Army sophomore forward Kya Smith stepped up big time on Sunday, scoring 14 points and pulling down 15 rebounds to help the Black Knights knock off Navy, 59-49, at Christl Arena in a Patriot League women’s basketball game.
The victory, the Black Knights’ sixth straight win over the Midshipmen, moved Army to 14-4 and dropped Navy to 14-5 overall. Both teams are 6-2 in league play.
Smith, from Lubbock, Texas, came to play against Navy. Sensing an opportunity to take advantage of a size advantage in the paint, Army coach Missy Traversi said she instructed her players, particularly the guards, to get the ball to Smith and let her take control.
It worked like magic.
“Especially like a team like Navy, who was averaging around 70 points a game, I knew we needed to score the ball today,” said Traversi. “I thought that Kya stepped up in a big way for us. We needed a post presence so we would have an inside and outside attack.
“It is hard on our offense because we have such great guard scorers. Where I think we share our ball with the perimeter players we don’t necessary get enough post touches. Today, we had an advantage inside and we definitely wanted to get Kya going early. She was aggressive, every time she got the ball she was looking to score and that is hard to guard when you have inside and outside presence like that.”
Smith’s teammate sensed that she was going to let loose. “Kya is a beast,” said Army guard and team captain Trinity Hardy. “Navy did not have an answer for her. As her teammate I knew that, so it was important to get her the ball where she needed it, where she did not need to put too many dribbles on the ground. And, also be there for her defensively. I love playing with Kya Smith. She is our energy bunny. I found myself telling her to come down. But she feeds off of energy.”
Army took a 21-12 lead at the end of the first quarter and was up 32-18 late in the second quarter before Navy closed the gap to 34-26 at halftime. Navy could not get closer than six points in the second half.
It was definitely not a one-player show. Hardy scored 13 points, sophomore guard/forward Fiona Hastick scored 11 points and had four assists and junior guard Reese Ericson added 10 points. Sophomore guard Camryn Tade had 10 rebounds.
“Honestly, I woke up this morning and said, oh, it’s game day but no, it’s Beat Navy day,” added Hardy. “It is a tradition that has been ingrained in us since beast barracks. You just got to beat Navy, everywhere we go its beat Navy. All over the weight room, beat Navy. It’s instilled in us as soon as you enter the grounds. We just got to do it.”
