Friday, Jan. 30, and Sunday, Feb. 1, William and Mary women’s basketball (11-9, 4-5 CAA) split a pair of contests at Kaplan Arena, falling to Campbell (14-8, 7-2 CAA) 63-54 before defeating North Carolina Wilmington (5-16, 1-9 CAA) 79-68. It was a tale of two games for the Tribe, which looked fatigued against the Camels and resilient against the Seahawks.
Earlier in the season, William and Mary dropped a nail-biter to Campbell that featured nine lead changes and saw a last-minute three-pointer by junior guard Cassidy Geddes fall just short. However, the Tribe quickly recovered from the heartbreaking loss, picking up consecutive wins against Northeastern and Hofstra. Entering Friday’s rematch, William and Mary boasted significant defensive momentum, having just held Hofstra to 37 points, the lowest total posted by a Division I opponent of the Tribe since 2016. The energy in Kaplan Arena was electric, with an announced crowd of 1,265 on site.
The matchup started in a back-and-forth manner reminiscent of the teams’ first meeting. While the Tribe trailed 21-18 at the end of the first quarter, it was either squad’s game to win. At the end of the period, Geddes hit a buzzer-beating layup to give William and Mary momentum.
Then the second quarter hit. The Tribe started the quarter with a five-minute scoring drought, unable to generate offensive momentum. A run sparked by junior guard Kyah Smith briefly got the Tribe back in the game, but Campbell responded with a run of its own, catalyzed by a transition bucket from sophomore guard Ciara Alexander.
The Tribe entered halftime down 33-23, with 21 of its points coming from just three players: Geddes, Smith and senior guard Alexa Mikeska.
“We did not score the ball well in the second quarter because we got a little fatigued,” William and Mary head coach Erin Dickerson Davis said. “We got a little casual, I think, defensively, and we just don’t score well that way.”
William and Mary emerged from halftime with a revised approach to try to put some pressure on the Fighting Camels. Rather than force the ball to the team’s leading post scorers, junior forward Tika Sallman and sophomore forward Natalie Fox, the Tribe looked to avoid turnovers and be more patient with the ball. This strategy was effective on the offensive end; however, William and Mary lacked an answer for Campbell senior guard Gianni Boone, who was dominant in the paint. The Tribe ended the third quarter down nine and in need of a momentum shift.
With seven minutes remaining in the contest, the Tribe went on a 14-0 run to find itself back in the game. Geddes drained a three to bring the Tribe back within a possession for the first time in the second half, and by the 4 minute, 39 second mark, the game was tied up. Junior guard Monet Dance hit a three-pointer to give the Tribe a lead.
However, the Fighting Camels ultimately pulled back ahead with a 7-0 run of its own to finish the game, ending the Green and Gold’s dream of a repeat of last March, when William and Mary defeated Campbell in the finals of the CAA tournament.
While the outcome was not what the Tribe hoped for, Dickerson Davis was optimistic about using the game as a way to illustrate priorities for future matchups.
“[There is] still some room for growth, but I think we got to take it step-by-step, and we can’t get down on ourselves,” Dickerson Davis said. “There’s a lot of basketball left to play.”
Dickerson Davis also noted that William and Mary improved its turnover performance as the game progressed. This emphasis on taking care of the ball would carry over into Sunday’s game against UNCW, when the Tribe committed only 12 turnovers after committing 22 against Campbell.
Ball security proved crucial against the Seahawks. Although UNCW entered the contest at the bottom of the CAA standings, its defense was not to be dismissed, as the visitors applied relentless pressure to the William and Mary backcourt and deployed a zone that initially flummoxed the Tribe. The Green and Gold attempted 21 field goals in the first quarter and connected on just six of them, clinging to a 14-13 lead by virtue of a significant turnover advantage.
It did not take long for William and Mary to find its rhythm. Against Campbell, the Tribe fell apart in the second quarter, when it scored a measly five points to the Camels’ 12. Against UNCW, on the other hand, William and Mary posted 20 second-quarter points, led by the efforts of guards Dance and Mikeska. With its post players unable to find success against the zone — Sallman and Fox combined to go 1-for-11 from the floor in the first half — the Tribe turned to its backcourt.
