WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The William & Mary women's basketball team heads back on the road to conclude a stretch of three of the first four games on the road as they travel up I-64 West to take on Richmond on Friday, Nov. 20. Tip time is set for 7 p.m. at the Robins Center.
OPENING TIP The William & Mary women's basketball team hits the road to conclude a stretch of three of the first four games on the road starting at Richmond on Friday, Nov. 20. Tipoff is set 7 p.m.
The Tribe looks to start a season 3-0 for the first time since the 1987-88 season after picking up victories at Mount St. Mary's and versus Grambling State to open the season. W&M and Richmond meet for the 109th time on Friday night. It is also the second straight season the two former Colonial Athletic Association rivals will meet. Richmond leads the all-time series by a 82-25-1 margin, including a thrilling 59-56 victory last season in Williamsburg.
LAST TIME OUT Junior
Alexandra Masaquel led three Tribe players in double-figures with 16 points as the William & Mary women's basketball team never trailed and cruised to a 74-55 victory over Grambling State on Monday night in its home opener at Kaplan Arena. Masaquel added five rebounds, three assists, two blocks, and three steals, while she shot 7-of-11 from the field. Sophomore Abby Renfinished with 10 points, nine rebounds, four assists, four blocks, and three steals. The final player in double-figures was junior
Marlena Tremba, who finished with 10 points, four rebounds, and three dimes. Again the Tribe shot the ball well from the field, finishing with a 54.9-percent (28-of-51) clip from the field. The Green and Gold also shot the ball well from the charity stripe knocking down 14-of-15 attempts for a 93.3-percent mark, which was the best free throw shooting performance since Feb. 2, 2014.
SCOUTING THE SPIDERSRichmond also enters Friday's night contest with a 2-0 record to start the young season. The Spiders picked up wins over Eastern Kentucky (81-62) and Old Dominion (62-57) in its first two contests. In the midst of a four game home stand, the Spiders haven't played since Sunday afternoon. U of R is averaging 71.5 points per game after two contests. Jannelle Hubbard leads three players in double-figures in the early going as she is averaging 18.5 points per game. Lauren Tolson has added 16.5 points per game, while Micael Parson has scored 13.5 points a night. On the boards, the Spiders are bringing down 37.0 rebounds a night. Individually, Tuuli Menna (5.0 rpg.) and Bria Powell (4.0 rpg) are leading the way.
SERIES HISTORY W&M and Richmond meet for the 109th time on Friday night. It is also the second straight season the two former Colonial Athletic Association rivals will meet. The 109 meetings is the second most played series in school history. The rivalry only trails the VCU-RPI series which will be renewed for the 120th time on Dec. 21 in Richmond. Richmond leads the all-time series by a 82-25-1 margin, including a thrilling 59-56 victory last season in Williamsburg. Last year, sophomore
Abby Rendle scored 11 points and registered a career-high seven blocks against the Spiders. Junior
Marlena Tremba scored 15 in the game, as Richmond hit a 3-pointer in its final possession to claim the victory on the road.
THE ROAD AHEADW&M concludes its stretch of three of its first four on the road as it travels to Loyola on Monday, Nov. 23. Tipoff between the Tribe and Greyhounds is set for 7 p.m. The Green and Gold return home for a match-up against American on Wednesday, Nov. 25 at 5:00 p.m. The game will be apart of a women's and men's doubleheader as the Tribe men's basketball team will host in-state rival Hampton at 7:30 p.m.
COMMONWEALTH CLASHOnce again the William & Mary schedule is full of natural rivals including six-games against schools from the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Tribe plays Richmond (Nov. 20), Norfolk State (Dec. 17), VCU (Dec. 21), Old Dominion (Dec. 29), and James Madison (Jan. 3 & Feb. 19).
GRAND COUNTDOWNWith her second quarter layup against Grambling State junior
Marlena Tremba eclipsed the 800-point mark of her just over two year career. Entering tonight's game against Richmond she is just 191 from her 1,000 career point. She would become the 17th player in school history to eclipse the 1,000-point plateau.
