The Army ˮAV˵ women's basketball team (10-11, 7-4 PL) was victorious in the annual "Star" Series matchup presented by USAA over the Navy Midshipmen (8-14, 4-7 PL), 70-58, at Christl Arena on Feb. 10, marking three straight "Star" Series wins for the Army women's basketball team and Head Coach Missy Traversi.
Leading the way were Junior , who had a season-high 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the floor, and sophomore , who shot 6-for-11 from three-point range, scoring 21 to combine with Hardy for 44 of Army's 70 total points.
How It Happened
In a sea of white and many of their cadet peers in attendance cheering them on, which included a majority of the football team, the Army women's basketball team came out hot outscoring Navy 24-13 in the first quarter and never looked back. Army raced out to a 7-0 advantage with two buckets coming from Hardy. Army would go on to lead the entire game.
Ericson would cash her first of six three-pointers midway through the quarter to keep the Black Knights out front 13-8. Ericson would soon connect again pushing Army out to a 23-9 lead as the quarter was coming to a close.
In the second, Army pushed its lead out to 19 points on a basket by Camryn Tade and would take a 38-25 lead into intermission.
In the second half, Ericson was sensational drilling three consecutive three-pointers on three Army possessions late in the third quarter to take a 15-point lead into the final 10 minutes of play at 55-40.
Navy would cut into the Army and make it an eight-point game, following a 7-0 run with five of those points scored by freshman Zanai Barnett-Gay. However, Hardy would answer for Army with a three-pointer of her own and several minutes later Ericson would nail her sixth and final three of the day at the 4:59 mark to push the Black Knights back up by 14 points, 61-47 which they were able to control the remainder of the game.
Navy had three players in double figures, led by Banett-Gay's 20 points, Kate Samson's 16 points and Kyah Smith's 13 points.
Inside the Box
- Army women's basketball improves to 43-40 all-time vs. Navy since the first meeting in 1981.
- Army is 8-2 in their last 10 meetings vs. Navy.
- Army is 20-19 all-time vs. Navy at Christl Arena.
- Army has won the last three Star Series matchups over Navy (2022, 2023, 2024).
- Traversi improves to 5-1 vs. Navy, with five straight victories over the Midshipmen in her three seasons at the helm.
Last Five Games vs. Navy:
- Feb. 10, 2024 (H): Army 70 – Navy 58 ** 2024 Star Game
- Jan. 20, 2024 (A): Army 66 - Navy 51
- Feb. 11, 2023 (A): Army 66 - Navy 64 **2023 Star Game
- Jan. 21, 2023 (H): Army 75 - Navy 61
- Feb. 12, 2022 (H): Army 70 - Navy 66 **2022 Star Game
- Ericson drilled six three-pointers, her fourth game making four or more threes this season. It was her third game scoring 20+ points.
- Over her last two games, Ericson has scored 35 points on 10-23 shooting from three-point distance (.43%).
- Hardy scored a season-best 23 points on 10-16 shooting from the field. She has scored in double figures in six of the last seven games.