Box Score By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics

In its season opener, William & Mary got off to a promising start. Then Coppin State got physical, and the Tribe had no answer.

Led by graduate transfer Jaia Alexander's 19 points, virtually all of it coming from the paint, the Eagles defeated the Tribe 73-56 Thursday night in Baltimore. After jumping out to a 10-2 lead, W&M trailed for the final 32 minutes.

"Their physicality wore us down," Tribe coach Ed Swanson said. "We were good in the beginning. I thought we were super active and helping each other. Then we didn't respond well to their physical play.
"They really took it took it to us. We had a bunch of post players on the bench with foul trouble in the first half. We couldn't seem to find any rhythm offensively, and we struggled."

Bre Bellamy led three Tribe scorers in double figures with 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting. Sydney Wagner and Riley Casey each finished with 10 points but on a combined 7-of-24 shooting.

The Tribe led 10-2 midway through the first quarter. But Coppin State (2-0) outscored W&M 19-0 over the next 8 ½ minutes and took a 21-10 lead on Aliyah Lawson's 3-pointer with 6:30 left in the first half.

William & Mary briefly found its stroke and cut the Eagles' lead to 27-22 on a Wagner 3-pointer with 2:20 left. But Coppin took command by outscoring the Tribe 22-12 in the third quarter.

The Eagles led by as many as 21 points in the final period.

Alexander, who scored 30 points in Tuesday's win at La Salle, was 8-of-16 from the floor and had eight rebounds.

"I knew after watching their game against La Salle that (Alexander) would pose matchup problems for us," Swanson said. "She's so physical and can finish with contact. And they typically aren't a great 3-point shooting team, but they made some big 3s (8-of-17) tonight."

The Tribe shot 41 percent from the floor, 5-of-14 from the 3-point arc, and turned the ball over 15 times.

"Offensively, we just haven't found our rhythm yet," Swanson said. "We shot too many 3s and didn't set up a teammate up for a better shot. We just relied on the 3-point shot early on and we let them get on a run.

"(Coppin) just won at La Salle the other night, so they had played a first game. We have a bunch of new players in the mix, and foul trouble really hurt us in the first half. We had to move people out of position and play them in positions they're not used to."

Swanson did see some positives.

"Some players had some good minutes today, but we just didn't string anything together," he said. "Kayla Beckwith had some good minutes for us because we had some posts in foul trouble. Ruthie Montella (2-for-3 from the field) played tough today.

"And Dani McTeer (six points), I thought, had some good moments. They just have to learn. It was their first college experience, and they have a long way to go."

William & Mary will play its home opener Sunday at 2 p.m. against Randolph College.