STRONG STARTFor just the seventh time in the Division I history of the program, and the 22nd time in school history the Tribe women's basketball program opened a season with back-to-back wins.
With a win tonight against the Spiders, W&M would improve to 3-0 for the first time 1987-88 season, which is the only other time in Division I history that the Tribe started 3-0. In school history, the Green and Gold have started the season 3-0 15 times.
FRESH FACESAll of the four true freshman on the roster have made their collegiate debuts over the course of the first two games. Guard
Bianca Boggs cracked the starting line up on opening night, while forward
Ali Engelhardt played as a reserve. Against Grambling State, both guard/forward
Misha Jones and center
Chandler Smith made their debuts.
OPENING NIGHT SCORING SHOWJunior
Marlena Tremba's 26 points scored on opening night was the most by a Tribe player in a season opener, during the program's Division I era. The 26 points rank her fourth in school history. Margaret Milona '67 had 30 points in season opener against Fort Eustis in 1963. Hazel Stringfellow '30 scored 27 points against Adelphi in the opener in 1927, while Bebe Fisher '53 also scored 27 points versus St. James Club in the opener in 1950.
RENDLE'S REJECTIONSSophomore
Abby Rendle picked up where she left off her freshman year in terms of controlling the paint. The sophomore is averaging 4.0 blocks a night, to open th season. Rendle is already in sixth place on the all-time blocks list in W&M history with 76. She needs nine blocks to move into fifth place all-time in school history. Tiffany Benson '10 is the school record holder for blocked shots with 255.
DOUBLE FIGURES FOR MARAfter scoring in double-figures in both games to open the regular season, junior
Marlena Tremba has scored in double-figures in 45 of her 62 career games as member of the Tribe. Tremba has also recorded 10, 20-point performances in her career, including the opener this season. She has already registered 809 career points, which is 13.0 points per game, which currently ranks sixth-best in W&M history. The junior needs just one more 20-point performance to move into the 10 in career 20-point games.
FLYIN' HAWAIIANAfter registering a career-high in the final game of the 2014-15 season, junior Alex Masaquel picked up right where she left off last season, scoring in double figures in both games this season. She has added 13 rebounds, four blocks, and five assists. Last season, the Honolulu, Hawaii native, who has had 10 double-figure scoring performances and is averaging 7.5 points a contest to go along with 6.4 rebounds. She has added 66 steals, 24 blocks, and 34 assists. She has also recorded four double-doubles.
TRIPLES FOR TREMBAJunior
Marlena Tremba has now hit a 3-pointer in all but five games of her career. She has connected on more than one 3-pointer in 44 of 62 games during her career. The junior hit a career-best six 3-pointers in the game at Towson on Jan. 6, 2015, and opened the 2015 season by hitting five triples against Mount St. Mary's. The Vienna, Virginia native is sixth with 147 triples made, ranks sixth in 3-pointers attempted (456), and ranks seventh with .322 three-point field goal percentage.
SPREADING THE WEALTHOne key to the Tribe's success last season could be traced to how well they're sharing the basketball. In the 15 games W&M won, they had 249 assists, which is 16.6 assists per game. In the College's 16 losses, they have dished 205 dimes, but that is just 13.7 assists per game. In its two victories this season W&M is averaging 21.5 assists, including 25 helpers in the victory over Grambling State.
START ME UP In his three years coach Swanson has used 18 different starting lineups (10 in 2013-14; 6 in 2014-15; 2 in 2015-16) in his time with the Tribe. Already this season he has used two different starting lineup combos. Opening night the lineup of junior
Alexandra Masaquel, sophomores
Abby Rendle,
Jenna Green, and
Jeanne Gaumont, and freshman
Bianca Boggs made the start. Against Grambling State, junior
Marlena Tremba joined the starting five in place of Boggs.
LEADING TRENDSWilliam & Mary had the lead, at one point, in every single game last season, and the first two this season. Dating back to the 2013-14 season, W&M has held, at least, one lead in 35 straight games.
