ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's basketball team continued its run of scorching hot basketball with an 86-68 win over American on Wednesday night. After averaging 87 points in back-to-back victories over Bucknell and Lafayette last week, the Mids (10-6, 4-1 PL) started out Wednesday's contest with an 18-0 run to build up a double-digit advantage that would never be touched by the Eagles (4-12, 2-3 PL) over the entirety of the game at Alumni Hall.

Navy's offense clicked throughout with 22 or more points in three of the four quarters with 19 in the third period as the outlier. Once again pace and precision marked the Mids' success as they assisted on 22 made baskets, scored 25 points off of turnovers and knocked down 10 three-pointers to ease to the win.

Individually, four different Mids recorded double-digit scoring outputs with Zanai Barnett-Gay (Jr., Glenn Dale, Md.) leading the way with 24 points to go along with additional team-highs of eight rebounds, six assists and five steals over 34 minutes of action. The reigning Patriot League Rookie of the Week, Zoe Mesuch (Fr. Clintondale, N.Y.) provided strong support with 17 points on three three-pointers and four assists. Julianna Almeida (So., North Arlington, N.J.) and Christina Liggio (Fr., Colts Neck, N.J.) tied for third on the team with 13-point outputs.

"We were playing with great energy tonight," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "We were playing connected, we were constantly communicating and we were moving as a team. That start tonight came from our defense. Everyone talks about the offense; I know we scored 86 points, but we were constantly contesting things on the defensive end. We weren't giving up anything easy. When we defend like that we're a hard team to play against.

"I love to see that when someone gets the ball their head is up immediately as they're looking to find somebody and get the ball moving. We're doing a tremendous job with our decision-making and finding who's open. We had the goal of getting 20 assists again tonight and we had 22. That's proof that the ball is really moving. A 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio means we're in a pretty good spot."

Navy dominated the action from the opening tip as the hosts came out and shot a scalding 5-of-6 from the field over the first three minutes and forced American to burn a time out with the score 11-0. Mesuch was the early spark plug with five of the Mids' points. Navy continued to build on its initial run with seven more unanswered points following that timeout. Another three-pointer by Mesuch and a fast break layup from Boettinger put the final exclamation point on the 18-0 run. Defensively, Navy held American scoreless for nearly eight minutes with an 0-for-10 mark from the field and five turnovers. The Eagles finally broke onto the scoreboard at the 2:02 mark courtesy of a Molly Driscoll layup. Baskets by Maren Louridas (Sr., Delmar, N.Y.) and Liggio closed out the frame with Navy up 22-6.

As a team, the Mids shot 56.3 percent (9-16) from the field and converted five Eagle turnovers into eight points.

Navy kept its foot on the gas as it forced American into two more turnovers over the first three minutes, while adding to its lead with points on four straight possessions. Liggio led off the quarter with a three-pointer from the wing at 9:13 before Almeida drove the lane for an athletic layup at 8:28 and Louridas fought for an offensive rebound and putback at 7:39. With the score 30-8 after an Almeida free throw, the Mids continued to put distance between themselves and the Eagles with nine of the game's next 14 points to go up 39-13 by the 4:28 juncture of the stanza. That 26-point lead was the largest of the evening, as American was able to shave three points off its deficit before retiring to the locker room with the score, 44-21.

The third quarter opened with a shift in momentum as the Eagles registered back-to-back three-pointers with 90 seconds to draw within 17 before Barnett-Gay grabbed the reigns of the Mids' offense and countered back with consecutive baskets to re-extend her squad's lead over 20 points again. Liggio then took the torch for Barnett-Gay with five points of her own in quick succession to make it a 22-point game, 53-31 by the 5:01 mark. Twice American cut Navy's lead to 19, but Barnett-Gay had a different plan with eight individual points over the final 3:30 of the quarter to make it a 63-42 game through 30 minutes of action.

In total, Barnett-Gay scored 12 of the Mids' 19 points in the frame on 4-6 shooting from the floor with a pair of three-pointers and two free throws.

With the result nearly sewed up, Navy's lead in the fourth quarter reached as high as 23, 74-51, at 6:58 before American rattled off 10 straight points to tighten the contest up to 13, 74-61 with 3:50 left to play. Three-pointers by Mesuch, Barnett-Gay and Liggio down the stretch sealed the victory as Navy pressed on and walked away with the 86-68 decision.

For the game, Navy out-shot American, 47.1 percent (32-68) to 42.1 (24-57) from the field, though the Eagles held advantages in three-point shooting, 50.0 percent (11-22) to 30.3 (10-33) and at the foul line, 90.0 (9-10) to 70.6 (12-17).

The Mids won the rebounding battle on Wednesday night, 39-32 with a 12-6 edge in offensive rebounds. Navy was extremely efficient with those extra opportunities as it registered 16 second-chance points versus just two for American. Barnett-Gay led the Mids with eight rebounds with Quinn Boettinger (Fr., Schwenksville, Pa.) right behind her with seven.

Navy continued its run of strong ball-handling as the Mids assisted on 22 of 32 made baskets, while turning the ball over only 11 times. Barnett-Gay also led her squad in this category, as well with six helpers and zero turnovers.

Defensively, the Mids swarmed the Eagles to the tune of 17 turnovers and were credited with 12 steals. Barnett-Gay was constantly interrupting the action with a game-high five steals. Manning the paint, Boettinger blocked a career-high four shots on the evening.

"I'm proud of how our young players continue to perform," commented Taylor in closing. "We're constantly putting them in tough situations to test them now. There are things that they still don't know and have yet to experience in the collegiate game. We're coming up on the part of our schedule where we play three straight veteran teams that know how to win with Lehigh, Holy Cross and Army ahead over the next 10 days."

Navy will be back in action at home on Saturday afternoon with a 1 p.m. tip-off versus Lehigh. The matchup will showcase two of the three teams that are tied atop the standings for the Patriot League with identical 4-1 marks in league play. Army, Navy's opponent on Jan. 24, is the third team with a 4-1 record in early-season conference action.