By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
 
Out of sync offensively in its first two games, William & Mary's women's basketball team was given an unexpected full week of practice for fine-tuning. The extra work paid off, and the Tribe picked up its first win of the season.
 
Led by Sydney Wagner's career performance, W&M was efficient on the offensive end for a 60-51 win over Navy Sunday at Kaplan Arena. Expected to fill much of the void left by the Tribe's top two scorers from last season, Wagner finished with 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting, 5-of-7 from deep.
 
The season is young, but W&M (1-2) set highs for points, field goal accuracy (39 percent), 3-pointers (10), and — most pleasing to head coach Ed Swanson — assists (17). The Tribe set a season low with 12 turnovers.
 
William & Mary was scheduled to play at Radford last Wednesday, but the Highlanders' program was put on pause after a positive COVID-19 test. The Tribe would have rather played, of course, but more time in the gym wasn't wasted.
 
"The extra week for our team was crucial," Wagner said. "Overall, we had a very good week of practice with high energy. We were all ready to go and prepared to beat Navy.
 
"We knew their style was to overplay, so one more (pass) was going to be open. We executed our scout (report) and we were hitting them today. That was nice to see."
 
After transferring from Stetson, Wagner averaged 8.3 points a game last season as W&M's first player off the bench. She knew that number would need to increase significantly with the Tribe's top two scorers from last season not returning.
 
All this while taking over for Eva Hodgson, who opted out of her junior season for COVID-19 concerns, at point guard.
 
"It was definitely a change, but my teammates have been super helpful," Wagner said. "A lot of us are playing new positions, so we're learning from each other every day."
 
Wagner made her first seven shots, five from the 3-point arc, before finally missing with 4:43 remaining in the game. Like every other shot she took, it was a good look.
 
"She's a shot maker," Swanson said. "With shooters, there are people who wish they could shoot and people who want to shoot. She puts the ball in the basket."
 
The rest of W&M's scoring was spread out. Gabby Rogers had nine points on 3-of-6 shooting along with nine rebounds. Nyla Pollard had eight points to go with five assists. Emma Krause had seven points, all in the first half, off the bench. Bre Bellamy had six points and four assists.
 
The Tribe shot 44 percent through the first three quarters before making only 1-of-8 of its attempts in the fourth. W&M put the game away with 10-of-14 accuracy from the free throw line in the final 7:05.
 
Defensively, W&M held Navy (0-3) to 37-percent shooting from the field, 3-of-8 from the 3-point arc. The Tribe forced 21 turnovers.
 
Rebounding was the only bothersome number for the Tribe. The Mids dominated the boards 40-25, 13-4 on the offensive end.
 
After winning a school-record 21 games last season, the Tribe was off to an 0-2 start for the first time since 2013-14. That first win seemed a long time coming.
 
"It was good to get the first one out of the way," Swanson said. "The team is really excited."
 
NOTES: William & Mary welcomed back one of its all-time greats in Marlena Tremba, a four-year starter for Swanson from 2013-17. Tremba, No. 3 on the Tribe's all-time scoring list with 1,595 points, is in her first year on Navy coach Tim Taylor's staff. …
 
Next on the schedule for William & Mary is George Mason Wednesday night in Fairfax. The Patriots are 2-2 and if you're into comparing scores, they beat Navy 72-68.