NEW YORK, N.Y. – The rise of
Zanai Barnett-Gay continues to garner attention from across the landscape of women's college basketball as the Associated Press announced the junior guard as a 2025-26 Honorable Mention AP All-American on Wednesday afternoon. After sweeping the Patriot League Player and Defensive Player of the Year honors earlier this month, Barnett-Gay was recognized as one of the nation's best players by the members of the national media panel that picks the AP Top 25 each week. She joins Jennifer Coleman from 2022 as just the second-ever Navy player during the program's Division I era to earn this prestigious accolade and third all-time in program history as Angela Dobbs collected an honorable mention on the Division II Kodak All-America team in 1991.
Barnett-Gay is the fourth Patriot League player in the 30-plus years of the conference's history to land this accolade. She joins the previously mentioned Coleman in addition to Holy Cross' Amy O'Brien (1997-98) and Bucknell's Molly Creamer (2002-03). All four players were named Honorable Mention AP All-Americans.
The most complete player in the Patriot League, Barnett-Gay currently stands first in the conference for her averages of points (16.9 ppg) and steals (2.8) per game, while her rebounding (8.5) and assists (4.1) per game marks stand third overall. Nationally, her steals average is 28th best, with her rebounding and scoring outputs rank 74th and 84th respectively. Additionally, Barnett-Gay's 11 double-doubles are 40th best in Division I. An example of how well rounded of a player she is is the fact that she is the first DI player since 2009 to average at least 16.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.5 steals, while shooting better than 40 percent from the floor and 80 percent from the foul line.
Constantly re-writing the record book for Navy women's basketball, Barnett-Gay currently has recorded the third-most defensive rebounds, fifth-most steals and seventh-most points in a single-season by a Navy player. Dominant since day one, she's the first player in program history to reach the 500-point scoring plateau in three different seasons. All-time, Barnett-Gay holds the second (589 points-2025), third (546 points-2024) and seventh (507 points-2026) positions on the program's single-season scoring list.
As regular season Patriot League regular season champions, Barnett-Gay and her teammates have qualified and will be partiticipating in the 2026 Women's Basketball Invitational Tournament (WBIT) that kicks off on Thursday, March 19. Navy is matched up in the first round versus Harvard and will face off with the Crimson in Cambridge, Massachusetts starting at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
First Team
Sarah Strong, UConn
Mikayla Blakes, Vanderbilt
Lauren Betts, UCLA
Madison Booker, Texas
Azzi Fudd, UConn
Second Team
Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame
Joyce Edwards, South Carolina
Olivia Miles, TCU
Audi Crooks, Iowa State
Jaloni Cambridge, Ohio State
Third Team
Olivia Olson, Michigan
Kiki Rice, UCLA
Flau'jae Johnson, LSU
Toby Fournier, Duke
Raven Johnson, South Carolina
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Honorable Mention (alphabetical order):
Raegan Beers, Oklahoma;
Zanai Barnett-Gay, Navy; Jazzy Davidson, USC; Maggie Doogan, Richmond; MiLaysia Fulwiley, LSU; Rori Harmon, Texas; Ava Heiden, Iowa; Gianna Kneepkens, UCLA; Avery Koenen, North Dakota State; Ta'Niya Latson, South Carolina; Liv McGill, Florida; Cotie McMahon, Ole Miss; Brooklyn Meyer, South Dakota State; Oluchi Okanawa, Maryland; Khamil Pierre, NC State; Marta Suarez, TCU; Clara Strack, Kentucky; Riley Weiss, Columbia; Mikaylah Williams, LSU.
