WILMINGTON, N.C. - Playing in their third consecutive road game and second in four days, the William and Mary Tribe women's basketball team fell Sunday afternoon 80-77, at UNCW.   William and Mary drops to 9-13 overall and 2-9 in CAA play, while UNCW improves to 14-8 on the season and 7-4 in league action.

Leading the Tribe attack was junior forward Emily Correal, who notched 22 points on 10 made field-goals.  Also contributing to the effort was junior guard Janine Aldridge, who scored 17 of her 19 points in the second half.  Junior center Jaclyn McKenna notched her third double-double of the season, scoring 14 points while collecting 10 rebounds.  Senior guard Taysha Pye rounded out the College's effort, scoring 13 points and tallying seven rebounds.

Posting the Tribe's first seven points of the game was Correal, who was on the receiving end of a McKenna pass, which led to a lay up, giving W&M an early 7-4 lead.  At the 12:40 mark, McKenna's stop and pop 3-pointer from the top of the arc extended the College's advantage to 15-8.   On back-to-back possessions two fundamentally sound bounce passes into the post by Aldridge and Pye, to Correal resulted in two easy buckets, extending the W&M lead to 26-21, with 7:45 remaining in the opening frame.

With only 7:23 left to go in the first, the Seahawks reeled off a 17-4 run, and captured the lead, 38-30.   Scoring the last four points of the half for W&M was Pye and senior guard Katherine DeHenzel.  Both scored with under a minute remaining, and DeHenzel's lay-up as time expired cut the UNCW lead to 40-34, at halftime.

Leading the way for the College in the first-half was Correal, who scored 11 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the floor.  Adding to the Tribe's attack was McKenna and Pye, who each poured in seven.  DeHenzel's solid half consisted of five points, four assists and two rebounds.  In the opening 20 minutes, W&M shot 15-of-34 (44.1 percent) from the field.

An urgent Tribe squad stormed out of the locker rooms at halftime and peeled off a 13-4 run, retaking the lead at 47-44.   Sparking the run was the sharpshooting Aldridge, who connected from downtown on consecutive possessions.  The run culminated after Correal executed an old-fashioned 3-point play.  The Seahawks answered right back, after Tawanna Lee's triple nudged UNCW back ahead by two, 49-47.     

Trailing 54-49, Aldridge's third trey of the half capped off a quick 7-0 Tribe run, and gave the Green and Gold a 56-54 advantage.  Over the next eight minutes the Tribe and Seahawks traded blows, until UNCW's Lee seemingly put the Seahawks ahead for good 76-71, after connecting from deep.

Down 78-71 with just 1:31 remaining, W&M orchestrated a final charge.  An Aldridge drained 3-pointer cut the gap to 78-74.  On the ensuing inbounds, W&M's stifling defense forced a five-second violation, giving the ball back to the College.  Capitalizing off the UNCW mistake, McKenna laid it in off the glass and in the act was fouled.  McKenna connected from the charity stripe, cutting UNCW's margin to 78-77 with just 38 seconds left.  Two made free throws by Wilmington's Alisha Andrews put the Seahawks up three.  With time winding down a DeHenzel 3-pointer sailed just right of the basket, and UNCW escaped with the 80-77, victory.

For the game the College shot 39.2 percent (29-of-74) from the field.  From the foul line, W&M was an efficient 12-of-14 (85.7 percent).  The Green and Gold connected from 3-point territory seven times on 19 attempts (41.2 percent).   W&M ended the game holding an advantage over Wilmington in assists (19), steals (14), points in the paint (40), points off of turnovers (14) and fast break points (13).

Lee's 21 points led the Seahawk effort.  Also chipping in was Abria Trice with 15 and Ayoola Weaver with 12.  For the game, UNCW shot 44.6 percent (29-of-65) from the field.

The Tribe returns home to Kaplan Arena on Thursday Feb. 9, as it plays host to the Towson Tigers.  Tip-off from Williamsburg is scheduled for 7 p.m.  Thursday's conference tilt against the Tigers will be the first of consecutive home conference games for W&M.  On Sunday, Feb. 12, the Green and Gold welcomes the Drexel Dragons to Kaplan.  Fans can follow of the action online at TribeAthletics.com with live video, audio and stats.