ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Coming off a victory in Monday night's Patriot League Quarterfinals over the eighth-seeded Boston University Terriers, the top-seeded Navy women's basketball team turns its attention to a matchup versus the fourth-seeded Lehigh Mountain Hawks in the tournament semifinals at home on Thursday evening. After defeating a Terrier team that relied on running its offense through a dominant post player, the Mountain Hawks (16-13) present a whole new challenge for the Mids (22-7) as they focus on aggressively shooting the three-ball as 49 percent of all of their field goal attempts this season have come from beyond the three-point line. While looking for a modicum of revenge against Lehigh for snapping its 11-game winning streak on February 18, Navy is even more locked in on returning to the Patriot League Championship Final for the first time since 2018 with a win on Thursday night. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at Alumni Hall.

The victor of the #1 Navy- #4 Lehigh semifinal will advance to play the winner of the #2 Holy Cross- #3 Army semifinal that gets going at 6 p.m. in Worcester on Thursday. The Patriot League Championship Final will be contested at the highest remaining seed on Sunday, March 15 starting at 12-noon.

Thursday's Navy-Lehigh 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. An audio-only portion of the contests will also be available via WNAV: over the radio waves on 1430 AM, online at WNAV.com or through the iHeart and Audacy platforms.

Navy in the Patriot League Tournament
The Mids are 30-30 all-time in Patriot League Tournament action and have won three league championships (2011-12-13) during the program's 34-year history with the conference ... In its six years under the guidance of head coach Tim Taylor, Navy is 4-4 as the Mids did not participate in the 2021 tournament due to COVID-19 protocols, but returned in 2022 with a first round home victory over ninth-seeded Colgate and a buzzer-beating upset win at the top-seed Holy Cross. Navy fell in the first round of the 2023 tournament at American, 78-71 before knocking off the Lafayette Leopards in the first round at home, 67-45 in 2024, but later dropping a tight 69-64 battle on the road at Colgate in the quarterfinals ... In the 2025 tournament, Navy was upset at home in a #4-5 matchup by Holy Cross, 66-52 ... Navy is 7-10 all-time in semifinal action and 17-5 in tournament games played on their home court ... The Mids and Mountain Hawks have met three times in the Patriot League Tournament with the most recent matchup coming in the quarterfinals of the 2014 event; Navy won that #1-8 contest, 84-54.

Navy vs. Lehigh
The Mids and Mountain Hawks have met 74 times in a series that began on December 8, 1981 ... All-time, Lehigh leads Navy by six wins, 40-34 ... The tight series is also split among the venues as the Mountain Hawks are 23-15 at home versus an 19-17 advantage for the Mids in Annapolis ... Since the Mids joined the Patriot League in 1991-92, the series is slanted in Lehigh's favor, 38-29 ... Over the last ten matchups, Lehigh has a 9-1 advantage over Navy, with the Mountain Hawks sweeping the season series in 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2025 ... A 62-46 victory by the Mids in the teams' matchup in Annapolis on Jan. 31, 2024 ended a nine-game losing streak in the series ... The two programs have faced off in the postseason three times with Navy holding a 2-1 edge on the strength of victories in 2012 (PLT-Semis) and 2014 (PLT-Qtrs); Lehigh won the first-ever Patriot League Tournament matchup between the squads in the semifinals of the 1997 tournament.
    Last Five Games:
    Feb. 18, 2026 (A): Lehigh 75 - Navy 64
    Feb. 12, 2025 (A): Lehigh 74 - Navy 56
    Jan. 29, 2025 (H): Lehigh 87 - Navy 66
    Jan. 31, 2024 (H): Navy 62 - Lehigh 46
    Jan. 17, 2024 (A): Lehigh 81 - Navy 65

Most Recent Navy-Lehigh Matchup ... February 18, 2026 in Bethlehem
Winners of 11 straight games, the Navy women's basketball team fell on the road Wednesday night at Lehigh University. Playing the Mountain Hawks (14-11, 10-5 PL) for the first time this season after Lehigh forfeited the scheduled January matchup between the two teams in Annapolis, the Mids (18-7, 13-2 PL) grabbed a short-lived lead in the first quarter before the hosts took control over the final 38 minutes of action at Stabler Arena. The Mountain Hawks used a 50.0 percent shooting performance and eight three-pointers to bolster their victorious effort.

