WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Riding a four-game win streak, the William & Mary women's basketball team squares off against Towson for the second time this season on Friday evening. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on FloHoops.
Although the Tribe is looking to add another W to its record and stay among the top teams in the CAA standings, this game is about so much more than basketball. On Friday, the Green and Gold will partner with the Kay Yow Foundation to host its Play4Kay game, raising money in the fight against ALL cancers affecting women. Fans can join W&M by making a
pledge or by donating for every free throw the Tribe drains during February through the
Play4Kay Free Throw Challenge. Those who make a pledge at Kaplan Arena will also receive a One Tribe, One Fight t-shirt.
Stay up to date with all things Tribe women's hoops on social media! Fans can follow along with the team throughout the season by checking out the Green and Gold on
Twitter (@WMTribeWBB),
Facebook (WMTribeWBB), and
Instagram (WMTribeWBB).
- All FOUR one and one FOUR all. William & Mary comes into Friday's matchup winners of four straight and eight of its last nine. Since Jan. 15, the Tribe is 8-1 and jumped from tied for 10th in the conference standings to holding a share of second. During the stretch, W&M has won by an average margin of 11.3 points per contest, holding opponents to under 42% from the floor on six different occasions. Plus, the Green and Gold have won the turnover battle in all but one of those victories while posting 10 or fewer turnovers in three of the eight wins. Meanwhile, on the offensive side of the court, W&M is averaging 74.7 points to go along with 16.1 assists in its last eight wins. In fact, the 19 assists at Elon (2/10/23) matched a season-high. And the team's top scorers? Finding the hoop consistently. Riley Casey has hit double-digits in her previous five games, and while Sydney Wagner missed last weekend's games, she's scored in double-digits in every game she's played since the start of 2023.
- OT? That's A-OK with the Tribe. Last Friday's 84-74 OT victory at Elon marked the fourth time W&M has used extra time to decide a game this year. It's also the first time in the program's 100-plus-year history that the team has won four games in OT in a single season.
- Playing shorthanded last weekend, the Green and Gold still racked up the stats and personal bests. At Elon, Casey recorded her fifth game with 30-plus points while also dishing out a career-high seven assists. Junior Rebekah Frisby-Smith added her best with 18 points, freshman Kayla Rolph chipped in 13 points in her first collegiate start, and junior Caitlin Wingertzahn hauled in 11 rebounds. Then, on Sunday, freshman Alexa Mikeska finished with a career-high eight assists, while junior Lanni Brown recorded her highest-ever scoring effort with 11 points.
- The N.C. trip didn't just pick up back-to-back wins; it garnered some well-deserved recognition from the conference, too, as Riley Casey was named CAA Women's Basketball Player of the Week and Kayla Rolph captured Co-Rookie of the Week honors. W&M has now won four weekly awards from the CAA this season after Casey earned her first in November, and Mikeska was named Rookie of the Week last month.
- Dial it up from distance. William & Mary sits third in the CAA in 3-point shooting percentage (.325) and is first in 3-point field goals made per game (7.4). Of course, Casey has been the driving force behind those stats. The Tennessee native is second in the conference from behind the arc (.394) and third in 3-pointers per game (2.8). But keep an eye on Frisby-Smith from range, too. She drained a career-high five triples at N.C. A&T (2/12/23) and, since January, has hit at least two treys in 10 of 12 games.
- Speaking of Frisby-Smith, the wonder from down under continued her breakout season last weekend. Her 18 points at Elon (2/10/23) not only marked a career-high but was the third time she's reset that particular mark this year. She followed up with 17 at N.C. A&T, her seventh double-digit scoring effort of the year. But it isn't just scoring that's helped Frisby-Smith become integral to the Tribe's lineup. In W&M's last eight wins, she's hauled in an average of 6.6 rebounds and dished out two or more assists six times.
- Although she missed last weekend's road trip, Wagner has been on an offensive tear recently. Against Delaware (1/29/23), she scored a career-high 33 points, becoming the fifth player since 1975 to reach that mark in a single game. Wagner's 13 free throws were also the second-most made in a game without a miss in school history. And for an encore? History. Wagner's team-high 19 points at Hampton (2/3/23) moved her into 13th place on the W&M all-time scoring list. Then, against Monmouth (2/5/23), Wagner scored 22 — her 65th career double-digit performance.
- Wagner and Casey have taken advantage of every moment this season. Often quite literally. The preseason All-CAA First-Team tandem sits top-10 in the conference in minutes (Casey: 34.8, Wagner: 33.9) and is also top-5 in points per game (Casey: 17.8, Wagner: 15.8) and top-10 in 3-point field goals per game (Casey: 2.8, Wagner: 2.0). Nationally, Casey is 54th in 3-point percentage (.394), 20th in 3-pointers per game, and 26th in total 3-pointers (65).
- Casey has cemented her name in William & Mary women's basketball lore. Her 30 points at Elon (2/10/23) marked the first time in program history a player has scored 30-plus five times in a season, while her seven 3-pointers against Drexel (1/15/23) and Charleston (1/8/23) match a career-high and Kaplan Arena record. Additionally, she became the second W&M player to record back-to-back 30-plus scoring performances with 31 against George Mason and Army.
