By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
 
The charter bus pulled into Kaplan Arena's parking lot around lunch time Monday afternoon. A couple hundred supporters, most clad in green and/or gold, cheered its arrival. For those inside, who had just made history and were on very little sleep, it was a sight to behold.
 
The previous day in Washington, D.C., William & Mary capped an improbable four-day run with its first CAA women's basketball championship. Even before tipoff, the Tribe was already in the books for making the final as a No. 9 seed. And now, conference champions and NCAA tournament bound.
 
Twenty-four hours later, it was still something of a blur.
 
"It didn't sink in for a long time," sophomore guard Cassidy Geddes said. "Getting back to Kaplan Arena and seeing all the support, I think that's when it finally sunk in that 'Wow, we'll be hanging the first (championship) banner in this place. We made history.
 
"Everything we worked on for the whole season, we just did that. It really didn't feel real. It was such an incredible moment just waking up knowing all of that really did happen, all of that hard work really did pay off. It was incredible."
 
Forward Kayla Rolph still can't quite believe it.
 
"Yesterday was a daydream," she said. "Nobody in (W&M) history had done this before. I don't think it has fully set in for everyone still, but it's an amazing feeling."
 
As the No. 9 seed, William & Mary defeated No. 8 Hofstra, No. 1 North Carolina A&T, No. 4 Drexel and No. 3 Campbell — four teams that beat the Tribe in the regular season — on consecutive days. Twice W&M overcame a double-digit deficit late in the third quarter.
 
"We did something that nobody thought we could do," W&M coach Erin Dickerson Davis said. "We did something that we didn't always think we could do."
 
The game ended right at 4 o'clock Sunday afternoon, and next came the postgame stuff. The celebration on the court, the awards ceremony (Bella Nascimento was the obvious MVP; Monet Dance and Geddes joined her on the all-tournament team), cutting down the net and interviews ... champion obligations.
 
After all that, the team arrived back at their hotel, Hampton Inn White House. That's where they would watch the selection show on ESPN. The Tribe had been picked as one of the teams who would be shown on the screen as their bid was announced.
 
That came around 8:30 p.m. — William & Mary vs. High Point, Thursday, 9 p.m., Austin, Texas.
 
Not long after that, it was time to get some sleep. Yeah, right.
 
"I didn't get much," forward Anahi-Lee Cauley said. "It was so surreal. I was just thinking about the game the whole time. Reliving those last two minutes of the game where everything changed and we secured the win. I pinched myself a couple of times just to believe we actually won."
 
Rolph did manage to drift off for a while, but waking up was interesting.
 
"There was a second there when I was like, 'Do I have to play another game now? No, wait, we really just won it!'" she said. "It was amazing just waking up and looking at my trophy across the room."
 
Forward Rebekah Frisby-Smith got in a few winks and also had an interesting awakening.
 
"I woke up and had a text from my mom that said 'Good morning, champion!'" she said. "She woke up early to watch the game (a 2:30 a.m. tip in Australia) and was screaming and clapping. My dad was too nervous to watch it, but I think he's rewatched it three times or something."
 
For Nascimento, who had career highs of 33 points and 11 rebounds in Sunday's final, it's time to believe.
 
"To think we're about to hang a banner in Kaplan, that's wild," she said. "We're the first team ever, and that's incredible history there. We're legends."
 
When told the Tribe making the NCAA tournament has been picked up by the national media, Nascimento smiled.
 
"Good," she said. "Let them know who William & Mary is because we're here to stay."