ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Just over three weeks after rolling to a record-setting 97-58 win over Lafayette on the road on January 10, the Navy women's basketball team completed its season sweep of the Leopards on Wednesday as the Mids (15-6, 10-1 PL) cruised to a 62-46 victory at Alumni Hall. The outcome was rarely in question as the hosts broke out to a 34-13 lead at the half after smothering the Leopards (8-14, 4-7 PL) to just two points in the second quarter. In total, Navy led for nearly 37 minutes on Wednesday and saw all 15 of its players in action.

Zanai Barnett-Gay (Jr., Glenn Dale, Md.) was her normal dominant self versus Lafayette as she filled the box score with 20 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and three steals in 32 minutes of playing time. She has now recorded double-doubles in three of the last four games that she's gone head-to-head with the Leopards. Coming off the bench, Christina Liggio (Fr., Colts Neck, N.J.) was a game-high +21 as she helped Navy out-score Lafayette 34-13 in the 16 minutes she was on the court. Statistically, she scored 10 points and grabbed four rebounds.

"We have a lot of film work to do coming out of this game," remarked head coach Tim Taylor. "We had too many miscommunications on defense and left them open too many times. We have an expectation and high standard in everything we do whether its with our starters or players coming off the bench and we had some lapses tonight. We had the opportunity to play a lot of people and let them get some important game time experience versus Patriot League opposition; that was a positive. Overall, I feel there's a lot of things that we can work on from tonight.

"We've been doing a really good job of sharing the basketball with 14 assists on 22 baskets tonight. We've been able to get the ball out there and moving. It really starts with Zanai. When your best player is willing to crash the boards, push the tempo, share the basketball and get everyone involved, that's what makes us go; she sets the tone for us. She scores a lot for us, but she's so much more than just a scorer, she's a much better basketball player."

The contest opened as evenly as could be on Wednesday night as each team scored seven points before the under-five media timeout at 4:56. The tight basket-for-basket action continued for the next four minutes as the score increased to 12-11 in the Mids' favor by the 1:51 mark. From that juncture, Navy closed out the quarter on a 7-0 run with two-point field goals by Quinn Boettinger (Fr., Schwenksville, Pa.) and Barnett-Gay sandwiching a three-pointer by Zoe Mesuch (Fr., Clintondale, N.Y.). Mesuch was the early spark plug for the Mids with nine of her team's 19 points in the first quarter.

With the score 19-11 through one quarter of play, Lafayette came out in the second period and registered the first field goal for either team at 8:20. That proved to be a turning point as dissatisfied with his team's play (three turnovers and a missed three-point attempt), Coach Taylor called a timeout to re-group his squad.
Coming out of that break, the entire complexion of the game changed as the Mids locked down the Leopards defensively for the rest of the quarter with nine straight missed shots and four forced turnovers. With Lafayette stuck on 13 points (two for the quarter) for the next 8:20, Navy was able to build up a 21-point halftime lead with 15 unanswered points. A pair of freshmen from off the bench kickstarted this streak as Grace Minihane (Colorado Springs, Colo.) scored within 10 seconds of subbing in at 6:15 before Liggio drew an 'and-one' situation at 4:42. Liggio's basket made it 26-13 before Barnett-Gay concluded the quarter with six of the Mids' final eight points to take a 34-13 lead into the locker room.

In the 15-2 quarter, Navy held Lafayette to a 1-13 shooting mark from the field with the Leopards failing to hit any of their seven attempts from three-point range. Barnett-Gay (+13), Liggio (+12) and Minihane (+10) all played pivotal roles in the Mids' success in the quarter.

Up 21 at the intermission, Navy increased its advantage to 33 points mid-way through the third quarter courtesy of a 17-2 run between 8:13 and 4:05. After the Leopards pulled within 18, 36-18 at 8:21, Barnett-Gay ignited the Mids' lengthy scoring run with four straight free throws on consecutive possessions. Navy's senior post duo of Morgan Demos (Downers Grove, Ill.) and Kate Samson (Richmond, Va.) were next up with back-to-back baskets before the three-ball came into play with successive treys from Liggio and Mary Gibbons (So., Holden, Mass.) at 5:44 and 5:12 before Liggio capped the streak with her second triple of the quarter a little over a minute later at 4:05. With the score 53-20, the Mids kept a 30-plus point lead into the final seconds of the third period before Jordan Mays registered her first basket of the game with 36 seconds to go to make it a 56-27 score through three quarters.

Navy had its best quarter of shooting from all three disciplines with a 41.2 percent (7-17) mark from the field, a 42.9 percent (3-7) effort from three-point range and a 83.3 percent (5-6) showing from the foul line.

With the outcome all but wrapped up with a 29-point lead and 10 minutes to play, Navy had 14 of its 15 players see action in the fourth quarter in various positions and lineups. As cold as the Leopards were in the second quarter, the Mids were just as cold in the fourth as they opened the period 0-12 from the field before Minihane drove through the lane for a layup with 50 seconds remaining. Four converted foul shots helped boost Navy's offensive output as Lafayette shaved 13 points off its deficit in the final frame with a 19-6 scoring advantage to tighten the final score to 62-46.

For the game, Navy out-shot Lafayette, 33.8 percent (22-65) to 24.6 (15-61) from the field and 20.8 percent (5-24) to 12.5 (3-24) from three-point range. Both teams made 13 free throws on Wednesday night with the Leopards converting 72.2 percent (13-18) of their opportunities versus 61.9 (13-21) for the Mids.

Navy was dominant on the glass as it grabbed 52 rebounds, a total that tied the team's season-high. The Mids finished with 15 offensive caroms. Overall, Navy out-rebounded Lafayette by nine, 52-43. Barnett-Gay tied Lafayette's Maddison Krug with a game-high 13 rebounds.

The Mids were effective with their ball movement with 14 assists on 22 made baskets and only nine turnovers. Barnett-Gay led all players with five helpers.

Defensively, Navy forced Lafayette into 13 turnovers and turned those miscues into a 15-3 statistical advantage in points off turnovers. Barnett-Gay had a game-high three steals and a block.

"We've done a really good job of focusing and living by the 'win today' mantra," commented Taylor on the team's mindset during its eight-game win streak. "We try to get better every day whether its in practice, the classroom or in game action. There's been a lot of focus on our nutrition, sleep and recovery. We've spent a lot of time analyzing our schedule and planning things out. It's been a well thought out plan and hopefully we keep seeing the results."

"We've got a really good basketball team. There are some kids sitting on the end of our bench that are really good basketball players. We've been trying to get them opportunities and its really hard when you have such a talented roster. Grace was injured in the preseason and missed the majority of our non-conference; that kind of set her back. You use the preseason and non-conference to figure kids out so she's been having to work extra hard in practice to catch up. There's certain things that she can do really well and we're starting to see that. She's really athletic, she's long, she can drive it. She's going to be a really, really good player for us in the future. That's the tough part you try to keep everyone motivated because when that opportunity comes we need you to take it. Maren and Saran have jumpstarted us the last two games coming off the bench and today it was Grace. We got Sidney Quinn in there; she's been practicing much better. We tell them, 'if you're practicing well we're going to get you opportunities.' Going against our starters every day will make you better."

Navy will be back in action with a road tilt at American on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off in Washington, D.C. is set for 1 p.m. at Bender Arena.