Individually for Navy, Zanai Barnett-Gay filled up the box score on Wednesday night with 14 points, eight rebounds, six assists and two steals over 32 minutes of playing time. Kate Samson joined her in double figures with 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting in 14 minutes off the bench.

The action was fast-paced from the start as Navy scored on its first two possessions. With the score 4-3 at the 8:41 mark in favor of the Mids, the host Mountain Hawks responded with nine unanswered points over the next two minutes. Trailing 12-4 at 6:35, Navy started fighting back immediately as Barnett-Gay found Samson on an in-bounds pass for a wide-open jumper. That basket energized the Mids as they drew within three points, 15-12, over the next three-plus minutes. After a pair of field goals by the Mountain Hawks extended their lead back to seven, 19-12, with 2:16 left in the quarter, the Mids closed the period with six straight points, two from each of Julianna Almeida, Christina Liggio and Quinn Boettinger.

Coming out of the quarter break with one point separating the teams, Lehigh's lead fluctuated between one and three for the first five minutes of the second period as every basket had a rebuttal. Samson was the catalyst for Navy's offense during this stretch with a perfect 3-for-3 mark from the floor. With the score 25-24 at 5:34, the Mountain Hawks broke the game open with a 10-0 run over the next four possessions to go up by 11. Trailing 35-24 with 3:42 left in the stanza, the Mids scored six of the next eight points to pull back within seven before Gracyn Lovette crushed their hopes of going into the locker room down by single digits as she banked home a mid-court buzzer beater to make it a 40-30 game at the break.

The second half opened with more back-and-forth action as Zoe Mesuch led off play with a three-pointer on Navy's first possession before Alana Reddy had an immediate response with a three-pointer of her own just 14 seconds later. That was the conundrum for the Mids for most of their comeback attempt, getting multiple stops in a row, while trying to shave points off their deficit. The next two times Navy scored Lehigh had an answer to keep the game at a nine-point margin. A short 4-0 run courtesy of baskets by Barnett-Gay and Samson at 5:23 and 3:41 made it a 46-41 game. As quickly as those points were shaved off of the Mids' deficit, the Mountain Hawks added them right back on as they built back up an eight-point lead of 53-45 with 1:20 left in the stanza. A driving layup by Almeida and a pair of successful free throws by Liggio to close the quarter aided the visitors trail by just five, 54-49.

The Mids' valiant comeback effort continued into the fourth quarter as Almeida supported the cause with her first three-pointer of the day at 7:41. With the score 57-52, Lehigh increased its lead back out to eight in short order before Navy went on a 5-0 run between 6:18 and 5:51. Following a Barnett-Gay free throw, Lizzie Holder stole the ensuing in-bounds pass and converted that chance into two points with a fadeaway jumper before Liggio did the same thing and picked off an errant in-bounds pass and was fouled driving to the hoop; she went 2-for-2 from the foul line. After an exchange of baskets, the score moved ahead to 62-59 with 5:04 left in regulation. Unfortunately, that slim margin was as close as Navy would get for the remainder of the contest as Lehigh went 9-of-11 from the free throw in a parade of trips to the charity stripe, while it was only able to muster two successful field goals and one free throw to finalize the score at 75-64.
  
For the game, Lehigh out-shot Navy, 50.0 percent (24-48) to 42.1 (24-57) from the field, 38.1 percent (8-21) to 14.3 (2-14) from three-point range and 67.9 percent (19-28) to 63.6 (14-22) from the foul line.

Defensively, Navy forced Lehigh into 17 turnovers and was credited with nine steals. Liggio grabbed a career-high three steals. The Mids' posts combined for three blocks as Demos, Samson and Boettinger all tallied one rejection.

