BOUIES CREEK, N.C. — Offensive dry spells in both the first and fourth quarters proved to be too much for William & Mary women’s basketball to overcome on Sunday, falling to Campbell 57-46 on the road.
The loss halts the Tribe’s best CAA start in program history, now sitting at 8-4.
Campbell (13-11, 6-7 CAA) outscored the Tribe 15-6 in the first and 17-6 in the fourth to grab the victory in the first ever conference meeting between the two programs.
The Camels are new to the CAA this year.
W&M (12-11, 8-4 CAA) found themselves out to an early lead 6-3, thanks to a quick bucket from Nylah Young and two from Cassidy Geddes.
The hosts responded however, scoring the final 12 points of the first frame over the last 5:57.
W&M, who missed their final four field goals in the first, answered the 15-6 deficit in a big way in the second quarter.
Young, who finished with a game-high 20 points paired with five rebounds, again sparked the Tribe offense, scoring two inside buckets, with an Anahi-Lee Cauley jumper between, to make it 15-10 Camels.
Geddes soon found her groove as well, converting a layup before knocking down a triple to give W&M a one-point lead with 3:45 remaining in the half.
Geddes, the reigning CAA Rookie of the Week, finished with 11 on the afternoon and has now reached double figures in six consecutive games for the Tribe.
As the opening half wound down Cauley chipped in four more points for the Green and Gold, who took a 22-18 lead to the break.
More impressive then their offensive recovery, the Tribe held the Camels to 0-for-10 shooting from the floor in the second quarter with all three of Campbell’s points coming from the foul line in the frame.
The three points is the least W&M has allowed in a quarter this season and the seventh time in CAA play the Tribe has held their opponent to less than 10 points in a quarter.
Young picked up where she had left off to start the third, scoring three times in the paint in the first 1:45 of the half giving the Tribe their largest lead of the day, 28-18.
Following a timeout, the Camels took off on a 10-2 spurt to whittle the W&M lead to two points with 5:33 on the clock.
Free throws from Young pushed the lead out to 33-28 less than a minute later, but Campbell again answered the call, taking their first lead since early in the second with 20 seconds left.
A putback by Kayla Beckwith as time expired on the frame gave the Tribe a narrow 39-38 lead heading to the fourth.
Campbell, who entered the game with the 10th best defense in the nation, and best in the CAA, once again flexed their prowess on that end of the floor in the fourth quarter.
A Camel three on the opening possession of the frame gave the hosts the lead for good as they held the Tribe to just 2-for-10 from the field in the final 10 minutes, salting away a 57-46 win.
The Tribe outscored Campbell 32-16 in the paint and shot a slightly higher percentage from the field, but the Camels nine trifectas compared to W&M’s one make from beyond ended up being the difference.
The Camels also held the advantage on the glass 39-28.
After Sunday’s action in the CAA the Tribe sits in solo-fifth and a half game behind Monmouth for the league’s final double-bye in the CAA Tournament.
Seeds five through 10 will receive a bye to the second round with the top four seeds receiving a bye to the quarterfinals.
Up Next
The Tribe return home this upcoming weekend to host Elon on Friday and Hampton on Sunday. Tip is set for 7 p.m. and 1 p.m. respectively in Kaplan Arena with both games broadcast on FloHoops.
