break layups and Barnett-Gay had one of her patented picked off passes and breakaway layups. Up 35, 89-54, Navy nearly reached the 40-point threshold twice over the final four minutes of regulation as the Mids rode Lizzie Holder down the stretch with four baskets in their final six possessions. Navy went up 39, 95-56, at 1:49 and later with 57 seconds to go with the final score of 97-58.
 
For the game, Navy out-shot Lafayette, 57.6 percent (38-66) to 42.9 (21-49) from the field and 44.4 percent (12-27) to 33.3 (5-15) from three-point range. The Leopards hit 91.7 percent (11-12) for their shots from the foul line versus 69.2 (9-13) for the Mids.

The Mids had a day for the record books with their ball-handling as they assisted on 26 of their 38 made baskets. That total is tied for seventh-most in a single game. Mesuch assisted on a career-high eight field goals, while Barnett-Gay finished with seven helpers. Navy's assist-to-turnover ratio on Saturday was 26-to-11.

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. Enter Gate 5 off Taylor Ave. to park at the stadium. Fans 18 and over need a government-issued photo ID. 
**Starting May 7, 2025, in accordance with The Real ID Act of 2005, visitors entering through the Pedestrian Gate 1 Visitor Control Center or accessing the USNA through the fan shuttle bus for a game should be prepared to present a REAL ID-compliant driver's license, U.S. Passport, enhanced state-issued ID, or another acceptable form of identification, to access federal facilities.  Foreign passports are NOT permitted for general access.