Just when you thought William & Mary had the game safely in hand, it didn't. And just when you thought the Tribe was headed to a disappointing defeat, it wasn't.

After watching a 17-point lead slip away in the second half, W&M regained its cool in overtime and held on for an 84-81 win over Coppin State Sunday afternoon at Kaplan Arena. Riley Casey scored seven of her 19 points in the extra session, and Caitlin Wingertzahn had a game-saving block in the final seconds.

It wasn't pretty, but a win is always better than the alternative.

"A big thing for our team is being able to regroup," said guard Sydney Wagner, who led the Tribe with 20 points and five assists. "We had a lot of lapses in this game, which is not good for momentum.

"But going into overtime, we really didn't want to lose the game. So we tried to lock in and do whatever we could to win."

After a back-and-forth start to OT, W&M (4-3) led 82-81 but missed a look at the hoop, and, with 8.5 seconds remaining, Coppin State rebounded the ball. During the timeout, everyone in the building knew the Eagles would go to Jewel Watkins, who had scored 21 of her 35 points in the fourth quarter.

Unable to get it to her, Hope Evans inbounded to Alexandria Hamilton, who had snuck away from her defender toward the rim. But Wingertzahn came in from behind to block the shot, and the ball landed in Hamilton's hands as she stepped out of bounds.

"We talked about this needing to be our best defensive possession of the entire game," Tribe coach Erin Dickerson Davis said. "We knew there were no timeouts left and only eight seconds. I'm super proud of [Wingertzahn] for being that team player. It was a huge, huge play for us."

Wingertzahn finished with four blocks and seven rebounds, both career highs.

Wagner was fouled after the inbounds and knocked down two free throws with 5.7 seconds remaining. Out of timeouts, Coppin (2-7) pushed the ball up the floor but was unable to get a shot off before the horn.

The Tribe finished 15-of-19 from the free throw line, 7-of-7 in the overtime.

"I'm happy with how we pushed through at the end," Davis said. "Coppin State really had the momentum going into the overtime. Our girls stepped up and made big shots, especially free throws, when it counted."

Wagner's 18-point afternoon came three days after she scored a season-high 26 against Richmond. In her last two games, Wagner is 15-34 from the field, 8-of-15 from behind the 3-point arc.

"It's always nice to see the shot go in the basket," she said. "When you hit a couple in the beginning it gives you confidence for the rest of the game. I'm just staying in the gym and making sure my shot's locked in for games to come."

Bre Bellamy had 10 points and 11 rebounds, her second career double-double, before fouling out with 2:34 remaining in regulation. Rebekah Frisby-Smith finished with eight points, five rebounds and two steals while playing the final 12:55 with four fouls.

"We told her you have to play defense even though you have four fouls," Davis said. "You can't just let people do what they want to do. If you foul out, you foul out and we'll sub somebody else in. She was super disciplined and took it to heart."

W&M also got solid bench play from freshman Kayla Rolph (seven points and eight rebounds, both career highs) and Chaniqwa Gilliam (six points, four assists).

Next for the Tribe is Virginia (10-0), which is under new head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton. The Cavaliers will be making their first trip to Kaplan since 1999.

"They have it rocking over there," Davis said. "They're still undefeated and they've played some really tough opponents. They're tough, and they'll be very tough for us to defend."