By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
After losing nearly half of its scoring from last season, William & Mary's women's basketball team came into Thursday night's opener searching for a new offensive identity. The Tribe was unable to find it.
Doomed by 27% shooting and prolonged droughts, W&M began the follow-up to its best season in school history with a 70-47 loss at Old Dominion. The Tribe shot 3-of-21 from the 3-point arc and had only 10 assists, a category in which it led the Colonial Athletic Association last year.
Some of which can be expected with
Eva Hodgson and
Victoria Reynolds, who combined for 36.5 points a game on 51-percent shooting last year, no longer on the floor. Especially in a season opener after being unable to have scrimmages.
"Missing those players from last year's team, I had a feeling offensively we would struggle a little bit," W&M coach
Ed Swanson said. "Without having the two scrimmages that we typically have to work out kinks and stuff, I thought we had a lot of first-game jitters and didn't click offensively.
"(ODU) really challenged us with their defense, and we didn't sustain anything. We need to string things together, and I don't think we trusted each other enough on the offensive end. We didn't pass the ball to people when they were open. We waited that extra second. The ball just stuck in our hands way too much."
Sydney Wagner led William & Mary with 14 points on 5-of-14 shooting, 0-of-5 from deep.
Gabby Rogers had nine points and four rebounds. And although she only scored four points,
Bailey Eichner had a career-high 14 rebounds along with three assists and two blocked shots.
"There were some bright spots," Swanson said. "We played well in spurts. We need to work as a unit, and I don't think we did that well tonight.
"We have to toughen up. Our transition defense was poor tonight. They got the ball off the glass and they ran by us a couple of times."
Three cold stretches did in the Tribe's hope of winning its fourth consecutive opener.
After beginning the game with two free throws on a technical foul — ODU (1-1) had an error in the official scorebook — W&M led 8-6 with 6:40 left in the first quarter. The Tribe was then outscored 12-2 over the next 4½ minutes.
Ninety seconds into the second quarter,
Emma Krause's follow cut the Lady Monarchs' lead to 26-19. But the Tribe missed seven consecutive shots and went scoreless for 5 minutes and 22 seconds. ODU took a 38-24 lead into halftime.
With 4:32 remaining in the third quarter, W&M sliced Old Dominion's lead to 44-38 on a 3-pointer by Krause. The Lady Monarchs responded with a 15-5 run and took a 59-43 lead with 7:46 left in the game.
The Tribe has two days to regroup for Sunday's home opener against Richmond, which is 1-1 going into Friday's game against Gardner-Webb. That's two days to work on all the issues that surfaced Thursday night at Chartway Arena.
Swanson can use Old Dominion as an example. Five nights before soundly defeating W&M, the Lady Monarchs lost 55-37 in their opener at George Washington.
"ODU had a similar game and got beat pretty good by GW," Swanson said. "In the early season, you can look at film and get back to the office and the gym and evaluate where you are. The message was simply that we'll continue to work and get better."
