LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Navy women's basketball team came out on a mission on Wednesday night and passed their task with flying colors in a dominate 26-point road victory over Bucknell. After a subpar game on Saturday versus Holy Cross that lacked the team's normal gritty, passionate and energy-filled effort, the Mids (8-6, 2-1 PL) made it their objective to turn the page on that performance and impose their will and style on the Bison (4-10, 0-3 PL). They did just that and out-scored the hosts 45-16 over the second and third quarters to roll to a 77-51 win at Bucknell's Sojka Pavilion.

Additionally, Navy out-muscled and out-hustled Bucknell to the tune of a 23-rebound advantage in total caroms, 48-to-25 on Wednesday. On the strength of a 15-to-5 edge in offensive rebounds, the Mids cruised with 19 second chance points versus just four for the Bison.

Individually, Navy had all 14 of its active players appear in the contest with 10 making at least one basket and three others grabbing at least one rebound or steal. Zoe Mesuch (Fr., Clintondale, N.Y.) led all players on Wednesday night with 15 points and three steals, while fellow plebe Quinn Boettinger (Schwenksville, Pa.) added 13 points off the bench in just 13 minutes of action. Julianna Almeida (So., North Arlington, N.J.) spearheaded the Mids' second half effort with nine of her 12 total points. Though only netting 10 points, Zanai Barnett-Gay (Jr., Glenn Dale, Md.) filled up the box score for Navy with game-highs of 13 rebounds and seven assists to go along with a +29 plus/minus statistic.  With her tenth and final point on Wednesday, Barnett-Gay moved into a tied with Jennifer Coleman for tenth place in the program's all-time scoring list with 1,368 career points.

"We came into this game saying that we wanted to win the energy battle," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "That was the only word that we stressed pregame, 'energy ... who's going to bring the energy.' Our entire roster and our entire staff was trying to bring the energy all night long. We went to the glass with purpose tonight. Against Holy Cross we just didn't have the effort and shied away from the physicality; we didn't stay attached. Tonight, we did a really good job boxing out and only gave up five offensive rebounds; and even two or three of those we fought all the way to the floor for. We stayed attached and stayed locked into the entire play. The way we practiced leading up to the game carried over. That was a good 40 minutes of competing and bringing the energy.

"When we came out in the third quarter on a 13-0 run, we were rolling. We were hitting threes, we were moving the ball and we were defending. Getting Quinn back tonight definitely helped us quite a bit. She was able to get out there and make some plays. She ran the floor really well and helped our spacing. We played with four guards for a large portion of the game with Mary [Gibbons] joining the lineup. We spread the floor a little bit more and that opened up things inside for her. I feel that Morgan Demos had an unbelievable game. The stat sheet won't show it, but she was so active defensively on their pick-and-rolls and hand-offs. She was constantly getting her hands on passes, loose balls and rebounds. She had to guard a guard tonight. She did a really, really phenomenal job defensively tonight."

The game opened evenly as defense ruled the first four minutes of action as Navy held a slight 5-4 lead, while shooting just 2-of-8 from the field, though restricting Bucknell to just a 1-of-5 mark of its own. A defensive rebound by Barnett-Gay and quick outlet up the wing to a wide-open Mary Gibbons (So., Holden, Mass.) for three built the Mids' lead up to four, 8-4 at 5:26. An 8-2 response by the Bison jolted the hosts into the lead, 12-10 by the 3:50 juncture of the quarter. The teams traded baskets down the stretch with each squad matching makes to allow Bucknell to hold an 18-17 advantage at the first quarter break. As a team, the Bison shot 7-of-14 from the floor, while the Mids were 7-of-20.

"They [Bucknell] shot the ball extremely well in the first quarter, but my question was would they be able to continue at the pace we were playing at," commented Taylor about Wednesday's opening action. "I was really pleased with how were playing. I thought we were getting the shots that we wanted, we were playing at our pace and we were getting up into them with our defense. We gave up a few threes, but I was comfortable knowing that if we were able to defend like that, we'd be okay. We stressed that going into the second quarter -- keep defending."

