Watch: Navy Midshipmen Star Hits Game-Winner in Victory over Bucknell

The Navy Midshipmen women’s basketball team had to hold off Bucknell, 49-47, to remain in a tie for first place in the Patriot League on Saturday afternoon.
The Midshipmen (13-4, 5-1 in Patriot) were leading the conference outright before a loss at mid-week dropped them back into a first-place tie. The win over the Bison (8-9, 3-3) kept Navy locked in with Army West Point and Holy Cross with a 5-1 lead record. Lehigh is a half-game behind them at 4-1 in league action.
The Bison rallied from nine points down in the final three minutes to tie the game inside of a minute. Navy then got the ball back with a chance to take the lead.
With less than 10 seconds left, Navy’s Zanai Barnett-Gay drove to the basket and scored a lay-up as she was falling to the ground to give the Midshipmen the lead with 6.7 seconds left.
Zanai with the go-ahead basket!@ESPN | @PatriotLeagueHQ | #Impact pic.twitter.com/RIYovTu2Wz
— Navy Women's Basketball (@NavyWBB) January 18, 2025
The Bison’ Ashley Sofilkanich attempted a layup with one second left but miss, allowing Navy to walk off with the victory.
Navy started the fourth quarter by pushing its lead to seven points, 40-33, after a 3-pointer by Kyah Smith. The Midshipmen appeared to be in control, but the Bison had one last run in them in the final three minutes.
Down 47-38, Bucknell’s Sophia Sabino drained a 3-pointer. Bucknell followed that with a jumper by Sofilkanich, followed by a layup from Sabino, cutting Navy’s lead to 47-45 with 1:13 left.
Bucknell tied the game on two free throws by Reese Zemitis with 57 seconds left.
Navy spent the entire first half building a huge lead on the back of an 18-8 run in the second quarter that pushed the Midshipmen ahead, 29-18, at halftime.
But the Bison chipped away, making it a game after the third quarter. Outscoring Navy 17-8, Bucknell was down only 37-33 going into the fourth quarter.
Barnett-Gay has been Navy’s leading scorer all season, but she only scored nine points on 4-of-15 shooting. But, she had 10 rebounds, three assists and two steals. Julianna Almedia scored 11 points for the Midshipmen, while Smith also had 11 points, including two 3-pointers. Navy shot just 30% for the game.
Sofilkanich was the only Bucknell player in double figures with 21 points on 10-of-24 shooting. She also had 15 rebounds and two blocked shots. Sabino added nine points with five assists.
Navy will travel to Boston U. on Wednesday for an 11:30 a.m. contest before going to Army to face its rival on Sunday.