William and Mary split two games on its conference road trip last week, bouncing back from a tough loss at Hofstra Thursday to defeat George Mason in the Patriot Center Sunday afternoon.
After holding the lead for the first ten minutes of the Hofstra game, poor second half shooting eventually caused the game to get out of hand.
“We just played awful,” Head Coach Debbie Taylor said. “We had every opportunity to take that game over. I don’t think there was a player on our team who played well.”
Hofstra closed out the game by shooting 60 percent from the floor, while the College (10-8, 3-4 CAA) struggled to get in any sort of offensive rhythm. The Pride led the Tribe in nearly every statistical category.
“We didn’t show up,” Taylor said. “We missed layups. We missed free throws, and other easy opportunities.”
Three of the Tribe players — Janine Aldridge, Jaclyn McKenna, and Tasha Pye — were playing in their homestate.
“Hopefully the Hofstra game was a learning experience for us,” Taylor said. “We have a young team and it taught us how to play on the road.”
On Sunday the players proved that it was, answering the frustrating performance with a big win against GMU. After an early 3-pointer by Patriots freshman Amber Easter, the Tribe came back to score 14 unanswered points and would never relinquish the lead.
Mason came out hot in the second half, scoring the first six points to cut its deficit to four at 35-31. But the Tribe answered with six of its own and never looked back. The Patriots shot only 26.5 percent from the floor, compared to 42.4 percent for the Tribe.
“We played a lot more mentally tough,” Taylor said. “It was a much needed win on the road.”
The Tribe pulled down 54 rebounds, compared to the Patriots’ 35. The dominant inside play was led by freshman Emily Correal, who finished with 17 rebounds and 14 points. Senior Tiffany Benson put up a double-double for the second game in a row registering 10 points and 11 rebounds.
“We had great inside play from Benson and Correal,” Taylor said. “They were owning the boards, dominating the paint, and scoring off of blocks.”
The College continues CAA play Thursday when it takes on Old Dominion at 7 p.m. at Kaplan Arena.
