NEWARK, Del. — A quick start from Nylah Young and 14 second-half points from Cassidy Geddes propelled William & Mary women’s basketball to a 62-58 win over Delaware on Friday in Newark.
Geddes finished with a game-high 20 and Young had 16, with 14 in the second half, as the Tribe finished off the regular season sweep of the Blue Hens.
With the win W&M gets to above .500 overall for the first time this season and 7-3 in CAA play. The 7-3 start ties the best conference start in program history through 10 games with the 1993-94 Tribe.
Nylah Young scored the first eight points for W&M, putting them up 8-7 with 3:35 remaining in the first.
Bella Nascimento followed that up with a fast break score and five consecutive points from Kayla Rolph made it 15-7 with 1:25 to go.
Delaware responded by scoring five of the quarter’s last seven points, making it 17-12 after 10 minutes.
The squads traded buckets to start the second frame, with Young scoring her sixth field goal of the half with 3:54 left making it 23-20.
Geddes hit a 3-pointer and Anahi-Lee Cauley scored in the paint down the stretch of the half, but the Hens scored with time expiring to take a 29-28 lead at halftime.
Young scored her final points of the game at the outset of the third quarter, but was forced to take a seat with three fouls moments later. Another Cauley bucket after that made it a 32-29 Tribe lead.
Cauley, a transfer from Villanova, scored again at the 5:13 mark of the period to make it a 37-32 game, before the rest of the third was dominated by Geddes.
The freshman guard, who also scored 20 against Delaware in an overtime win on Jan. 19, scored the Tribe’s last 11 points of the quarter over the final 4:36. Her triple with 28 seconds left gave the Green and Gold their largest lead of the evening at 48-37.
They would lead by nine heading to the fourth, outscoring the Hens 20-10 in the third.
Delaware proved they wouldn’t go without a fight, getting it to a 48-45 game within the first minute and a half of the final frame.
A Nascimento 3-pointer and two Cauley free throws pushed the W&M lead back to eight, before the Blue Hens whittled it down to one, 55-54, with 3:28 to play in regulation.
Eventually, Delaware tied it up at 56-all with 2:15 remaining.
On the ensuing possession, Nascimento missed a 3-pointer that was cleaned up by Kayla Beckwith inside, fighting through contact to finish off the layup for her first points of the day and giving W&M the lead back.
Delaware once again responded swiftly, scoring in the paint to tie it at 58 with 46 seconds to go.
Geddes stepped up for her final act of a big-time performance, knocking down a trifecta out of a Tribe timeout, putting W&M up for good with 36 seconds on the clock. She knocked down a free-throw 20 seconds later, making the final score 62-58.
W&M 44% from the field compared to Delaware’s 32%. The Blue Hens kept it close through getting to the foul line however, making 19-of-28 attempts, while W&M just had nine attempts and made six.
Cauley joined Geddes in Young in double figures with 10 and stuffed the stat sheet with seven rebounds and five assists.
Up Next
W&M stays close to home on Super Bowl Sunday, playing Hampton on the road at 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast on FloHoops with a free audio broadcast on the Tribe Sports Network.
