Women’s Basketball Falls in Heartbreaking Fashion to Navy

Saturday, February 21

West Point, N.Y.

11 a.m.

Army West Point

21-6,12-4Patriot

Navy

19-7,13-2Patriot

Navy

Army West Point

Women’s Basketball Falls in Heartbreaking Fashion to Navy

February 21, 2026 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The 87^th meeting between the Army and Navy women's basketball teams came down to the final possession on Saturday afternoon at Christl Arena, but the Black Knights were unable to bury a last-second three to send it to overtime and Navy escaped with a 54-51 win.

Saturday was the annual Star Game, which is part of the Army-Navy Star Series presented by USAA. With the win, Navy clinched the Star and won the Army-Navy Trophy for the first time since the 2017-18 season.

Trailing 54-48 with less than 15 seconds to play, senior guard Reese Ericson knocked down a circus 3-point shot to get the Black Knights within three. On the ensuing Navy possession Ericson and Brooke Wilson were able to force a jump ball, and with the possession arrow facing Army, the Black Knights would have a chance at the buzzer to send it to overtime. Ericson got a good look from the left wing, but it came up just short as time expired.

Army had won the previous six Star Games. This is the first time Navy has swept the regular season series against Army since the 2017-18 season.

How it Happened
After getting off to a slow start when Army played in Annapolis, the opposite happened on Saturday. The Black Knights erupted to an 11-3 lead in the opening 6:39, which included five points from Wilson and buckets from both Camryn Tade and Taylor Wilson. The two teams would trade baskets for the remainder of the quarter and Army held a 16-9 advantage going into the second.

The Black Knights shot 43.8 percent in the opening period, but it was their ferocious defense that stole the show. The Mids went 3-13 from the field and turned it over six times. Army also dominated the paint battle early, outscoring Navy 12-2 down low in the first 10 minutes.

Navy seemed to settle down on the offensive side of the court in the second period as both sides were trading baskets. Still, Army seemed to be in control and led 20-14 with just under five minutes before halftime. With less than 40 seconds before the break, Ericson hit a huge three to get the Army to five. However, Navy was able to score right before the horn sounded to cut the deficit down to three at halftime.
Neither team shot it great in the quarter, as Navy was 5-15 from the field and Army was 3-13. All of Army's field goals came from distance.

The third quarter was the most offensive filled frame of the afternoon, as the teams combined for 34 points. The Mids came out of the locker room strong and knocked down a pair of buckets to grab its first lead of the day. Army responded and the two teams went back-and-forth for nearly the entire quarter.

Soleil Montrose got on the scoresheet towards the end of the quarter, making a free-throw to give Army a slim 42-41 advantage going into the final 10 minutes of regulation. Both teams shot over 50 percent in the frame.

Much like how it started the second half, Navy opened the fourth frame on a 5-0 run to take a 46-42 lead just over a minute into the quarter. Ericson buried a huge three with 5:05 left to cut the Navy lead from five to two going into the final media timeout.

Navy scored the next two baskets and hope was slowly dwindling from Christl Arena. Army wasn't going to go down without a fight, but its comeback effort ultimately came up just short.

By The Numbers
Ericson led the way for Army with 13 points on 4-7 shooting from distance. Also scoring in double figures for the Black Knights was Tade with 11 and Brooke Wilson with 10. Army finished the game shooting 37.3 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from three.

On the other side, Zoe Mesuch had a game-high 14 points for Navy. The Mids shot 38.6 percent from the field.

Navy held the scoring edge in points off turnovers (18-10), points in the paint (30-22) and second chance points (4-2).

The two teams were tied in rebounds at 34-34. Four Black Knights had five rebounds, while Zanai Barnett-Gay had a game-high nine for Navy.

Tade led all players with six assists.

Quotable – Head Coach Katie Kuester
"I loved our start. I think that we put a huge emphasis on our start today, and I love the way we started the game. Obviously, it's 40 minutes, which is the most important piece. You know, they made a lot of good, solid runs in that second half and I thought we responded really well. I mean, Reese's three to even put us in the situation to tie up that ball, get the jump ball, knowing it's our possession. I wouldn't want anyone else to take that last shot than her, and I thought it was a good, solid look. We've been talking a lot about special situations, late game situations, and we, quite frankly, have not been in them this year. I don't know what that means. I know we're prepared for it. I think we showed today that we're prepared for anything, and it's only going to help us down the line. I'm always going to be a cup half full [person], and I know what we have on this roster, and I know that we're a championship team. I feel in my soul we're going to have to go through them in order to do that. So excited for another opportunity."

Up Next
Army will take a brief pause from competition during the week but will be back in action next Saturday as it welcomes Lafayette to Christl Arena for senior day. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. on ESPN+.

Game 27 Notables
• Army moves to 45-42 all-time against Navy. The Black Knights six-game winning streak in Star Games has come to an end.
• Reese Ericson had a team-high 13 points on 4-8 shooting. All her made field goals came from 3-point range.
• Also scoring in double-digits for Army was Camryn Tade (11) and Brooke Wilson (10).
• Army finished the game shooting 37.3 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from 3-point range.
• Army and Navy tied in rebounds with 34. Army had four players grab five reboubnds, the most in a game this season.
• For the first time this season, Army lost a game in which it allowed less than 60 points. Army was 17-0 entering the game when allowing 59 or fewer.