WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The William & Mary women's basketball team won its sixth straight game as it led wire-to-wire in an 83-63 triumph against USC Upstate on Tuesday night at Kaplan Arena. Sophomore Nari Garner paced W&M with 15 points, while freshman Nyla Pollard added a career-high 14 points. With the win the Tribe improves to 8-1, while the Spartans drop to 2-8.
 
The Green and Gold scored the game's first 11-points and never looked back. Sophomore Victoria Reynolds connected on a lay-up on the opening possession, before senior Jenna Green canned a triple, and Pollard added a lay-up. After an Upstate timeout, sophomore Bianca Boggs and senior Abby Rendle scored, to make it 11-0 just 4:30 minutes into the contest, and the Tribe never relinquished its double-digit lead.
 
W&M went on to extend its lead to as many as 23 in the quarter, and led 30-12 after the first stanza. The Tribe added to its cushion thanks to a blistering shooting performance in the opening period, including 57.9-percent (11-of-19) from the floor and 75-percent (6-of-8) from range.
 
All 14 of the Tribe's player saw, at least, five minutes of action, while 12 of them scored a point in the victory.
 
W&M Starters - #2 Boggs, #11 Pollard, #12 Green, #24 Rendle, #30 Reynolds
 
USC Upstate Starters - #00 Delva, #1 Thorpe, #10 Parkhurst, #15 Kuzmina #21 Popplewell
 
Individual Leaders
Sophomore Nari Garner scored a game-high 15 points on 5-for-7 from the floor and 4-of-5 from behind the arc to lead three in double-figures for the Tribe. Freshman Nyla Pollard set a career-high with 15 points, three rebounds, four assists, and two steals, while senior Jenna Green added 13 points, five helpers, and five steals.
 
Riley Popplewell and Rylie Parkhurst led the charge for the Spartans each scoring 12 points in the game. Anda Kuzmina just missed double-figures with nine points and was the team's leading rebounder with five.
 
Inside the Numbers
- W&M shot 48.3-percent (28-for-58) from the floor for the game, which brings its season average to 46.5-percent (247-for-533).
 
- The shots continued to fall from range as well as the Tribe shot 55.6-percent (10-for-16) from 3-point land in the win.   
 
- The Green and Gold won the rebounding battle for the first time in the last four games. The Tribe is 3-1 when it wins the battle of the boards.
 
- The Tribe had season-high 18 thefts in the victory. W&M was paced by five steals apiece from senior Jenna Green and sophomore Victoria Reynolds.
 
Notes
Sophomore Nari Garner was in double-figures for the third time in the last four games with her game-high 15 points … She has also been the team's leading scorer in those three games … Her 4-of-5 (80-percent) from the 3-point range is good the third-best single game effort … Senior Jenna Green was in double figures for the eighth time in nine games this season, which leads the team … It was her 20th career double-figure effort … Freshman Nyla Pollard set a career-high with 14 points for her second double-digit performance of her young career … Freshman Libby Underwood set a new a career-high with eight points and three assists … Junior Misha Jones added a career-high tying seven points, while playing a career-high 18 minutes in the win … The team's 55.6-percent (10-for-18) from 3-point land is tied for fourth in single-game school history … The 10 total 3-pointers are new season, which W&M has set or tied in three of the four games, and are tied for 14th in single-game history …  W&M's 18 steals are tied for the eighth most in a single-game … The Tribe is 8-1 for the second straight season, which is good for the best nine-game start in W&M's Division I history … W&M is now 2-0 in the all-time series with Upstate.
 
What's Ahead
The Tribe has a 12-day lay-off to focus on final exams before rounding at non-conference play with two Hampton Roads rivals at Kaplan Arena. The first of those two games will be against Old Dominion on Sunday, Dec. 17 at 5 p.m. The game will be aired on Cox-Yurview in the Hampton Roads area as well as simulcast on TribeAthletics.TV. Promotions for that contest include a doubleheader with the men playing at 2 p.m. against Milligan, a student study break, which features a pancake buffet between games, a raffle for students that arrive before halftime of the men's game, and kids court, which allows kids, 12 and under, to shoot on court following the game.