The Mids did just that to the tune of an 8-0 run that eventually extended out to a 17-2 run to start the second quarter. Holding Bucknell without a made basket until the 6:06 mark, Navy opened the second period with points on four straight possessions as Morgan Demos (Sr., Downers Grove, Ill.) went back-to-back with layups at 9:52 and 9:32 before Barnett-Gay and Almeida made the Bison pay with second chance baskets. Boettinger played a leading roll in the second half of this long six-and-a-half-minute run as she made three layups in a matter of 56 seconds between 4:26 and 3:30. Up 34-20, the Mids kept their foot on the gas and built up a 38-24 lead going into halftime.

In total, Navy out-scored Bucknell, 21-6 in the second quarter and out-shot the Bison, 50.0 percent (10-20) to 18.8 (3-16). Seven different Mids scored during the period. Six points allowed tied a season-low for a Navy opponent in one quarter as the Mids held the Florida Gators to six points in the third quarter of their matchup on Nov. 16.

With Bucknell skidding and on the ropes after a trying second quarter, Navy immediately went in for the jugular and opened the third quarter with 13 unanswered points on 4-of-5 shooting, including three three-pointers. Almeida sparked this initial burst with a successful jumper on the Mids' first possession and a fast break trey following a Barnett-Gay rebounds and outlet pass. Three-pointers by Gibbons and Mesuch at 8:00 and 6:45, respectively, capped this run and left Navy up 27, 51-24. The Mids continued to meld hard-nosed defense with aggressive quick-strike offense as twice they went up by 29 points in the quarter, 55-26 at 4:21 and 66-33 with 15 seconds remaining in the period. A late Bucknell free throw closed the stanza with Navy up 28, 62-34.

As a team in the third, the Mids shot 63.6 percent (7-11) from the field, 66.7 percent from three (4-6) and 75.0 percent (6-8) from the free throw line, while holding the Bison to respectively values of 26.7 percent (4-15), 14.3 (1-7) and 50.0 (1-2) in the quarter.

With the result nearly wrapped up, Navy cruised in the fourth quarter with a 30-plus point lead from 6:26 through 2:30. A three-pointer by Mesuch, her third of the game, gave the Mids their first 30-point lead of 67-37 at 6:26 before Grace Minihane (Fr., Colorado Springs, Colo.) increased the Mids' advantage to a game-high 35 with her first collegiate field goal at 3:35, 75-40. Bucknell concluded the game on an 11-2 run over the final three-plus minutes to tighten the final differential to 26, 77-51.

The 26-point margin of victory is the second-most in program history in a win over Bucknell and Navy's first 20-plus point victory since Feb. 2, 2013 when it won by 21, 61-40. The all-time largest margin of victory for the Mids over the Bison is 30, 70-40 from Jan. 8, 2010.

Navy out-shot Bucknell from the field, 45.5 percent (30-66) to 32.1 (18-56) and 33.3 percent (8-24) to 16.0 (4-25) from three-point range. The Bison held an advantage from the foul line, 78.6 percent (11-14) to 52.9 (9-17).

The Mids dominated the glass with 48 rebounds, while the Bison were only able to grab 25. That total is Navy's highest during a regulation game this season (they had 52 in overtime against Duquesne). The Mids also had a substantial edge in offensive rebounds, 15-to-5, and directly turned those extended possessions into 19 second chance points versus four for the Bison. Barnett-Gay led all players with 13 rebounds. The talented junior guard also paced all players with seven assists versus just one turnover. Both her rebounding and assist totals tied Barnett-Gay's individual season-highs.

Defensively, Navy forced Bucknell into 14 turnovers and was credited with 10 steals. Mesuch spearheaded the Mids' effort with three steals; Barnett-Gay was one back with a pair of thefts.

"Everybody played a role in this victory," exclaimed Taylor. "From one-to-fourteen, we'll be able to look back at the game film and pinpoint certain positive plays. It's going to take that kind of complete team effort to win games deep into the season. We had all five of our freshmen play in the first half as Grace [Minihane] and Sidney [Quinn] got some minutes for us early on. They've been practicing pretty darn good recently and that's our motto 'if you're going to practice well, we're going to try and give you an opportunity on game day.' I thought that they did well with their time tonight."

After getting back to Annapolis Wednesday night, Navy will turn around on Friday and head right back to Pennsylvania in preparation for its next Patriot League contest on Saturday afternoon when it goes head-to-head with Lafayette in Easton. Tip-off between the Mids and Leopards is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday.