The William and Mary women's team held strong for most of the game with archrivals Old Dominion Thursday night in Williamsburg, before finally getting out-distanced late in the game and falling 68-55.

The highlight of the night for both teams was the play of W&M junior Taysha Pye (Bronx, N.Y.), who spun, drove, and pulled-up all over the floor en route to a season-high 29 points. Pye also pulled down 11 rebounds for her second double-double of the year - in fact, she nearly had a double-double in the first half along with 14 and 9. Pye added a team-high three assists and three steals in her 37 minutes, while breaking her own school record with 29 field goal attempts.

Freshman Kaitlyn Mathieu (Waterboro, Maine) also scored in double-digits, counting for 10 with a pair of three-pointers and adding five rebounds. It was her nine double-digit effort of the season. Senior captain Lindsey Moller (Longmont, Colo.) matched Pye with three assists.

The first half was a tight, back-and-forth struggle that saw the Tribe in control for most of the 20 minutes. Pye got the scoring started with a three-point play the original way just 38 seconds into the game. A pair of triples for ODU helped the Monarchs take their first lead at 12:23, which lasted until Mathieu found the similar range on the other end of the floor and tied the score at 17-17 with 8:49 on the clock. A lay-up from Emily Correal (Venetia, Pa.) retook the lead for W&M at 21-19 with just under seven-and-a-half to go, a lead which was brief due to another ODU three, but classmate Jaclyn McKenna (Huntington, N.Y.) dropped in another at 6:16 to spark a 6-2 mini-run that found the Tribe up three again, 27-24 with 5:03 on the clock. Missed chances plagued both teams the rest of the way, allowing the Monarchs to climb back into contention, but Mathieu's second three of the half ensure that the game would be tied at the half, 30-30.

Coming out of the break, Old Dominion scored a quick six to take its biggest of the lead to that point, but the Tribe was just as quick in responding with eight unanswered, the last three on fast-break triple by Taylor Hilton (Washington, D.C.). The Monarchs found the deep range again, however, scoring threes on three of their next five possessions to take the lead for good, 45-42 with 12:22 remaining. From there, the Tribe slowly but surely wore down with its short bench, while the Monarchs were able to pull away and secure the victory.

After its brief two-game homestand, William and Mary will play the next three on the road, beginning Sunday at 2 p.m. with a game at UNC Wilmington.