WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The William and Mary women's basketball team closed out the non-conference slate with its second straight heartbreaking loss this one at the hands of in-state rival Richmond, 59-56, on Sunday afternoon at Kaplan Arena. The Tribe led by as many as 14 points in the second half, but the Spiders put together a pair of decisive run, including a 13-3 push late in the contest to pull out the victory. W&M dropped to 6-5 with the loss, while Richmond improved to 7-4.
Sophomore Marlena Tremba lead three Tribe players in double figures with a game-high 15 points, while senior Kyla Kerstetter chipped in 12 points and eight rebounds off the bench. Freshman Abby Rendle turned in another impressive performance with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting to go with six rebounds and seven blocked shots. The seven rejections tied for the third most in school history and gave Rendle 12 over the last two games.
The Green and Gold lead reached its largest with the opening bucket of the second half. Senior Jazmen Boone's lay-up at the 16:30 mark were the opening points of the second frame and extended the margin to 14 points, 39-25.
A 15-2 Richmond run, spurted by a flagrant foul, closed the margin to just one. Bria Powell, Olivia Healy and Brown sparked the run, scoring all 15 Spider points. Brown offensive putback cut the Tribe advantage to 41-34 with 13:42, before Boone was whistled for a flagrant 1 foul on the offensive end on the ensuing W&M possession. Healy knocked down the free throws and then found Brown for a lay-up to close the gap to three. A Powell steal and fast-break lay-up cut the lead to just a point at the 12:26 mark.
W&M maintained its one-point advantage midway through the second stanza and pushed the lead back to six with five straight points. Kerstetter knocked down a pair of free throws after being fouled on an offensive rebounds, before a sophomore Alexandra Masaquel steal led to a Tremba 3-pointer from the right side to give W&M a 48-42 lead with 8:14 left.
The Tribe lead was once again six with 5:17 remaining following a Tremba free throw, before Richmond put together it closing run. The Spiders scored eight straight points to take a two-point lead. Brown and Kylie Murphree hit back-to-back 3-pointers to tie the contest at 49, before Healy found Genevieve Okoro for a lay-up with 3:02 remaining.
A Rendle lay-up briefly tied the game at 51, before the Spiders scored five of the game's next six points, all from the free throw line. Okoro's freebies put the visitors back on top and Lauren Tolson's efforts from the charity stripe pushed the UR advantage to 56-52 with 1:21 remaining.
The teams traded free throws as Tremba twice cut the margin to two points. She was fouled with 6.7 seconds remaining and her pair of freebies cut the gap to 58-56. After Richmond was able to get the ball inbounds, the Tribe was forced to foul. Healy hit just 1-of-2 from the free throw line to give the Spiders a 59-56 lead with 5.5 seconds remaining. The Green and Gold got a nice look for the tie, but junior Brooke Stewart's 3-pointer from the left corner rimmed out at the buzzer.
W&M finished the game at just 27.6-percent (16-of-58) from the field, including just 5-of-29 (17.2-percent) in the second half, which was a season-low in both categories. Richmond was not much better at just 31.5 percent (17-of-54) from the field. Both teams excelled at the charity stripe as the Spiders hit 22-of-31 (71-percent), while the Tribe was 21-of-27 (77.8-percent). Both teams finished with 11 steals and W&M outrebounded the Spiders, 47-42.
After Brown post move gave UR the early lead, W&M ripped off a 12-0 run to open up a double-digit lead. During the stretch, the Green and Gold held the Spiders to 0-of-5 from the floor with two turnovers. Boone provided a big spark during the run as she scored on an offensive putback and was fouled. She was forced to leave the contest momentarily due to blood and Masaquel converted the 3-point play. A Stewart triple from the left wing extended the Tribe lead to 12-2 and forced a Richmond timeout.
W&M pushed the lead to as much as 13 points, 20-7, on a pair of Kerstetter free throws midway through the opening period. Richmond responded with six straight points to close to within 20-13 with 7:36 left.
The Green and Gold lead bounced between eight and 11 for much of the remainder of the first half. A Bria Powell free throw with 42 seconds left cut the gap to eight, before W&M closed the half with a big run. Rendle drove from the top of the key for a lay-up to push the lead back to double-digits and a sophomore Latrice Hunter steal in the closing seconds of the half resulted in an offensive putback for Kerstetter to give W&M a 37-25 advantage at the intermission.
Boone led W&M on the glass, tying a career-high with 11 and added six points. Healy led Richmond with a career-high 13 points off the bench, including an 8-of-10 effort from the free throw line. Brown added 10 points for the Spiders, while Okoro had seven points and 10 rebounds. Defensively, the Tribe limited UR's top two scorers Janelle Hubbard (8) and Tolson (6) to just 4-of-17 shooting and only 14 points when the pair came in averaging better than 13 points apiece.
The Tribe hits the road for a pair of games to open 2015 in the Colonial Athletic Association slate. W&M travels to UNCW on Sunday, Jan. 4. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m. from Trask Coliseum in Wilmington.
