Maren Louridas to Serve as Captain for Navy Women’s Basketball – Naval Academy Athletics

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Rising junior Maren Louridas has been announced as the team captain of the Navy Women’s Basketball program for the upcoming 2024-25 school year. A standout starter for the Mids during her first two seasons with the program, Louridas (Delmar, N.Y.) was selected by her teammates to serve in the role of team captain. She will work in conjunction with fifth-year head coach Tim Taylor and Navy’s coaching staff to help lead and continue the development of a youth team that finished tied for fifth in the Patriot League, just one game out of second. The 2024-25 roster will have no seniors on it so Louridas and the Mids’ six-member Class of 2026 will lead the youthful squad both on and off the court.

“Being selected by my teammates to lead the Navy Women’s Basketball team as captain is the biggest honor I have ever received – second only to my appointment to attend the Naval Academy,” remarked Louridas. “My teammates are like sisters to me and they are all amazing young women with extremely bright futures. I am so thankful to Coach Taylor and his talented staff for bringing them into my life. 

“The time I have spent at the Academy thus far has enabled me to develop and hone my particular leadership style. I intend to lead with authenticity and to take responsibility for this team. My goal is to help each and every one of these young women to be the best they can be in the classroom, as members of the Brigade, and on the court. My teammates and I share one goal – to win a Patriot League Title and to advance to March Madness. I know we can do it. We know we can do it. Although we may be separated by continents right now completing our summer training, we are all working towards that goal. I am looking so forward to reconvening as a team for our summer session and to our 2024-25 season!”

“We are excited to have Maren be named our captain as she represents all things good about the Academy and our program,” commented Taylor. “As a coach, you want your leaders to be role models on and off the court and Maren exemplifies this with her work ethic, heart for others as well as her commitment to doing the right thing. She is consistently in the gym working on her craft while maintaining her academic standing/rank in the brigade. Maren is committed to elevating this program and helping lead her teammates to be better as a group, as people and as players.

“I just love the energy she and her teammates have been bringing to the court this off-season and I look forward to watching this young team’s continued growth under her and her fellow classmates’ leadership.”

A two-year starter for the Mids seeing time as both a guard and forward, Louridas has started 60 of a potential 61 games and scored 528 points for a 8.7 per game average, while passionately attacking the boards to the tune of 317 rebounds, a 5.2 per game clip. A trusted one-on-one defender, the Delmar, New York native rarely leaves the court as she saw 1,017 minutes as a freshman in 2022-23 and 927 as a sophomore this year. Louridas’ 31.9 minutes per game average currently ranks fifth all-time in Navy’s career record book. Coming off a Patriot League All-Rookie Team campaign last season, she stood out in the conference in 2023-24 with the 10th-best rebounding average (5.8) and 18th-best steals per game average (1.1). The sophomore increased both rates in Patriot League play to 6.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals over 32.1 minutes per game. A spotlight Patriot League performance for Louridas this past season was a 23-point, five-rebound outing on Feb. 14 at American, in which she shot 9-11 from the field and 4-6 from three-point range.

A standout in the classroom as a cyber operations major, Louridas has posted a flawless 4.0 cumulative grade point average over her first four semesters at the Naval Academy. A two-time member of the Patriot League Honor Roll, Louridas earned spots on the Patriot League All-Academic Team and on the CSC Academic All-District Team this spring.