ANNAPOLIS, Md. - After an offseason filled with hard work and preparation, the Navy women's basketball team is ready to continue its growth and aim to turn its 2025-26 Patriot League Regular Season Championship run into a Patriot League Tournament Championship and NCAA Tournament berth in 2026-27. Following a berth in last March's WBIT Tournament, Head Coach Tim Taylor's Midshipmen squad was the unanimous pick to win the Patriot League in this year's preseason coaches' poll. As a team, Navy returns four starters, 82.9 percent of its points, 70.1 percent of its rebounds and 80.7 percent of its assists from its 2025-26 roster, while adding three talented freshmen to its ranks. This seasoned and ever-improving squad will begin its season on Monday night at Mount St. Mary's. Tip-off between the Mids and Mountaineers is set for 7 p.m. at Knott Arena.

Monday's non-conference matchup against Mount St. Mary's leads off a 31-game regular season slate that consists of 13 out-of-league contests in November and December before the Patriot League comes into view in at the tail end of December. 

The Navy-Mount St. Mary's 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.

Scouting the Competition
Monday's matchup is the first of the 2026-27 season for both Navy and Mount St. Mary's ... During the 2025-26 season, the Mountaineers posted a .500 record with 15 wins and 15 losses on the strength of 11 wins in the MAAC and four non-conference victories over Morgan State, Loyola, Lehigh and Mercyhurst; they were one-and-done in the MAAC Tournament ... In the 2026-27 newly-renamed Metro Conference Preseason Poll, they were picked fifth of 13 teams; additionally Alana Powell was named to the All-Metro Preseason Second Team (8.4 ppg, 2.5 rpg in '25-26) ... They welcome 11 newcomers, five transfers and six freshmen to their program.

Navy vs. Mount St. Mary's 
The Mids and Mountaineers have faced off 29 times in a series that dates back to Navy's first varsity season (1977-78) ... In that first-ever matchup on Feb. 11, 1978, Navy dropped a 64-56 decision at home to the Mount ... Since that initial meeting, the teams regularly met in Maryland AIAW and Eastern AIAW competitions sometimes up to three times in a season ... Long-time rivals in the Division II ranks, Navy's first game as a Division I program came on Nov. 22, 1991 at the Mount St. Mary's Tip-Off; the Mids fell by a 63-50 score ... All-time, the Mountaineers hold a 20-9 advantage in the series, though separated out into Division I action (1991-Present), the series is just 6-4 in favor of the Mount ... The Mids have only won once in Emmitsburg on Feb. 11, 1979 in the first-ever Mount-Navy game on the Mountaineers' campus; all-time Mount St. Mary's is 11-1 in home games versus Navy ... The most recent Navy-Mount matchup was on Nov. 15, 2023 in Annapolis, the Mountaineers took that contest in overtime by eight, 67-59.
    Last Five Meetings
    Nov. 15, 2023 (H): Mount St. Mary's 67 - Navy 59 (OT)
    Nov. 19, 2022 (A): Mount St. Mary's 68 - Navy 59
    Dec. 3, 2013 (H): Navy 63 - Mount St. Mary's 55
    Dec. 8, 2012 (A): Mount St. Mary's 53 - Navy 45
    Nov. 26, 2011 (A): Mount St. Mary's 52 - Navy 45

Most Recent Navy-Mount St. Mary's Matchup -- Nov. 15, 2023 in Annapolis
The Navy women's basketball team led for over 26 minutes and held a four-point lead with just over 90 seconds to go in regulation, but a hard-charging Mount St. Mary's squad tied the game with 0.2 seconds remaining and then ran off the first 10 points of overtime to secure the 67-59 decision at Alumni Hall. An extremely close and competitive game between the Mids (1-2) and Mountaineers (1-1) saw the lead change nine times and be tied another seven times on Wednesday night.

The freshmen backcourt duo of Zanai Barnett-Gay and Kyah Smith led Navy as the pair combined for 43 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists. Individually, Barnett-Gay went for a career-high 28 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and three steals over 43 minutes of action, while Smith played every second of the 45-minute contest and netted a career-high 15 points to go along with six rebounds and four helpers.

A personal 7-2 run by Barnett-Gay sparked Navy early in the game as the Mids went from trailing 5-2 to pulling ahead 9-7 by the 6:29 mark of the first quarter. Two points each from Smith and Barnett-Gay over consecutive possessions at 4:15 and 3:50 helped the Mids extend their lead to 13-7 in short order. As quick as Navy started over the first six-plus minutes, Mount St. Mary's had a strong rebuttal down the stretch and scored the final seven points of the stanza to take a 14-13 lead into the quarter break.

A pair of perfect trips to the foul line by Kate Samson and Maren Louridas in back-to-back trips down the court swung Navy back in front of the Mount, 17-14 just 46 seconds into the second quarter. A 12-4 run by the Mountaineers over the next 4:47 pushed the visitors ahead, 26-21. The Mids' dynamic backcourt calmly drew the hosts back within one, 26-25 in short order with a jumper by Smith at 3:54 and a driving layup by Barnett-Gay at 3:21. Both teams added one field goal to their respective totals over the waning minutes of the quarter and the first half closed at a 28-27 edge in favor of Mount St. Mary's.

