WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – William & Mary women's basketball hosts Navy at Kaplan Arena on Sunday afternoon. It marks the seventh-straight year the Tribe has faced an opponent from the Patriot League, but the first meeting with the Mids since 2012.
All Tribe home games and the entirety of the Colonial Athletic Association schedule will be streamed on FloHoops. A
FloHoops subscription is $12.50 per month or $95.88 per year ($7.99 per month). Jay Colley and
Julie Leach will have the call on Sunday afternoon.
Catch up with the Tribe through social media. Fans can keep up with W&M women's basketball by following the program on social media as well. Be sure to check out the Tribe on
Twitter (@WMTribeWBB),
Facebook (WMTribeWBB), and
Instagram (WMTribeWBB).
W&M News and Notes
- The Tribe is 19-6 all-time against the Patriot League and has won eight straight against the conference. Under head coach
Ed Swanson, the Tribe is 7-0 against the Patriot League and will play a team from the conference for the seventh-straight year.
- In the first two games of 2020-21, the Tribe started a veteran lineup of three seniors (
Nyla Pollard,
Gabby Rogers and
Bailey Eichner), a fourth-year junior (
Sydney Wagner) and a sophomore (
Bre Bellamy). Seniors
Nyla Pollard and
Gabby Rogers have been fixtures in the starting lineup throughout their careers combining for 141 starts. Pollard has started 84 of 91games, while Rogers owns 57 starts over the last three seasons. The Tribe returned three starters (Pollard, Rogers and Bellamy) from last season and half of its 12 active players are in the junior and senior classes.
- Senior
Nyla Pollard enjoyed a strong home debut in 2020-21 with an impressive stat line of 14 points, six rebounds, four assists and five steals. Her scoring output and steals total both equaled career-highs. Pollard current ranks third in the CAA and 40th nationally at 3.0 steals per game and 28th in the league in scoring (9.0).
- The Green and Gold will not leave the state of Virginia during the nonconference slate, playing three home games in Kaplan Arena and another three contests on the road against Commonwealth rivals (Old Dominion, George Mason and Norfolk State). The Tribe's six nonconference foes averaged nearly 17 wins a season ago and three of them finished second in their respective leagues.
- After leading the Tribe with 5.3 rebounds per game last season, senior
Bailey Eichner has picked up right where she left off. She topped W&M with a career-high 14 rebounds at ODU, which marked the most rebounds for a Tribe player since 2018. Along with her rebounding total, Eichner enjoyed a strong stat-line against the Monarchs adding three assists, two blocked shots and a steal. For the second-straight year, Eichner ranks among the CAA leaders in rebounding (third at 8.5), blocks (second at 1.5) and defensive rebounds (second at 6.5).
- Redshirt junior
Sydney Wagner topped the Tribe in each of the first two games with 14 points in each contest. It marked the first times that she led the Green and Gold in scoring over her two seasons. She tallied double figures in 21 career games, including 15 with the Tribe. Wagner ranks ninth in the CAA in scoring at 14 points per game and eighth at 3.5 assists per game.
- Wagner was named preseason All-CAA honorable mention by vote of the league coaches. She ranked third on the team at 8.3 points per contests in 2019-20 and was one of the top 3-point shooters in the CAA. Wagner was ninth in the league, knocking down 46 3-pointers last season and finished 13th in CAA games in 3-point shooting at 34.1%.
- W&M is coming off its best season in school history during 2019-20. The Tribe posted school records in wins (21), CAA wins (12) and road wins (11). The team also achieved its highest seed in the CAA Tournament at No. 3. With a final RPI of 104, the Tribe was on the verge of earning a postseason berth to, at least, the WNIT for the first time in the program's history before COVID-19 ended the season.
- W&M head coach
Ed Swanson enjoyed a noteworthy 2019-20 season individually. He was named the CAA Co-Coach of the Year following the Tribe's historic season. Personally, Swanson won his 500th career game on Nov. 26, became just the third coach in W&M history win 100 games with the Tribe on Jan. 12, and was inducted into the Northeast Conference Hall of Fame in January.
- As a team, the Tribe was picked eighth in the preseason standings by vote of the league coaches. JMU was the preseason pick to win the league. Last season, W&M was picked seventh in the preseason before finishing a program-best third in the final league standings with a school-record 12 CAA wins.
- W&M will be down two scholarship players in 2020-21 as senior
Libby Underwood and junior
Eva Hodgson elected to opt out due to COVID-19 concerns. Underwood appeared in 52 career games, while Hodgson was an All-CAA First Team performer in 2019-20, averaging 20.7 points per game.
