Tribe’s season comes to end in loss to Towson in CAA quarter nals

Graduate guards Riley Casey and Sydney Wagner shine in final career games

SYDNEY WITWER FLAT HAT SPORTS WRITER

Saturday, March 11, William and Mary women’s basketball (18-13, 12-6 CAA) fell to Towson (21-12, 13-5 CAA) 76-59 in the Colonial Athletic Association Women’s Basketball Championship semifinals at the SECU Arena in Towson.

The first quarter of the game was tightly contested between the Tribe and the Tigers. With 10 seconds left in the quarter, the Tribe narrowly led 11-8. In the final seconds of the quarter, Tigers redshirt junior guard Kylie Kornegay-Lucas scored a layup on a fastbreak to pull the Tigers within one point.

The Tribe extended their lead in the second quarter with a dominant offensive performance. Graduate student guard Sydney Wagner and senior forward Bre Bellamy spearheaded the team’s offense, scoring 16 of the team’s 21 points in the quarter. The Tribe offense outscored the Tigers 21-14 in the second quarter and entered the locker room with a 32-24 lead against the topseeded Tigers.

Following halftime, the Tigers’ offense

WOMENʼS LACROSSE came out hot. The Tigers battled their way back to tie the game at 48-48 by the end of the quarter putting the Tribe onto their heels to start the final quarter.

The Tigers made a strategic decision at the half and began tightly defending Wagner throughout the third, who already scored 19 points in the first half alone. The Tigers also instituted a full court press to force frequent Tribe turnovers, resulting in easy points on transition plays. This approach proved effective for Towson, leading the Tigers’ offense to double their points production from 24 points in the first half to 48 points in the second half.

In the fourth quarter, the Tigers pulled away, outscoring the Tribe 28-11 and leading to a final score of 76-59.

Despite the loss, the Tribe’s fight against the top-seeded opponent is a significant achievement for the team. This was their first appearance in the CAA Semifinals since 2017, where they fell to Elon 88-60.

Wagner scored 30 points in her final game for the Tribe. Wagner was a sixth-year player for the team, as she was redshirted during her sophomore year after transferring from Stetson and gained an additional year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Wagner proved to be a crucial member of the Tribe and led the team with her experience and skill. Wagner ranks in the top 10 of the Tribe’s all-time highest scorers, led the CAA in free throw percentage this season and finished her career with an average of 16.2 points per game. The conference named her as a member of the All-CAA second team this year.

Graduate student guard Riley Casey also played her final game with the Tribe in the team’s semifinal game. Casey formerly played for Columbia until she transferred to the College for her redshirt senior year. She ranked second in the Tribe’s all time highest scoring players and scored her 1000th career point against Drexel on Jan. 20, 2022. Casey finished second in scoring and free throw shooting in the conference this year. The conference named her as a member of the first All-CAA team and the Scholar Athlete of the Year.

In the 2022-2023 season, the team hit several impressive benchmarks. The Tribe tied its own program record for most CAA conference wins with 12 victories. Freshman guard Alexa Mikeska and freshman forward Kayla Rolph won CAA Rookie of the Week honors throughout the season.

Crazy hair for crazy game, Green and Gold escape Hofstra comeback

Strong offensive start, clutch late defense leads to win on annual Game Hair Havoc Day

Saturday, March 18, William and Mary (4-4, 1-0 CAA) beat Hofstra (3-6, 0-1 CAA) 13-12 in its first conference matchup of the season at Martin Family Stadium in Williamsburg, Virginia.

The Tribe started the season with a narrow victory in its annual Game Hair Havoc day, in which players wear their craziest hairstyles in support of the Headstrong Foundation, a group that supports cancer patients and their families.

Similarly to the hair on the field, the game was crazy from start to finish. The first quarter began with an almost immediate goal by sophomore midfielder Paige Gilbert, the fifth of the year. Just two minutes later, Hofstra responded with a goal of their own, and with just under four minutes played, both teams were knotted at 1-1. The scoring slowed until the end of the quarter when midfielder Emily Weigand scored a go-ahead goal for Hofstra with two minutes, 23 seconds left. That lead lasted less than two minutes, as Tribe freshman attacker Sydney Witwer found the back of the net for her seventh goal of the year.

After the first quarter ended, the Tribe kicked it into a whole new gear — their offense came out of the break ready to take the CAA by storm. In the first eight minutes of the second quarter, the Tribe went on a 7-0 run with goals coming from all over the field. Senior attacker London Simonides led with three, freshman midfielder Maresa Moyer scored twice and junior attacker Ellie Shea and sophomore midfielder Serena Jacobs tacked on one each.

The Pride tried to slow things down with three goals of their own, but the Tribe continued their offensive onslaught with two goals within the last minute of the half from sophomore midfielder Justyce Barber and freshman midfielder Kate Draddy.

After finishing the first quarter tied 2-2, the Green and Gold went into the locker room with a commanding 11-5 lead, and of course, the same crazy hair they started with. Hofstra, to William and Mary’s dismay, was not ready to roll over and let the game slip away. The Pride went on a run of their own in the third, outscoring the Tribe 3-1 in the quarter. Junior attacker Kerry Walser scored two in the third for Hofstra, increasing her match total to four goals, a game-high. Graduate student attacker Rachel Graff also scored a Pride goal, which Witwer matched with a goal of her own.

Along with the score, tensions began to rise in the third. Two of the three yellow cards in the game came in the third quarter, with one offense from each team. As the quarter came to an end with a 12-8 lead for the Tribe, both teams could sense the importance of a win.

Hofstra continued to attack the net and started to find success on offense. Senior midfielder Kate Fiola, senior attacker Lauren Coletti and Graff all scored within the first 10 minutes of the last quarter, almost completely erasing the William and Mary lead and making it 12-11 with just under six minutes left to play.

The Tribe needed to dig deep defensively, and with a little help from another Draddy goal, William and Mary secured some much needed wiggle room for the last few minutes of the game. The Pride was able to scratch across one more Graff goal with under a minute to play, but the Tribe’s lead proved too great to completely overcome.

The Tribe look to continue their strong start on Wednesday, March 22 in a non-league game against Longwood in Farmville, Virginia.