WILLIAMSBURG, Va.— William & Mary women's basketball begins their postseason run when they take on 13-seed Hofstra in the second round of the CAA Women's Basketball Championships presented by Primis. Tip is set for 2:30 p.m. at the Entertainment & Sports Arena on FloHoops with a free audio broadcast on the Tribe Sports Network.
Tribe fans are encouraged to join the spirit squads in sending the team off to the arena at noon from the Courtyard Washington Downtown hotel in Washington, D.C. There will also be a fan bus to transport fans from the hotel to the arena before the game and also returning to the hotel after the game.
Fans can keep up with W&M women's basketball by following the program on social media as well. Be sure to check out the Tribe on Twitter (@WMTribeWBB), Facebook (WMTribeWBB), and Instagram (WMTribeWBB).
A New Way to Tune In
New this year, the Tribe Sports Network will be providing free audio broadcasts of all W&M women's basketball away contests. Jack Angelucci will be on the call with a pregame show beginning at 2:10 p.m. featuring a pregame interview with Erin Dickerson Davis. Fans can listen at tribeathletics.com/listenlive.
TRIBE NOTES
• The Matchup
William & Mary kicks off their postseason as the 5 seed in the CAA Championship, taking on [13] Hofstra in the second round on Thursday. Tip is set for 2:30 p.m. at the Entertainment & Sports Arena.
• The Opponent
The Tribe took care of the Pride twice in the regular season winning both matchups. Both were tight contests, however, with W&M winning 48-46 and 61-50 in the two matchups. The Pride beat Hampton in Monday's first round 71-55 and are 10-20 on the year.
• Last Time Out
William & Mary had regular season champs Stony Brook on the ropes for the first 27 minutes of the regular season finale, but the Seawolves were able to use a strong fourth quarter to earn a 74-68 win. Bella Nascimento led the way with a career-high 24 points followed by Nylah Young with 23.
• Honorable Honorees
The CAA announced their postseason honors on Tuesday afternoon. The Tribe's Nylah Young earned All-CAA First Team honors while Cassidy Geddes was selected to the All-Rookie team. Young's nod to the first team marked back-to-back years with a Tribe player on the first team with Riley Casey earning the honor last year. Current Tribe players Ruthie Montella and Dani McTeer were the most recent All-Rookie selections before Geddes, accomplishing the feat in 2022.
• A Campaign for the Record Books
This year's edition of the Tribe has made plenty of history this securing back-to-back seasons of 12+ conference wins for the first time in program history. The 12 league wins is tied for the most in program history. The Tribe also accomplished the best league start in program history, going 7-3 in the first 10 games CAA play. Coach Erin Dickerson Davis became the fastest coach in program history to 20 CAA wins earlier this year, doing so in just 29 games.
• Postseason History
Last year as the four seed in the CAA tournament the Tribe took care of Hofstra to earn their sixth ever trip to the semis before losing to Towson. W&M enters as the five seed this season, needing four wins to secure the school's first ever NCAA Tournament berth on either the men's or women's side. W&M is 2-4 all-time as the five seed in the CAA tourney.
• Nylon Nylah
Nylah Young has been on quite the runscoring the ball for the Tribe, posting 10straight games in double-figures. She scored 20+ in five of those games including 32 at Charleston tying her career-high. Since the start of February Young is averaging 20.4ppg. Young finished second in the CAA in scoring at 15.9 ppg, just one total point behind CAA Player of the Year Gigi Gonzalez. She currently ranks tops in the conference, and seventh nationally, in FT% (91.0), third in FG% (44.5) and second in FTM (121).
• Better Late Then Never
Saturday against Stony Brook marked the first time all year that the Tribe's two leading scorers, Nylah Young and Bella Nascimento eclipsed 20 points in the same game for W&M. Nascimento's 24 set a new career-high while she tied her career-high in made triples with four. It was the first time W&M had two 20-point scorers since Nascimento and Anahi Cauely did so in the CAA opener at Monmouth.
• Calling on Cass
Cassidy Geddes made her mark in her first collegiate regular season, culminating with her being named to the CAA All-Rookie team this week. Geddes averaged 9.7 points per game on the season and 11.2 per game in CAA play during her first season with the Tribe. She finished third in the CAA in scoring among freshman in conference play and is currently seventh in the league in steals per game with 1.7.
• Career-High Saturday
Nascimento's 24 points wasn't the only career-high set by a W&M player on Saturday against Stony Brook. Monet Dance grabbed a career-best five rebounds in just nine minutes off the bench, surpassing her old career mark of three. Kayla Beckwith tied her career-high with five blocks in just 12:34 of playing time. Three of Beckwith's swats came in a 90 second span. Additionally, her five blocks were the most by any player across the country on Saturday.
•Analytically Speaking
William & Mary currently sits third in the CAA inassists per game but are second in the leagueand 31st in the nation in assist percentageaccording to the Warren Nolan analytics site 63.2% of the Tribe's baskets have been assistedthis year. W&M is also the third best in theconference in getting to the line taking 0.318free throws for every field goal they attempt.
• Competing on the Glass
Although the Tribe is not a statisticallydominate team on the glass, there is no doubt they have improved their efforts on the boards from a year ago. W&M has already outrebounded their opponent 14 times this year compared to just four times all of last year. They have a 12-2 record when doing so this season.
• Protecting the Rock
W&M has won the turnover battle in 13 of thelast 20 games and have a 10-6 record whendoing so this season.
• 60 is the Magic Number
The Tribe has held their opponents under 60 points in 11 of their 15 wins this season, while opponents have scored over 60 in nine of the 13 W&M losses. The Tribe is 17-4 under Erin Dickerson Davis when holding teams below 60. While team's have had a mixed bag of success scoring in the 60s vs. W&M, opponents are 27-4 against them when scoring 70+ since 2020-21.
• Formidable Opponents
William & Mary's non-conference slate was set up to be a challenging one and proved to be. The seven teams who beat the Tribe owned a combined record of 62-18 in the non-conference.
