Tribe Makes History With Overtime Win Over Hampton

Sunday, Feb. 9, William and Mary women’s basketball (10-11, 7-3 CAA) pulled out a 72-65 overtime win over Hampton (5-17, 1-10 CAA) at the Hampton Convocation Center in Hampton, Va. With this victory, the Tribe improved to 7-3 in Coastal Athletic Association play for the second consecutive season and tied the program record for CAA wins through 10 games set last season.

The first quarter was all Tribe. Senior guard Bella Nascimento paced the Green and Gold early, making two three-pointers and a jumper to stake her team to a 13-3 lead. During the game’s opening 10 minutes, the visiting Tribe connected on 66.7% of its triples, outrebounded Hampton 13-5 and held its opponents to 28.6% shooting. The Pirates stayed within striking distance by forcing eight William and Mary turnovers and entered the second quarter trailing 16-11.

Hampton briefly surged into the lead behind the efforts of senior guard Amyah Reaves and senior forward Jenae Dublin, who combined for 11 of the Pirates’ 15 second quarter points. Nascimento was stifled during the period, missing all five of her field goal attempts, but her teammates picked up the slack. Sophomore guard Cassidy Geddes, junior forward Kayla Rolph, sophomore center Jana Sallman, freshman forward Natalie Fox and freshman guard Emma West shouldered the scoring burden and gave the Tribe a 27-26 halftime lead.

The third quarter was similarly competitive, as neither team was able to firmly establish a lead. Hampton used scoring bursts from Reaves and graduate student guard Jasha Clinton to capture an early advantage, but Fox kept the Tribe in the game by scoring six points in five minutes. The Pirates ultimately emerged from the quarter ahead 49-45.

Fox opened the final period with three more points, bringing the Tribe within a possession of Hampton. Reaves made a jumper to temporarily ward off the visitors, but Nascimento responded with a fast break layup. The teams proceeded to enter a five-minute stretch where William and Mary’s Sallman provided the only scoring: the center made three layups and a free throw to put the Green and Gold up 57-53 with less than a minute in the game.

The Tribe seemed to have clinched a victory after four Nascimento free throws gave them a 61-56 lead with 15 seconds left. However, Hampton junior guard Tiani Abrams made a three-pointer, the Pirates forced a turnover and Clinton banked in a last-second layup to even the score at 61-61 and send the game into an improbable overtime.

The overtime period featured far less drama. Nascimento scored seven of the Tribe’s nine OT points, making five of her six free throw attempts and pulling down two rebounds. The Tribe held Hampton scoreless over the game’s final two minutes.

Nascimento finished the night with a game high of 25 points along with nine rebounds. Rolph posted her first career double-double, scoring 10 points and pulling down 13 rebounds, while Fox scored a career high of 11. Sallman was the only other Tribe player to break the double-digit scoring threshold, posting 11 points. 

Although William and Mary turned the ball over a season-high 31 times, the Green and Gold out-rebounded Hampton by a 53-29 margin, made 43.9% of its field goal attempts and 38.5% of its three-point attempts and held its opponents to 20% three-point shooting. 

The Tribe, which now sits third in the CAA standings, will return to the court Friday, Feb. 14 when the team takes on second place Drexel (12-9, 8-3 CAA) at the Daskalakis Athletic Center in Philadelphia, Pa.