ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy women's basketball team begins its postseason journey on Thursday night with action in the 2026 Women's Basketball Invitational Tournament (WBIT). One of 32 teams competing in the NCAA sanctioned tournament that focuses on regular season champions and teams that just missed the NCAA Tournament, Navy, the 2025-26 Patriot League regular season champion, will go head-to-head with Harvard, a team that came up short in the finals of the Ivy League Tournament. This will be the third-ever meeting between the Mids (22-8) and Crimson (18-11) and first since 2010. Tip-off at Lavietes Pavilion is set for 7 p.m. on Thursday.

The winner of Thursday night's matchup will advance to play the victor of Utah-Eastern Kentucky that is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. in Richmond, Kentucky.

Thursday's Navy-Harvard 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 over the radio waves on WNAV 1430 AM.

Navy in the Postseason Play
Action at the 2026 WBIT marks the eighth time in program history that the Mids will be participating in a national postseason tournament. Previously, the team has played in three NCAA Tournaments (2011, 2012, 2013; 0-3 record) and four WNIT tournaments (2014, 2017, 2018 and 2025; 1-4 record - made second round in 2017). This is Navy's first appearance in the WBIT that debuted in 2024 as the leading alternative to the NCAA Tournament.
    All-Time Navy-Postseason Games:
   March 22, 2025 - WNIT First Round | Old Dominion 63 - Navy 42
   March 16, 2018 - WNIT First Round | Virginia Tech 56 - Navy 55
   March 19, 2017 - WNIT Second Round | Virginia Tech 75 - Navy 64
   March 17, 2017 - WNIT First Round | Navy 61 - George Washington 51 (OT)
   March 20, 2014 - WNIT First Round | Old Dominion 68 - Navy 60
   March 24, 2013 - NCAA Tournament First Round | Kentucky 61 - Navy 41
   March 17, 2012 - NCAA Tournament First Round | Maryland 59 - Navy 44
   March 19, 2011 - NCAA Tournament First Round | Depaul 56 - Navy 43

Navy vs. Harvard / Ivy League
The Mids and Crimson have met just twice in the history of two storied programs ... In an oddity both of those meetings came during the 2010 calendar year as Harvard initially hosted Navy and won 71-55 on January 2 before the Mids evened the series 11 months later when they defeated the Crimson, 65-60 as part of the Navy Classic ... Navy has matched up versus Ivy League opponents in 46 different contests and has a .500 record of 23-23 all-time ...  Navy and Yale have faced off the most in the Mids' series against the Ivy League; Navy is 4-7 mark over 11 contests ... Yale (11 games: 4-7 record), Penn (10: 5-5), Princeton (9: 5-4), Columbia (5: 4-1) and Dartmouth (4: 1-3) are the only Ivy League programs that Navy has played more than three times ... The Big Green is the only Ivy League team that the Mids have played since 2018 as they met in 2023 and 2024 with Dartmouth going 2-0 ... Navy's last victory over one of the Ancient Eight came in 2011 when the Mids knocked off the Princeton Tigers by a score of 65-52 on December 9.
    All-Time Navy-Harvard Games:
    Nov. 21, 2010 (H): Navy 65 - Harvard 60  *Navy Classic Tournament
    Jan. 2, 2010 (A): Harvard 71 - Navy 55

Most Recent Navy-Harvard Matchup ... November 21, 2010 in Annapolis
Cassie Consedine blocked a shot with 17 seconds left to play and Chey Arvin followed with a pair of free throws to allow the Navy women's basketball team secure a 65-60 victory over Harvard Saturday night at Alumni Hall in Annapolis. The game closed out the two-day Navy Classic.

Navy (3-1) seemingly could do no wrong and Harvard to do nothing right over the first 16 minutes of the game as the Mids jumped out to a 36-10 lead over the Crimson. Navy shot 57.9 percent (11-19) from the floor during this time while Harvard connected on just 15 percent (3-20) of its attempts in the same span. That allowed the Mids to head into halftime holding a 40-19 lead over the Crimson.

Harvard scored the first six points of the second half to pull to within 15 points of Navy, but the Mids still led by 16 points at 55-39 with eight minutes left to play. The Crimson then went on an 8-0 run to make it a single digit game at 55-47 with six minutes remaining in the game. The Mids promptly pushed the margin back to 10 points at 61-51 with 2:11 remaining on the clock. Three straight field goals by Harvard sandwiched around a pair of missed field goal attempts by Navy made it a one possession game at 61-58 with 1:10 left to play. The score advanced to 63-60 with 42 seconds and Crimson took the ball looking to draw even.

