By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
WILLIAMSBURG — With 2½ minutes remaining in the third quarter, William & Mary had a chance to take the lead. It could have been a big step toward ending a five-game losing streak against its biggest rival.
Instead, with a pair of free throw attempts, the Tribe had a miss and a lane violation. James Madison closed the quarter with a 9-0 run and never gave up control.
W&M had a season low in field goal percentage and point total in a 67-53 loss to the Dukes Saturday afternoon at Kaplan Arena. The Tribe shot 28 percent against the top defensive team in the Colonial Athletic Association and one of the best nationally.
"I told the team in the locker room, they have five seniors, and two of them are fifth-year seniors," W&M coach Ed Swanson said. "You can't blink on them, and I thought we blinked when the score was 41-40 and we had a missed foul shot and a lane violation.
"We lost our momentum, I thought, there. But I told the team I was real proud of effort, our energy, and our focus. JMU and Drexel deserve the tie for the CAA today, but that takes nothing away from our accomplishment."
Win or lose Saturday, the Tribe (21-8, 12-6) was already locked in as the No. 3 seed in next week's CAA tournament in Elon, N.C. With its best seed ever, the Tribe will play No. 6 Delaware in the quarterfinals Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
JMU (25-4, 16-2) finished tied for first place in the standings but lost a tiebreaker and will be the No. 2 seed. The Dukes will play either No. 7 Elon/No. 10 Hofstra winner Thursday at 5 p.m.
Eva Hodgson and Victoria Reynolds were a combined 9-of-23 from the field for the Tribe, but the rest of the lineup was 5-of-27. Hodgson matched her season average of 20 points, but going against the length and athleticism of JMU's Jackie Benitez, nothing was easy.
"She at some point was even denying me the ball and trailing me on every screen, which made it tough," said Hodgson, who was 9-of-10 from the free throw line. "With that, I have to use my change of speed and look to get my teammates open more."
W&M made only 14 shots from the field, its fewest since a 65-48 loss at James Madison 13 months ago.
The Tribe played a solid defensive game itself. The Dukes shot 39.7 percent from the field and Kamiah Smalls, like Hodgson a top candidate for CAA Player of the Year, was held to 10 points — nine below her season average.
W&M also kept pace with Madison on the boards, where the Tribe gives up plenty of size. The Dukes' margin was only plus-3 through three quarters.
"I've been disappointed with one game this year with our effort, our energy, and our focus," said Swanson, referring to a 72-55 home loss to UNC Wilmington on Jan. 10. "I don't think a lot of coaches around the country can say they've been disappointed with only one game.
In her final appearance at Kaplan Arena, Reynolds finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, and two steals. Along with Ashley Taylor, Reynolds' class has a school-record 72 wins.
"Mixed feelings," Reynolds said. "Of course, I'll be sad not to play in Kaplan Arena again, but it was fun while I was here. I enjoyed playing with all my teammates throughout the years."
William & Mary swept Delaware this season, winning 68-58 in Kaplan on Jan. 24 and 78-60 in Newark on Feb. 23.
Of W&M's six conference losses this season, four came against Drexel and JMU — the top two seeds. But the Tribe feels confident it can compete against either team.
"I'm honestly so excited for the tournament," Hodgson said. "First off, we have our game on Thursday night, and that's all that really matters. We don't look beyond that. But if we face one of these top two teams again, I have so much confidence that we can compete with them.
"We're in all these games. It comes down to the little details. From the first game of the season, we've been growing from game to game. I think we'll learn from these mistakes and we're not going to let them happen again."
