By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics

 In a season-opening loss at Coppin State three days earlier, William & Mary had six assists. That isn't the way Ed Swanson expects his team to play on the offensive end.

He made sharing the ball a priority for Sunday's home opener against Randolph College, and his team listened. Of the Tribe's 32 baskets in an 83-31 win at Kaplan Arena, 25 were assisted. Ten different players, led by Sydney Wagner and Chaniqwa Gilliam with five each, had at least one assist.

Which, for Swanson's way of thinking, is more like it.

"In for us to be successful offensively, we've got to share the basketball," he said. "We've got to help each other become better scorers. Dani McTeer from the post position led us in assists against Coppin State with two. Our four guards — Kate (Sramac), Riley (Casey), Syd and Chaniqwa Gilliam —had two total.

"We really struggled against Coppin and I wanted to see us get into a better rhythm today in terms of sharing the basketball. I thought the kids were focused on it."

By no coincidence, the Tribe outscored Randolph 46-8 in the paint.

"It was a focus yesterday in practice that the post players have to touch the ball," Swanson said. "That doesn't mean they have to shoot the ball every time they touch it, but the ball has got to go inside.

"If we're just going to play on the perimeter and shoot 3s, we're going to struggle at times. We'll look good when shots go in, but it's fool's gold a little bit. Our focus was sharing the basketball and getting it inside today."

Junior Bre Bellamy led three scorers in double figures with 15 points, all coming in the first half. It was her second consecutive game in double figures to start the season. Swanson believes being healthy this season should allow her to take step forward as a scorer.

"She was playing with a real tough injury really the entire year," said Swanson, referring to last spring. "Today, she let the game come to her. She took shots she was going to make and she put herself in good position."

Riley Casey, a grad transfer from Columbia, finished with 13 points on 4-of-6 accuracy, 2-of-4 from the 3-point arc. McTeer, a freshman, had 12 points (6-of-8) and a team-high seven rebounds.

Randolph College, from the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, scored the game's first basket and led for 18 seconds. The Tribe took control with a 16-0 run in which it went 7-of-8 from the field. Bellamy and McTeer combined for nine of those points on 4-of-5 shooting.

The Tribe shot 54 percent from the floor and went 5-of-14 from the 3-point arc.

William & Mary's next game is Tuesday at Navy, which it defeated 60-51 last season in Kaplan. W&M will play its home opener Friday against George Mason.