WILLIAMSBURG, Va.— William & Mary women's basketball sprinted out to a 20-9 lead and rode that advantage to the finish, beating Towson 58-47 on Sunday in Williamsburg for the program's fourth straight win.
The four-game win streak is the Tribe's longest since February 2023. Sunday's win also ended a six-game losing streak to the Tigers.
Bella Nascimento led the Tribe with 24 points and surpassed 1,000 for her career in what was W&M's annual Gold Rush game.
The performance marked the fourth time the senior guard has scored 20-plus in CAA play. She's averaging 17.7 points per game over the first seven conference matchups.
After a quick Tiger layup,
Kayla Rolph and
Cassidy Geddes kicked off the scoring for the Tribe, both hitting from deep.
From there W&M's (8-10, 5-2 CAA) lead would balloon to 18-4 at the 2:54 mark when Nascimento hit her first 3-pointer of the game, forcing a Towson (4-14, 2-5 CAA) timeout.
Other contributions over the 18-2 spurt came from
Natalie Fox,
Jana Sallman and Rolph, with both Fox and Rolph scoring three points and Sallman chipping in four.
When the buzzer sounded to end the frame W&M held a comfortable 20-9 lead thanks to 8-for-14 shooting from the floor.
While the Tigers were able to somewhat slow the Tribe's offensive attack in the second quarter, they were unable to cut into the deficit much. The two sides traded baskets until a quick 6-0 Tribe run, capped by a Nascimento layup, gave the hosts a 32-15 lead at the four-minute mark.
W&M only mustered two more points for the remainder of the half but still held a 34-19 lead heading to the halftime break.
Through 20 minutes the Tribe shot 48% from the field, while holding Towson to 30% shooting and 0-for-8 from three. W&M's balanced scoring contributed to its early success with Nascimento, Sallman and Rolph having nine, eight, and seven respectively at the half.
Nascimento scored the first five points of the third for the Tribe to help try and stave off a Tiger comeback. The last of those points gave the Green and Gold a 39-25 lead with 5:48 on the clock.
Towson would cut the deficit to eight with under two minutes to play in the stanza, but a pair of late Nascimento free throws ended the quarter with W&M ahead 44-33.
Determined to take one last try at a comeback effort, Towson cut the game to six, 46-40 in the first two minutes of the fourth. The Tribe responded by quickly getting the lead back to 10 after back-to-back Nascimento buckets.
From there Geddes kept the Tigers at bay, converting a pair of layups to maintain the Tribe's lead. Nascimento would add four from the charity stripe in the game's last 90 seconds for good measure, making the final scoreline 58-47 W&M.
Sallman joined Nascimento in double figures, scoring 10 while going a perfect 4-for-4 from the field.
Rebekah Frisby-Smith led the Tribe's efforts on the glass with seven boards,
Anahi-Lee Cauley and
Alexa Mikeska each had a team-high three assists.
W&M finished the afternoon 41.5% from the floor and 4-for-15 from deep while the Tigers posted marks of 29.3% and 2-for-17.
597 of Nasicmento's 1,016 career points have come in Green and Gold after transferring into the program from Manhattan last season.
Up Next
The Tribe will look for its first five-game win streak in almost five years, traveling to Elon for a Friday night matchup. Tip is set for 7 p.m. on FloCollege with a free audio broadcast on the Tribe Sports Network.