Working the shot clock in search of a game-tying shot Christine Clark drove to the basket where Consedine was waiting for her. Navy's all-time blocked shots leader picked up her third rejection of the night on Clark's attempt, followed by her eighth carom of the contest. The ball was quickly pushed out to Arvin who was fouled with 14.1 seconds left on the clock. Her two free throws accounted for the final points of the game.

After making 11 field goals in the first 16 minutes of the game, Navy made just 10 field goals (on 39 attempts, 25.6%) over the final 24 minutes of play. Conversely, Harvard sank 50 percent (18-36) of its field goal attempts over the same timeframe. Both teams would sink 21 field goals in the game, with Navy converting 6-of-21 three-point field goal attempts and Harvard finishing 4-of-14 from outside of the three-point line. The Mids also enjoyed a slight advantage over the Crimson in free throws made (17-14) and attempts (22-19).

Myers, who was named to all-tournament team, tallied 19 points, four assists and four steals to lead all players in each of the three statistical categories. Consedine added 11 points while teammate Jade Geif contributed 13 points and nine rebounds.

Comparing the Teams

(2025-26 Stats)	Navy	Harvard
Record / League-Only	22-8 / 16-2 PL	18-11 / 10-4 Ivy
Home / Away / Neutral Record	13-4 / 9-4	9-3 / 7-5 / 2-3
Points Per Game	70.2 PPG	65.3 PPG
Points Allowed Per Game	60.4 PPG	57.3 PPG
Field Goal Percentage	41.7 %	39.9 %
3-Point Percentage	30.6 %	30.6 %
Free Throw Percentage	69.5 %	74.9 %
Rebounds Per Game	39.0 RPG	37.1 RPG
Assists/Turnovers Per Game	15.2 / 13.0	13.3 / 15.6

Individual Leaders

(2025-26 Stats)	Navy	Harvard
Points Per Game	Zanai Barnett-Gay, 16.5 ppg	Karlee White, 15.4 ppg
Rebounds Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay, 8.5 rpg	Olivia Jones, 6.3 rpg
Assists Per Game	Z. Barnett-Gay 4.0 apg	Katie Krupa, 3.0 apg
Field Goal Percentage	Kate Samson, 53.6 %	K. White, 54.6 %
3-Point Percentage	Zoe Mesuch, 37.4 %	K. White, 44.6 %
Free Throw Percentage	Z. Barnett-Gay, 80.7 %	K. White, 81.8 %

Last Time Out -- Patriot League Semifinals: Thursday, March 12 vs. Lehigh in Annapolis
In a matchup that will go down in the chronicles of the Patriot League Tournament as one of the most competitive ever, the top-seeded Navy women's basketball team saw its dreams of a tournament championship come to an end in the semifinals on Thursday night as the fourth-seeded Lehigh Mountain Hawks held on for an 81-76 overtime victory. Leaving it all out on the line for 45 minutes of back-and-forth action at Alumni Hall, the teams each made 28 baskets, but one additional three-pointer by the Mountain Hawks (17-13), a corner triple by Belle Bramer with a minute to go in OT, was the difference on Thursday as the Mids (22-8) were unable to find an equalizer in the final possessions of the contest.

Zanai Barnett-Gay showcased her superstar all-around ability with the bright lights of win-or-go-home March basketball shining. The Patriot League Player and Defensive of the Year lived up to those lofty titles as she led all players with 29 points, while grabbing nine rebounds, assisting on seven made baskets and swiping six steals over 43 minutes of action. Zoe Mesuch, the 2026 Patriot League Rookie of the Year, also played a pivotal role in making the Mids go on Thursday night as she followed up her 31-point quarterfinal performance with 18 points and five more made three-pointers versus the Mountain Hawks.

