By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
Trailing by 18 points early in the third quarter, William & Mary rallied to tie the game with just over two minutes remaining. The magic ended there, and Elon scored the final four points for a 49-45 win Saturday in Kaplan Arena.
Kate Sramac's 3-pointer from the left corner tied the game with 2:11 left, and the Tribe had two shots on its next possession to take lead. Instead, Brie Perpignan's layup at 1:05 gave the Phoenix the lead for good, and her two free throws with 4.5 seconds left sealed it.
Trailing 26-11 at halftime on 16% shooting, W&M had a mountain to climb to get back in it. That's what happened, and the Tribe nearly pulled off a comeback for the ages.
"At halftime, I told the team to take a deep breath before leaving the locker room," Tribe coach Ed Swanson said. "We were down 15, but it felt like 30 because of how much we were struggling offensively. When you don't see the ball go into the basket, it really affects other parts of your game.
"The second half was a different ballgame. We got more movement, we saw the ball going in a little bit, and we started attacking the basket more. A real difficult first half, but I'm real proud of the team in terms of showing a lot of grit and battle in the second half."
The result had no effect on William & Mary's seeing for next week's Colonial Athletic Association tournament in Philadelphia. The Tribe (10-19, 5-13) was set as the No. 7 seed and will go against No. 2 Delaware Friday at 5 p.m.
W&M shot 4-of-25 from the floor, 2-of-10 from the 3-point arc, in the first half. Making matters worse were 11 turnovers. After halftime, the Tribe's shooting numbers jumped to 14-of-27 (52%) and 4-of-8. The turnovers dropped to six.
Guards Riley Casey and Sydney Wagner, who on average account for more than half of the Tribe's scoring, combined for two points on 1-of-15 accuracy in the first half. In the second half, they had 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting, 6-of-6 from deep.
Sramac finished with 11 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals in her final game in Kaplan. Two of her four baskets tied the game, the first coming to make it 40-all with 4:13 remaining.
After a timeout, Elon rattled off five consecutive points. But the Tribe answered with a Wagner layup and a Sramac 3-pointer to tie it again at 45.
"We just played a real tough game, and obviously we're not playing a lot of players because of depth," Swanson said. "But we seemed more energetic in the fourth quarter than in the first quarter."
William & Mary will get four days to rest and prepare for its quarterfinal game against Delaware, which swept the season series. Even with Saturday's loss, the Tribe's fourth in a row, the mood of the team is brighter than it would have been following another double-digit loss.
"We were encouraged in the locker room," Swanson said. "We've got some real resilient kids, and I was happy to see them bounce back in the second half. We do feel a lot better about ourselves."