Comparing the Teams

(2025-26 Stats)	Navy	Lehigh
Record / League-Only	22-7 / 16-2 PL	16-13 / 11-7 PL
Home / Away / Neutral Record	13-3 / 9-4	10-5 / 6-8
Points Per Game	70.0 PPG	65.8 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	59.7 PPG	64.8 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	41.9 %	42.9 %
3-Point Percentage	30.5 %	32.7 %
Free Throw Percentage	69.4 %	77.4 %
Rebounds Per Game	39.1 RPG	28.6 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	15.2 / 13.2	14.5 / 15.7

Individual Leaders

(2025-26 Stats)	Navy	Lehigh
Points Per Game	Zanai Barnett-Gay, 16.5 ppg	Lily Fandre, 16.2 ppg
Rebounds Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 8.5 rpg	Leia Edwards, 7.1 rpg
Assists Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay 4.0 apg	Gracyn Lovette, 4.2 apg
Field Goal Percentage	Kate Samson, 53.6 %	Belle Bramer, 52.5 %
3-Point Percentage	Zoe Mesuch, 37.4 %	G. Lovette, 39.1 %
Free Throw Percentage	Z. Barnett-Gay, 80.7 %	Whitney Lind, 80.7 %

Last Time Out -- Patriot League Quarterfinals: Monday, March 9 vs. Boston University in Annapolis
The top-seeded Navy women's basketball team had a battle on its hands Monday night in the quarterfinals of the 2025-26 Patriot League Tournament with a showdown versus the eighth-seeded Boston University Terriers. Trailing by one point through one quarter of play and two with three-and-a-half minutes to go in the third quarter, the Mids (22-7) rattled off a 20-2 run in the final minutes of that frame and initial 67 seconds of the fourth quarter to flip a 45-43 deficit into a 63-47 advantage over the Terriers (11-20). That momentum carried the team to victory as Navy closed out Boston by a final of 76-66 in front of its home fans at Alumni Hall.

The Mids were led by an electric and record-breaking performance by freshman Zoe Mesuch, who showed zero nerves in her first-ever Patriot League Tournament game. Mesuch was hot throughout the contest with at least six points in each quarter on her way to a career-high 31 points on 11-of-17 shooting and an 8-for-12 mark from three-point range. Her marksmenship from beyond the arc set a new Patriot League Tournament single-game record as the previous high was seven by Navy's Maile Shimoda versus Bucknell in the 2003 tournament. Strong in support of the 2025-26 Patriot League Rookie of the Year was Zanai Barnett-Gay, the 2025-26 Patriot Player of the Year. Barnett-Gay filled up the box score on Monday night with 16 points and a season-high 14 rebounds to go along with two assists in 38 minutes of action. Navy's third All-Patriot League honoree, Julianna Almeida also shined versus BU with 13 points, including nine as part of the Mids' 24-point third quarter.

Navy would need all of points from its Big Three as Boston University shot 50 percent from the field and was fueled by a 33-point performance from its 6'5 center Anete Adler.

The game opened evenly with each team netting five points over the first three minutes of action. After Boston went up 7-5 on an Anete Adler layup at 6:44, Navy responded with eight straight points to break out to a 13-7 advantage. Back-to-back three-pointers from Mesuch and Barnett-Gay energized this run before Kate Samson closed it out with a mid-range jumper at 4:56. The momentum immediately swung back to the Terriers with a 9-0 run of their own to make it a 16-13 score with 90 seconds left in the period. A pair of free throws by Almeida closed the quarter with BU ahead 16-15.

After scoring six points on 2-of-2 shooting from three-point range in the first quarter, Mesuch picked up right where she left off as six seconds into the second period Almeida found her in the wing for her third three-pointer of the game and Navy was back into the lead, 18-16. Mesuch continued with the hot hand as she knocked down her fourth triple in as many tries a little over a minute later to even the score at 21-21. Her trey kickstarted a larger 8-0 run by the Mids as she nailed her fifth three-pointer at 7:26 before Christina Liggio cut through the lane for an acrobatic layup to give the hosts a 26-21 lead by the 6:21 juncture of the second quarter. Boston slowed Navy down for the next five minutes as the Mids were held to just one made field goal and one free throw to allow the Terriers to re-take the lead 30-29 with 71 seconds to go in the half. Three free throws down the stretch by Navy helped it retire to the locker room at halftime up 32-30.

