By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
The offensive rhythm in the first 10 minutes couldn't have been much smoother. And the defensive execution in the final 30 seconds was nearly perfect.
Those two points made up for some chaos in between as William & Mary snapped a four-game losing streak with a 55-50 win over Norfolk State Sunday afternoon at Kaplan Arena. The Tribe (5-6) never trailed and led by as many as 17 points, but the Spartans had three chances to tie in the final 35.7 seconds.
"It was a weird game for us," W&M coach Ed Swanson said. "I thought we had one of our better offensive quarters in the first quarter when we were really in rhythm and shooting the ball well. … Then the game turned into a typical Norfolk State-William & Mary game where it's a physical, grind-it-out battle.
"We turned the ball over too many times at critical times, and it was back and forth. The third quarter, they got back in it, and the fourth quarter was a grind. But we were able to win that grind."
Sydney Wagner led the Tribe with a season-high 25 points on 8-of-16 shooting (7-of-12 from deep), but her team had to finish the win without her. Wagner picked up her fifth foul with 35.7 seconds remaining and W&M leading 50-48.
With Norfolk State in position to tie, Deja Francis split a pair of free throws to make it a one-point game. W&M's Bre Bellamy went 1-for-2 on the other end to push the lead back to two with 27.6 seconds left.
Norfolk State had another chance to pull even, but Francis missed and Riley Casey rebounded with 6.4 seconds left. She missed the first but made the second, which made it 52-49 and gave the Spartans a third opportunity to tie.
NSU was 0-for-13 on 3-point attempts, but Camille Downs was fouled on a jumper from the arc with 3.5 seconds left. She missed the first free throw, made the second, and intentionally missed the third. Kate Sramac rebounded, and Casey sealed the win with a pair of free throws.
For Wagner, watching those final 35.7 seconds from the bench was agonizing.
"Oh my gosh, it was hard," she said. ""We have a lot of injuries, but people were able to play through them and gut out that win. I'm super-proud of my teammates.
"I don't think I've fouled out ever. But I'm glad my team was able to step up.
Wagner's memory is only slightly off. She had fouled out once before in 52 games at William & Mary.
Such a tense finish didn't appear likely after the first quarter, in which the Tribe shot 50 percent (4-of-9 from deep) with seven of its eight field goals assisted. W&M's 21 points were its most in a first quarter this season.
The Tribe took its biggest lead at 29-12 on two Wagner free throws with 3:51 left in the second quarter.
"The practices we had previous to this game, we really focused moving the ball on offense," said Wagner, who scored 11 points in the first quarter. "A lot of times, we can be really stagnant. I think this team has a really good opportunity to be a great assist team."
Norfolk State (4-7) trimmed the deficit to 13 points at halftime and outscored W&M 21-11 in the third quarter. Downs had 18 of her 20 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the final two quarters.
With an emphasis on attacking, Norfolk State outscored W&M 16-2 in the paint after halftime. The Spartans got to the free throw line 21 times (making 16) in the second half.
But NSU, which came in averaging 4.4 3-pointers a game, couldn't buy a shot from the perimeter. It was the first time since the 2017-18 season that W&M held an opponent to no 3-pointers.
Bre Bellamy finished with 13 points along with six rebounds and five assists. After missing the last four games with an injury, Casey scored six points in 24 minutes.
"It's an emotional lift," Swanson said of having Casey back. "She gutted it out. She was not nearly 100 percent."
William & Mary will have the next two weeks off before opening Colonial Athletic Association play at Elon on Jan. 2. The Tribe will go into the break with a good feeling.
"As you know, the CAA is a really tough conference," Wagner said. "So to get this win on our record is huge. The locker room is happy and we're excited to get back to work and see how much better we can get."
