ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's basketball team left nothing to chance in Wednesday night's contest versus Bucknell as the hosts smothered the Bison from the opening tip and broke out to a 20-0 over the first nine minutes of action at Alumni Hall. Up by 18 points after one quarter, the Mids (17-6, 12-1 PL) cruised over the final 30 minutes and never let the Bison (9-15, 5-8 PL) get any closer as they improved to 12-1 in the Patriot League with a 66-43 victory.

Individually, Navy finished with three players in double figures led by Zoe Mesuch (Fr., Clintondale, N.Y.), who netted 17 points to go along with three rebounds and two steals. Zanai Barnett-Gay (Jr., Glenn Dale, Md.) left her mark in the first half with nine of her eventual 11 points scored during the opening 20 minutes. Julianna Almeida (So., North Arlington, N.J.) reached double digits with 10 points on 3-of-7 shooting and four foul shots.

"We came out and focused on trapping them," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "This was the first game all year that we came out trying to trap. We've been working on it for awhile and hadn't been really comfortable with it, but you could see we were really getting a lot of pressure on their guards and then we got into playing angles. We were really successful at speeding them up and getting our hands on a lot of balls. Once you can speed someone up and find success, that helps you ramp up your efforts even more.

"Maren [Louridas] did a phenomenal job of coming off the bench with energy and was locked in defensively from the first time she stepped on the court. She was excellent at rotating; she stole at least two balls that they tried to play into the post. I thought she was really, really good and sparked us in the first quarter."

The action opened up slightly inconsistent as Navy scored on its first two possessions courtesy of baskets by Morgan Demos (Sr., Downers Grove, Ill.) and Almeida before the Mids' offense found itself in a four-plus minute drought without a field goal until Kate Samson (Sr., Richmond, Va.) made a layup at 4:37. Though its offense wasn't quite clicking at its normal efficient pace, the Mids' defense was wreaking havoc on the Bison's effort as the visitors had five turnovers and were 0-4 from the field during this initial 5:23 run of play. With the score 8-0 following Samson's bucket, Navy's got its offense engaged with 12 more unanswered points over the next 3:20. Mesuch kick-started this run with a corner three at 4:11 and a steal and layup less than a minute later at 3:33. A three-pointer by Barnett-Gay and offensive rebound and putback by Almeida concluded the 20-0 run at 1:17. Tuana Coskun finally put an end to Navy's shutout with a driving layup on Bucknell's final possession with nine seconds left in the quarter.

For the quarter, the Mids ultimately struggled with their shot as they only made 36.8 percent (7-19) of their field goals, but were a perfect 4-4 from the foul line. Defensively they overwhelmed the Bison with 10 forced turnovers and just a 14.3 percent (1-7) mark from the field. Navy scored 11 points off those miscues in the frame.

Up 20-2, the Mids pushed their lead back up to 20 early in the second quarter when Mesuch found Demos posted up deep in the paint for an easy layup at 8:43. The Bison temporarily cut their deficit to 19 following an 'and-one' by Mariah Hardy at 7:40 before Barnett-Gay marched down the court and sank a pull-up jumper 10 seconds later. Navy's lead bounced between 21 and 23 for the rest of the quarter as teams traded baskets for the majority of the action. Barnett-Gay, Demos and Lizzie Holder (Jr., Stillwater, Minn.) all added two additional points over the second half of the period to send the Mids into the locker room up 32-11 at halftime.

Those 11 points allowed in the first half is a new season-low for Navy's defense as previously the Mids held Lafayette to 13 last Wednesday following a two-point second quarter by the Leopards.

Coming out ahead by 21, Navy increased its lead up to 24 within the first five minutes of the second half with a 10-7 scoring advantage. Mesuch was the leading facilitator during this stretch with all eight of the Mids' points between 8:15 and 5:01. With the score, 42-18, the Bison were slightly more successful on the backside of the period with a 10-7 advantage of their own to close the frame at 49-28.

With the outcome all but sealed up 13 different Navy players saw action in the fourth quarter and seven contributed points. The Mids opened the final period with six unanswered points punctuated by a Quinn Boettinger (Fr., Schwenksville, Pa.) offensive rebound and putback at 8:04. Up 27, 55-28, Navy eventually extended its lead to a game-high 30 points (60-30) a little over two minutes later when Mesuch made her final field goal of the game with a driving layup at 5:51. Maren Louridas (Sr., Delmar, N.Y.), a defensive catalyst in the first quarter, entered her name in the scoring column down the stretch with her first field goal of the day with three minutes to go. Holder's second made basket of the contest concluded the scoring at 66-43 in favor of the Mids.
  
For the game, Navy out-shot Bucknell, 43.6 percent (24-55) to 30.9 (17-55) from the field, 26.7 percent (4-15) to 20.0 (3-15) from three-point range and 77.8 percent (14-18) to 66.7 (6-9) from the foul line.

The rebounding battle on Wednesday night ended tied 36-36. Barnett-Gay finished with a team-high six caroms, while Almeida and Louridas were one back with five boards each.

Defensively, Navy forced Bucknell into 20 turnovers and was credited with 12 steals. Barnett-Gay, Demos, Louridas and Mesuch all recorded two steals. As a team, Navy flipped those 20 miscues into 21 points off turnovers, while Bucknell tallied just three points of Navy's 13 turnovers. The Mids' post defense was also strong with a season-high seven blocks. Demos (3) and Samson (2) each had multiple rejections.

"Once again we got contributions from throughout our roster as all 15 kids played and 12 played at least seven minutes," commented Taylor. "That's a good thing. Getting conference reps is always important as is taking care of your legs on Wednesday; that should pay dividends when you come back out on Saturday."

Navy will continue conference play with a Saturday afternoon matchup versus Colgate at home. Tip-off between the Mids and Raiders is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Alumni Hall. Fans are asked to arrive early as prior to the contest at 2:40 p.m., the team will honor its senior class with a Senior Day ceremony.