“We just had to stay confident,” Mikeska said, who scored nine points in the first half. “They were in kind of a funky 3-2 zone. So, just finding the middle and then letting our guards work from there, whether that was a drive-and-kick or just taking the shot by ourselves. We did a really good job about that.”
Behind eight assists on 14 made field goals, William and Mary began chipping away at the UNCW zone with crisp passing and improved shooting. The Tribe wasn’t able to drop the visitors, entering halftime leading just 34-30, but its level of effort was satisfactory to Dickerson Davis. Although the William and Mary coach could not identify exactly why her players looked more energized than they did against Campbell, she was encouraged by the Tribe’s persistence.
“We do have that extra gear,” Dickerson Davis said. “And I think that we showed ourselves that today in being able to press, being able to sprint and get out in transition for easy baskets. And, you know, we have a young team, and so you have to see to believe sometimes.”
William and Mary plays more players than the average CAA team, which Dickerson Davis pointed to as a reason for the Tribe’s steady legs. This lack of fatigue became apparent in the third quarter, when UNCW mounted a run that nearly catapulted it into the lead. Instead of giving in to exhaustion, William and Mary pushed the pace, rattling off seven consecutive fast-break points that made the score 55-42.
Just like that, UNCW was finished. The Seahawks’ deficit remained larger than 10 until the game’s waning moments; at one point, William and Mary’s lead ballooned to 20. Nine fourth-quarter points from Geddes put the final nail in the visitors’ coffin.
William and Mary’s up-tempo surge was fueled by Mikeska, whose six second-half defensive rebounds helped the Tribe flow seamlessly into transition.
“I think when our guards rebound, we have a way better shot of just getting it out and going,” Mikeska said. “And I think that’s what we did [in the] third and fourth quarter. Like, me or Kyah [Smith], we would get a rebound, chuck it down the court, Cass[idy Geddes] would be there, even Tika [Sallman] would be there sometimes and we were able to get pretty good points off of that.”
In the afternoon, Mikeska posted 16 points, a team-high nine rebounds, and a team-high six assists.
Mikeska was not the only William and Mary guard to record an impressive statline: Geddes, Dance and Smith combined for 47 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds. Despite being hounded by the Seahawks all game long, the quartet turned it over just six times while swiping seven steals of their own. Dickerson Davis lauded the ballhandling skills of her backcourt, which she described as a group with four members capable of playing the point guard position.
“I think that helps us kind of lower those turnovers,” Dickerson Davis said.
On the other side of the ball, Dickerson Davis credited Smith, a former Navy transfer who once told the Tribe’s coaching staff that she was a bad defender, with beginning to become impactful on the defensive end.
“Kyah is an athlete,” Dickerson Davis said. “She’s got great size. If she can just learn angles, she’s going to be a really good defender. And I think that’s what she’s learning right now is that she actually can be a good defender. She has the intensity to do so, and when she does it, we’re a really good team.”
“Credit to her defense, because she doesn’t think it’s her strong suit, and she has really picked it up and turned it up, and it’s really helping us out right now,” Mikeska added.
The road ahead will not be an easy one for William and Mary. Needing a top-four seed to secure a double bye at the CAA tournament, the Tribe sits under .500 in conference play and eighth on the league leaderboard. Dickerson Davis’ squad is preparing to depart on a road trip before it returns home to take on Monmouth and Drexel, two of the CAA’s top squads.
Still, the weekend’s results gave Dickerson Davis confidence. After following up a seven-game non-conference winning streak with a four-game conference losing streak, William and Mary has at last regained momentum, having won three of its last four contests.
“What I can say more than anything is that I’m proud of everybody else for their resilience,” Dickerson Davis said. “You know, losing a couple of games after winning so many in a row — they never quit. They never folded, and they could have.”
William and Mary returns to the court Friday, Feb. 6, when it takes on Towson at SECU Arena in Towson, Md.
