WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The
William and Mary Tribe women's basketball team fell in hard-fought,
back-and-forth game to CAA rival Hofstra on Sunday afternoon, 100-97, at Kaplan
Arena. With the loss, the Tribe falls to
8-6 overall and to 1-2 in CAA play, while the Pride improves to 11-3 on the
season and to 3-0 in conference play.
The Tribe was led by senior guard Taysha Pye, who tallied a
season-high 32 points - just one off of her career high. Junior forward Emily Correal recorded her
fourth-straight double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds, while classmate
Janine Aldridge scored over 20 points for the sixth time this season, netting
22 to go with five assists and five rebounds.
Senior Katherine DeHenzel also had a double-double, scoring
10 points to go with a career-high 12 assists and five boards. DeHenzel's 12 assists against the Pride rank
her fourth all-time in school single-game history. The Tribe's 97 points are the fifth most in
W&M history, just three off the school record of 100. The 97-point output was also the most for the
College since it scored 98 in a win over Norfolk State back on November 20,
2008.
Offense in the first half came at a fast and furious pace
for both teams on Sunday afternoon.
Hofstra jumped out to an early 15-6 lead over the Tribe in the first
three minutes, but the Tribe was quick to answer, reeling off an 11-2 run to
tie the game at 17-17 at the 13:35 mark.
During that stretch, Aldridge was on-fire for the College, scoring
eight-straight that included two shots from beyond the arc.
The Pride came right back at the Green and Gold, taking a
23-19 lead. The advantage, however,
would be short-lived as the Tribe went on a 23-9 run over the next five minutes
to take control of the game, 42-32. For
the rest of the half, both teams continued to hit shots and at the break,
William and Mary took a 59-50 lead in to the locker room.
In the first half for the Tribe, Pye and Aldridge were
terrific. Pye, in her first start of the
season, scored 20 first-half points against the Pride on 8-of-17 shooting from
the field. Aldridge, on the other hand,
netted 16 very efficient points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 4-of-6 from
3-point distance. DeHenzel had a nice
first 20 minutes for the College, facilitating the offense and tallying eight
first-half assists.
As a team in the first frame, W&M shot a fantastic
20-of-38 (52.6%) from the field, including 6-of-10 from beyond the 3-point
line. The Tribe had 15 assists on its 20
first-half baskets and only turned the ball over five times.
For the first 10 minutes of the second half, the Tribe was
able to maintain a nice lead over the Pride, pushing its lead over its
conference rival to double-digits on three occasions. After a Pye jumper at the 10:08 mark of the
second frame, the College had a 79-69 lead over the Pride.
Over the course of the next eight minutes, however, Hofstra
slowly but surely cut in to the Tribe's lead and with 1:59 remaining in the
game, the Pride tied the contest at 95-95.
After each team exchanged one-point leads the next two possessions,
junior All-American Shante Evans hit a pair of free throws to give Hofstra a
98-97 lead with 43 seconds left.
On the Tribe's next possession, Pye took a pass on the left
wing and tried to get through a trap.
After a good amount of contact, Pye was called for a controversial
traveling violation, giving Hofstra the ball back with 35 seconds remaining.
After the Pride's Candace Bond hit a jumper to put the lead
at 100-97, the Tribe had the ball with a chance to tie with seven seconds
left. Dribbling past Hofstra defenders,
DeHenzel found Aldridge in the right corner, but her 3-point effort hit the back
iron. The Tribe would get another shot,
however, as the ball was knocked out by a Hofstra player with 0.5 seconds
remaining. On the inbounds play,
Aldridge fired from the right wing, but her game-tying effort just missed and
Hofstra would escape Kaplan with a 100-97 win over the Tribe.
For the game, the Tribe shot 45.1% on 32-of-71 from the
floor, while Hofstra shot 43.0% on 37-of-86 shooting. Off the bench for W&M, freshman Kyla Kerstetter filled up the stat line in just four minutes, tallying seven quick
points. Junior Taylor Hilton also had
seven off the bench for the College.
The 197 combined points between the Tribe and the Pride on Sunday
afternoon shattered the previous Kaplan Arena mark set back on March 3,
1981. In that contest, William and Mary
and Hofstra combined to score 178.
The William and Mary Tribe women's basketball team will hit
the road next Thursday, January 12 to face CAA-rival Towson. Tip-off against the Tigers is scheduled for 7
p.m.