Navy opened the game up with great energy and efficiency as Mary Gibbons knocked down her first three-point attempt of the contest before Barnett-Gay swiped a Belle Bramer pass on the ensuing possession and went in untouched for an easy two points. After Bramer got Lehigh on the scoreboard with a three-pointer at 7:59, Gibbons' number was called again 17 seconds later with her second three-pointer in as many attempts. The three-ball continued to power the Mids in the first quarter as a Mesuch triple less than two minutes later made it an 11-7 game before Gibbons sank her third shot from beyond the arc to increase Navy's lead to seven 16-9 with 2:38 left in the quarter. One more three-pointer, the Mids' fifth of the stanza, came off the hands of Christina Liggio with 1:10 remaining to give Navy an eight-point lead of 19-11. The teams traded baskets over the next three possessions, including a layup by Lehigh's Gracyn Lovette as time expired to conclude the quarter at 21-15.

Mesuch took the three-point sharpshooting baton from Gibbons in the second quarter as twice she helped the Mids turn four-point leads into seven-point advantages (26-19 and 29-22) over the first four-plus of action. A long defensive rebound and athletic sprint down the court by Barnett-Gay at 5:21 gave Navy its largest lead of the game, 31-22. After both teams recorded two points over the next 29 seconds, Lehigh ran off 11 unanswered points to flip the score from 33-24 to 35-33 by the 3:08 juncture. Mesuch temporarily slowed down the Mountain Hawks with a free throw at 1:39 to pull the Mids within one, 35-34. That one-point differential was what the teams took to the locker room at halftime with Lehigh up 37-36.

The Mids' defensive pressure was keeping the home team in the contest as Navy had a 16-0 advantage in points off turnovers over the first 20 minutes of action. The turnover tally was 11 for Lehigh and just two for Navy.

The Mids' proclivity for the three-ball carried over into the second half as they rode the shot to a five-point lead within the first 2:50 of action as Julianna Almeida and Mesuch went back-to-back as part of Navy's initial 8-2 run. With the score 44-39, the Mountain Hawks responded to that five-point deficit with seven straight points and 10 of the next 12 to go up 49-46 with 3:51 left in the quarter. The visitors continued to hold a slight one-possession lead for the next two minutes before Barnett-Gay took over, first with an 'and-one' conversion at 1:48 to make it 51-50 before answering back an Edwards three-pointer with a buzzer-beating three of her own to end the quarter with Navy up 54-53. That basket game Barnett-Gay 10 points for the quarter as the Mids shot 6-of-12 from the field and 3-of-4 from three-point range in the stanza.

Starting with the ball in the fourth quarter, Barnett-Gay added to her impressive assist total in short order as she found Morgan Demos deep in the post for an easy layup to put Navy up three, 56-53, 19 seconds in. A trading of field goals quickly increased the score to 58-55. Back-to-back three-pointers by Lehigh's Lovette and Leia Edwards flipped the lead back into the visitor's favor, 61-58. The back-and-forth break-neck action continued with a 4-0 rebuttal by Navy courtesy of layups by Lizzie Holder and Mesuch. With the score 62-61, the Mountain Hawks rattled off eight straight points to put the Mids on the ropes down seven, 69-65 with 3:44 left and later 72-65 and just 3:06 remaining in the quarter. With the Mids' season on the line, Barnett-Gay put her squad on her back as she drew the Mids even in a matter of three possessions as she hit Almeida streaking through the paint for a layup before Almeida paid her back with an assist on a fast break transition three-point shot at 2:07. The comeback was completed 31 seconds later when Barnett-Gay took an intercepted passes to the hoop for a breakaway layup at 1:36.

Tied at 72-72, Navy had two extended possessions with the help of offensive rebounds and nearly went ahead when Mesuch's three-point attempt broke the plain of the rim, but back-spinned its way out with 60 seconds left. A strong defensive effort in the low post by Holder on All-Patriot League First Teamer Lily Fandre on the final possession of regulation helped complete the 40 minutes of action at 72-72.

In overtime, Navy initially went down by three as Edwards nailed her fifth trey of the contest before Barnett-Gay fired back with another pick and breakaway layup at 2:42 and later a jumper at 1:26 to give the Mids a 76-75 lead. Quiet in the second half after netting 17 points in the first 20 minutes, Belle Bramer crushed Navy's hopes with a corner three with 60 seconds to go in the extra frame. That field goal would stand up as the game-winner as the Mids went 0-for-2 in their final two possessions, while the Mountain Hawks went 3-of-4 from the foul line to seal the 81-76 victory.
  
For the game, Lehigh out-shot Navy, 46.7 percent (28-60) to 35.9 (28-78) from the field, 38.2 percent (13-34) to 32.4 (12-37) from three-point range and 75.0 percent (12-16) to 72.7 (8-11) from the foul line.