Similar to the previous quarter, Navy's early offense was spurred on by success at the foul line as Smith and Samson opened a flawless 4-for-4 at the charity stripe over the first 79 seconds of action. Seven unanswered points between 7:01 and 6:18, capped by a Smith trey from the right wing, instantly gave the Mids their largest lead of the game. The margin stayed at seven points for the next four-plus minutes as the teams traded brief four-point swings. Three late points in the final 33 seconds of the period helped the Mountaineers cut into their deficit and make it 44-40 through 30 minutes of play.

The extremely close and competitive game continued to entertain the fans at Alumni Hall well into the fourth quarter as Mount St. Mary's scored six of the frame's first nine points to pull within one, 47-46 by the 7:09 mark. Back-to-back baskets by Barnett-Gay aided Navy's offense in the middle portion of the quarter and made it 51-46 with 5:00 showing on the scoreboard. Strong defense from both teams had that score hold up for the next 90 seconds as the teams combined to shoot 0-for-5. The score slowly crept up to 53-49 with 1:53 left in regulation before a turnover and missed jumper on consecutive possessions by Navy was countered by a 4-for-5 showing at the foul line by the Mount, including two free throw conversions by Isabella Hunt with just 0.2 seconds remaining to force overtime.

Tied at 53-53 at the end of regulation, the Mountaineers used the momentum of their late 4-0 run to sprint pass the Mids to the tune of 10 unanswered points over the first 4:09 of the extra period. Fighting to the end, Navy clawed its way back to within six with 12 seconds remaining, but it was for naught as Mount St. Mary's would walk off victorious in overtime by a 67-59 final score.

For the game, Mount St. Mary's barely edged Navy, 34.5 percent (20-58) to 32.8 (21-64) in field goal shooting and 26.1 percent (6-23) to 12.5 (3-24) in three-point shooting. Both teams were highly effective at the foul line as the Mountaineers converted 21 of 27 shots at the charity stripe (77.8 percent), while the Mids were 14 of 17 for an 82.4 percent mark.

The battle on the glass was also decided by a razor thin edge as the visitors out-rebounded Navy, 43-42. Barnett-Gay led the Mids with 10 rebounds for her second double-double of the young season.

Comparing the Teams

Breaking Down the 2026-27 Mids
This season's edition of the Midshipmen will look to continue the program rebuild that saw the Mids post their first winning record since 2017-18 with a 19-12 mark in 2024-25 and reach the postseason in back-to-back seasons, first with a WNIT berth in 2024-25 and later into the WBIT in 2025-26. Last year marked the program's first Patriot League Regular Season Championship since 2013-14 as the Mids dominated the league with a record 16 conference wins (16-2).

Navy brings back an extremely deep and talented roster with four starters and 11 of 15 varsity letterwinners. Returning players to watch include the reigning Patriot League Player of the Year Zanai Barnett-Gay (16.9 points per game, 8.4 rebounds per game and 4.0 assists per game), the reigning PL Rookie of the Year sophomore guard Zoe Mesuch (13.4 ppg, 2.2 rpg and 2.7 three-pointers per game) and All-Patriot League Third Team honoree Julianna Almeida (9.6 ppg, 4.9 rpg and 2.5 apg). Additionally, three freshmen newcomers will look to leave their mark on a program that hasn't shy to give capable plebes important roles as soon as they step on the Yard at the Naval Academy as Navy is in the midst of three straight Patriot League Rookie of Year honorees.

Senior Class: Zanai Barnett-Gay, Lizzie Holder, Saran Moschella
Junior Class: Julianna Almeida, Mary Gibbons, Nia Henley
Sophomore Class: Quinn Boettinger, Christina Liggio, Zoe Mesuch, Grace Minihane, Sidney Quinn
Freshmen Class: Isa Grant, Kaitlyn Raagas, Kelsey Rhyne

Navy in Season Openers
Over the past 10 Opening Days, Navy is 6-4 with wins over Delaware ('25), Rider ('24), Susquehanna ('23), Stevenson ('19), Catholic ('18) and  Marist ('17). The Mids have been on the road in six of the last 10 season openers. Three times during this span Navy opened against a Division III opponent and came away with wins. The Mids have ran off three straight season opening wins. 
    Last 10 Season Openers
    November 7, 2025 (A): Navy 68 - Delaware 61
    November 4, 2024 (A): Navy 74 - Rider 52
    November 8, 2023 (H): Navy 78 - Susquehanna 37
    November 7, 2022 (A): William & Mary 79 - Navy 64
    November 9, 2021 (H): Georgetown 73 - Navy 62
    November 29, 2020 (A): George Mason 72 - Navy 68    
    November 5, 2019 (H): Navy 70 - Stevenson 36
    November 7, 2018 (H): Navy 81 - Catholic 36
    November 10, 2017 (A): Navy 77 - Marist 70
    November 11, 2016 (A): Wake Forest 75 - Navy 65