By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
On Saturday, William & Mary used a dominant fourth quarter for a comeback win at Charleston. In Sunday's rematch, the Tribe was unable to repeat that magic.
After trailing by 18 points early in the second quarter, W&M climbed back but couldn't avoid a 69-66 loss. Sydney Wagner scored 28 points and Bailey Eichner had her second double-double in three games, but the Tribe couldn't overcome 37-percent shooting and a 50-30 deficit on the boards.
The Cougars led 19-5 six minutes into the game 25-14 at the end of the fourth quarter. For the Tribe (6-7, 3-5 Colonial Athletic Association), the hole was too deep.
"We came out of the locker room loose but not on edge," W&M coach Ed Swanson said. "They took it right to us physically in the first quarter and beat us up pretty good. We won the next three quarters, but we can't play from double digits behind
"We expended too much energy to make it a game. And every time it got down to a four-point game, we'd give up an offensive rebound."
Charleston (5-3, 1-1 CAA) won the offensive glass 19-10 and outscored W&M in 14-12 in second-chance points. Most of that came in the first quarter, when the Cougars were 12-3 on the offensive boards and 9-0 in second-chance points.
It was a stark contrast from the fourth quarter of Saturday's game, in which W&M outscored Charleston 20-4 and allowed one offensive rebound.
Though Wagner finished with 28 points, they came on a career-high 26 attempts from the field (19, also a career high, from the 3-point arc). Combined, she and Eichner (13 points, 10 rebounds) were 15-of-37 from the field. The rest of the team was 8-of-25.
"We needed Sydney Wagner to take 26 shots," Swanson said. "She didn't take bad shots, but we needed her to take 26 shots for us to get back in the game. I mean, we just missed too many point-blank layups, and they finished their point-blank layups.
"The officials set the tone for how the game was going to be played in those first couple of minutes. But we didn't respond until late."
In the first half, Charleston was 12-of-14 from the free throw line. W&M was 5-of-6.
Charleston took its biggest lead at 32-14 on Tyler Collins' two free throws with 7:18 left. From there, the Tribe outscored Charleston 18-7 the remainder of the half. Wagner scored nine of her 14 first-half points in the final 6:15.
The Tribe trailed 51-46 going into the fourth quarter and, not counting Nyla Pollard's two free throws with one second left, made it a one-possession game three times. Each time, Charleston responded on its next possession with a basket or two free throws.
"When you get down 18, you have to expend a lot of energy," Swanson said. "We're not that deep. We had our opportunities, but we just didn't seize those opportunities. We had several lay-up opportunities we did not finish at crucial times, and they finished at crucial times.
"We can't come out of the locker room as relaxed as we were. It's good we were loose, but you also have to have an edge to you. Charleston had an edge that first quarter."
Next for W&M will be a weekend series against Towson (2 p.m. each day) at Kaplan Arena. After a two-week layoff due to a positive COVID-19 test among the coaching staff, the Tigers (7-3, 2-1 CAA) swept two games against Hofstra this weekend.
