HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — Bella Nascimento knocked down a baseline jumper with five seconds left to push William & Mary women’s basketball past Hofstra, 48-46, on Sunday afternoon.
The win puts the Tribe at 2-0 in CAA play for the first time since 2017.
Hofstra (7-6, 1-1 CAA) controlled the start of the game as W&M (6-7, 2-0 CAA) was ice cold from the floor. The Pride lead jumped to 14-0 after a bucket in the paint with 2:15 to play in the first.
The Tribe eventually scored four points in the opening frame, all from the free throw line, and went 0-for-10 from the field in the first 10 minutes, trailing 15-4.
W&M called on the stellar defense they showed at Monmouth on Friday to pull themselves back in the game, not allowing Hofstra to score during the first 6:45 of the second quarter.
The Tribe eventually cashed in on their first field goal of the game in the first minute of the quarter from Anahi-Lee Cauley as their run continued.
Nascimento and Cassidy Geddes both hit triples as the Tribe took their first lead of the game at 16-15 with 3:39 remaining in the half.
The two teams traded buckets down the stretch of the second quarter, with Alexa Mikeska hitting a deep three as time expired on the first half. The triple gave the Green and Gold a 24-22 lead at the half.
Mikeska, who finished with five points was a menace on the boards from her guard position, hauled in a career-high 11 rebounds on the day.
The Pride responded to start the third quarter, going on an 8-0 run to lead 32-24 with 6:26 on the clock.
Kayla Beckwith scored three consecutive points to stop the Hofstra spurt, but the Hofstra lead held at seven points after the third, 42-35.
Cassidy Geddes and Rebekah Frisby-Smith scored in the last two minutes of the frame to keep it a single-digit game.
The freshman Geddes wasn’t done, scoring the game’s next five points to start the fourth, making the score 42-40 with 5:59 to play.
She finished with a game-high 14 points on 4-of-10 shooting and was the only player in the game in double figures.
Mikeska scored on a layup minutes later to tie things at 44, but the Pride responded with a bucket to go ahead. It would be Hofstra’s last points of the game with 3:04 to play.
Despite stellar defense, W&M struggled to find offense down the stretch, but Nylah Young was able to once again tie the game with 1:43 left.
After a stop with 29 seconds remaining the Tribe called a timeout and decided to hold for the last shot.
Nascimento held the ball up top before angling left and hitting a game-winning baseline jumper with 5 seconds left.
The Pride’s last second shot to force overtime looked promising, but hit off the back iron as the Tribe improved to 2-0 in league play.
After the slow start W&M finished the game shooting 31.9% from the floor, but held the Pride to just 24.3%.
Hofstra was 1-of-17 shooting in the fourth quarter.
William & Mary was 4-for-12 from 3-point land to the Pride’s 6-of-25. Hofstra controlled the glass to the tune of a 51-33 tally.
The Tribe has now won five straight over the Pride.
Up Next
W&M begins their conference home slate on Friday against NC A&T. Tip is set for 7 p.m. at Kaplan Arena on FloHoops.
