William and Mary suffered a decisive loss at the hands of Drexel Sunday in Philadelphia, Pa. The Tribe (6-20, 4-11 CAA) led early in the second half before getting overwhelmed by the conference powerhouse Dragons in a 62-47 battering.
Drexel dominated from the onset, jumping to a 14-6 lead within minutes. Senior forward Emily Correal scored the Tribe’s first nine points, buoying her team early to keep Drexel from turning the first half into a rout. The Tribe relied on a 17-13 rebounding advantage in the first period to keep the contest competitive.
Senior guard Janine Aldridge also played well, scoring five points on consecutive possessions to cut Drexel’s advantage to 30-27 at the half.
Although the Tribe struggled mightily with shooting in the first period, missing all but one of its eight three-point attempts, the defense performed well, holding Drexel to 28.6 percent shooting from the field in a hard-fought opening half.
Aldridge began the second half with a hot hand, notching four points in the opening minute to pull the College into the lead, 31-30. The Tribe advantage was short-lived, however, as the Dragons roared to life to take over in the second half.
Drexel shot 52 percent from the field in the second half, going on a 20-6 run to build a double-digit lead over the Tribe. The Dragons, holding the Tribe to seven rebounds and keeping them 1 for 7 in three-point shooting, slowly pulled away as the College slipped further behind.
The Tribe experienced a brief burst of hope when senior guard Taylor Hilton hit a jumper to close Drexel’s lead to 43-37 with just under nine minutes remaining.
Drexel quickly reasserted itself, however, holding the Tribe scoreless for over three minutes, building a double-digit advantage.
Aside from Alridge and Correal, who contributed a collective 32 of the College’s 42 points, no Tribe players exceeded five points for the game.
The team was thoroughly outplayed on the boards in the second half, surrendering 17 total second-chance points to Drexel and another 14 points off turnovers. After scrapping through a close first half, the Tribe proved to be unable to compete with Drexel in the final 20 minutes.
As has been the case in many of this season’s losses, the Tribe’s trouble with rebounding and three-point shooting proved to be fatal. Rebounds weren’t falling, and the long ball wouldn’t hit. This game marks the Tribe’s third consecutive double-digit loss in seven days.
The Tribe will have little time to recover from the loss, as they return home to Kaplan Arena to host Georgia State Tuesday at 7 p.m. They hope to build momentum there and end the regular season on a high note.