W&M News and Notes
- The oldest rivalry in school history, Richmond and W&M play for the 114th time on Sunday afternoon at Kaplan Arena. Richmond leads the all-time series at 84-28-1, however, the Tribe has won three of the last four meetings. The schools have met each of the past six seasons in a series that dates back to the Tribe's first-ever game on Feb. 24, 1920.
- The Tribe is 10-8 under head coach
Ed Swanson against the Atlantic 10. In fact, the Green and Gold has won seven of its last 10 games against the league. Last season, W&M was 2-1 against the A-10 with wins over VCU and George Washington to go with a three-point setback at Richmond.
- In the opener at ODU, 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 139 starts. Pollard, who averaged 6.1 points per game last season, has started 83 of 90 career appearances. Rogers started 56 games over the last three seasons and scored nine points in the opener at ODU. The Tribe returned three starters (Pollard, Rogers and Bellamy) and half of its 12 active players are in the junior and senior classes.
- 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, Radford and Norfolk State). The Tribe's six nonconference foes averaged 17 wins a season ago and four of them finished second in their respective leagues.
- After leading the Tribe in rebounding at 5.3 per game last season, senior
Bailey Eichner picked up right where she left off, topping W&M with a career-high 14 rebounds at ODU. It marked the most rebounds for a W&M player since
Victoria Reynolds had 15 against East Carolina in 2018. Along with her career-best rebounding total, Eichner enjoyed a strong stat-line against the Monarchs adding three assists, two blocked shots and a steal. Her block shot total is the second-best in the CAA so far this season. Last season, she ranked 14th in the CAA at 5.3 rebounds per game, while ranking ninth in defensive rebounds (4.0) and 12th in blocks (0.8). Eichner blocked a team-high 22 shots in 2019-20.
- Redshirt junior
Sydney 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%.
- Wagner topped the Tribe with 14 points and a career high four assists at Old Dominion. It marked the first time that she led the Green and Gold in scoring over her two seasons. She tallied double figures for the 20th time in her career.
- 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.
- Last season, the Tribe led the country in free-throw %, connecting at an 81.5% clip from the stripe. W&M also ranked among the national leaders in assists per game (22nd at 16.3), field goal % (23rd at 44.9%), total assists (46th at 474), free throws made (50th at 415), scoring (72nd at 70 ppg), assist-to-turnover ratio (73rd at 1.02), 3-point % (84th at 33.3%) and turnovers forced (84th at 17.7).
- 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.
