NEWARK, Del. – The William & Mary women’s basketball team’s furious fourth quarter comeback fell just short as they dropped a 67-63 road decision at Delaware on Tuesday night.
Freshman Bianca Boggs scored a career-high 18 points to lead three Tribe players in double-figures. With the setback, the Tribe falls to 12-6, 3-4 in Colonial Athletic Association play, while the Blue Hens improve to 10-8, 5-2 in league action.
Boggs added five rebounds and three assists in 34 minutes of play to go with her career-high in points. Junior Alexandra Masaquel finished with 14 points and nine rebounds, while classmate Marlena Tremba scored 10 points and added seven assists.
Tremba also became the 17th player in school history to record the 1,000th career-point mark, doing so on a triple in the fourth quarter. She becomes the fifth-fastest player in school history to record her 1,000th point in 77 career games.
After a back-and-forth first quarter, Delaware went on a 7-0 run to close the period and open the second quarter, building a 16-10 lead. Courtni Green started the run with a jumper, before Sade Chapman hit a jumper to end the quarter. Courtni Green buried a 3-pointer, ending the run.
The Tribe responded with an 8-1 run to retake the lead with 6:03 remaining in the half. Juniors Kasey Curtis and Latrice Hunter opened the scoring with a pair of baskets, before freshman Bianca Boggs hit a pair of free throws tying the score. After a Blue Hen free throw, Masaquel hit a jumper to retake an 18-17 lead.
Delaware responded by closing the half with nine of the next 10 points, taking a 26-19 lead into the locker room. W&M struggled from the field in the first half, shooting just 23-percent (7-of-30).
After, W&M cut the gap to five points with 1:31 left in the third quarter, the Blue Hens closed the stanza on an 8-0 run. Hannah Jardine sparked the rally with a triple, before Makeda Nicholas hit a jumper extending the margin back to double-digits. Ericka Brown completed a traditional 3-point play with nearly no time left in the quarter, giving UD a 49-36 advantage at the end of three quarters.
The Tribe trailed by as many as 14-points, twice, throughout the fourth quarter, but used an 11-5 run over the game’s final 1:59 to get within a bucket. Boggs opened the spurt by canning two from the line, before a stop and a Curtis bucket on the other end. The teams traded a pair of free throws the next two times down the floor, before Masaquel completed a traditional 3-point play, cutting the lead to four.
After a pair of misses from the line for Delaware, Boggs hit a layup cutting the score to 65-63, but that was as close as the Tribe would come. The Blue Hens added two more free throws, making the final score 67-63.
Curtis added eight points and five rebounds in a season-high 22 minutes as she returned to the starting lineup. Sophomore Jenna Green also added eight points, two rebounds, and a steal, while Hunter added five points off of the bench.
Courtni Green led all scorers with 23 points in the game for Delaware. Nicole Enabosi was the only other Blue Hen in double-figures finishing with 12 points.
The Green and Gold return home for a pair of games this weekend. The Tribe welcomes College of Charleston for a game on Friday before hosting Northeastern on Sunday. Tipoffs are set for 7 p.m., and 2 p.m., respectively.