The second half opened with similar ebbs and flows as the BU drew even (34-34) by the 8:09 mark before Navy scored seven straight points and nine of 11 to build out a seven-point leads of 41-34 and later 43-36. Mesuch was the catalyst for this run with her sixth three-pointer followed by six consecutive points via Almeida. Trailing by its then- largest deficit of the game, the Terriers had a strong 9-0 rebuttal to shoot back into the lead 45-43 with 3:18 remaining in the stanza. That was a turning point for the Mids as they closed the quarter on a 13-2 run with a perfect 5-for-5 showing at the foul line and consecutive three-pointers by Liggio and Mesuch. A driving layup as time expired by Mesuch concluded the quarter with Navy up 56-47.

The dynamic underclass duo of Almeida and Mesuch were untouchable in the third quarter as Almeida shot 3-of-4 from the field and 3-of-3 from the charity stripe for nine points, while Mesuch was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field and 2-of-2 from three-point range for a combined 17 points.

Hot down the stretch in the third, Navy kept blitzing BU offensively with seven more unanswered points to open the fourth quarter. Morgan Demos recorded the Mids' first basket before Mesuch added five more points in quick succession to increase Navy's lead to 16, 63-47 with 8:53 left to play. Down, but not out BU kept fighting and kept pounding away in the post with eight more points from Adler to pull within nine, 65-56 before later drawing even closer as a result of an Ines Monteagudo three-pointer that made it 67-59 at 5:21. The Terriers wouldn't get any closer for the remainder of the contest as the Mids had an answer for every glimmer of hope that they had left. Four second-chance points from Samson helped seal the victory as Navy walked away with a 76-66 decision.

For the game, Boston University out-shot Navy, 50.0 percent (28-56) to 40.6 (26-64) from the field, though the Mids held advantages in three-point shooting, 35.7 percent (10-28) to 33.3 (5-15) and foul shooting 73.7 percent (14-19) to 38.5 (5-13).

Navy won the rebounding battle by four, 38-34 on the strength of an 11-5 edge on the offensive glass. Bolstered by 11 caroms in the first half, Barnett-Gay finished with a season-high 14 rebounds.

Parking / Shuttle Information (NEW GUIDANCE: March 1 -- LINK)
As a result of current world events, Naval Support Activity Annapolis (NSAA) and the U.S. Naval Academy (USNA) are increasing Force Protection measures. The following restrictions to USNA access are effective immediately, unless otherwise noted, and will remain in effect until further notice:

Gate 1 and the Visitor Control Center (VCC) will close. Gate 8 and the turnstiles will remain open.

General public visitation is suspended beginning 1330 today, Saturday, February 28, 2026.

There will be 100% ID checks. Only those with DoW- or DBIDS-issued ID cards will be permitted to walk or drive through Gate 8.

Visitation related to Naval Academy–sponsored events is still permitted. Those with DoW or DBIDS ID cards will be allowed to walk or drive onto the Naval Academy. All other visitors with tickets or attending events must ride the shuttle bus from the Press Box side of Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium and are required to present a Real ID. Expect increased security screening before boarding the shuttle.

In alignment with NORTHCOM direction, the following additional access restrictions to NSAA / USNA are in effect immediately, and will remain in effect until further notice:

• Trusted Traveler (the ability of a credentialed individual with base access to escort a non-credentialed individual) is immediately suspended.  Example: Lou (CAC holder) wants to drive onboard USNA with his brother Bruce. Bruce has a Real ID drivers license, but does not have a CAC card/DBIDS/Military ID; therefore, Lou cannot drive onto the Yard with Bruce in his car. Bruce cannot come onboard, even though he's a grad.

• Greenbury Point is closed until further notice. The closure applies to access to the fenced East & West access roads, as well as the established trails and the Nature Center. It does NOT apply to guests staying at the Cottages.

Expect & anticipate delays at Gate 8, along with increased security presence.