WILLIAMSBURG — Regular season champion Stony Brook used a fourth quarter push to beat William & Mary women’s basketball, 74-68, on senior day Saturday at Kaplan Arena.
The Tribe finishes the regular season 15-13, 12-6 in the CAA, and will be the five seed at the CAA Tournament in Washington, D.C. Their first game will be in the second round of the tournament at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, against an opponent to be decided.
Saturday’s action started out slow, with the defenses winning the early possessions on both sides as Stony Brook (25-3, 16-2 CAA) held a 5-4 lead halfway through the first. That lead would grow to 8-4 moments later before the W&M offense came alive, going on a 10-3 run to take a 14-11 lead.
The spurt was sparked by a 3-for-3 trip to the line by Rebekah Frisby-Smith, before Nylah Young scored seven straight for the Tribe. Young would add two more before the quarter’s end, taking a quick feed from Cassidy Geddes and beating the buzzer to put W&M up 16-12 after one.
Young, who was one of five players and four managers honored on senior day, made the most of her last regular season college game, pouring in 23 points on 10-for-17 shooting. She has now scored in double figures in 10 straight games to close out the regular season.
Bella Nascimento immediately scored inside the paint to expand the W&M lead to six, but the Seawolves answered to tie the game at 18 with 6:51 to play in the half.
Geddes hit a triple before Nascimento converted on a baseline floater, putting the Tribe up 23-18. The Seawolves again were able to knot things again, this time at 23-all with 4:03 on the clock.
The Tribe would eventually take a 34-27 lead to the locker room thanks to two more buckets from Nascimento and a 3-pointer from Lanni Brown down the stretch of the frame.
Nascimento would finish with eight points in the quarter on her way to a game-high 24 with four made threes. The effort was her sixth 20-point effort and her first since mid-January.
Young posted 13 of her 23 in the opening half as the Tribe shot 36% to the Seawolves 29%. W&M owned a 26-20 advantage on the glass in the first half as well.
Out of the gate in the third, Young scored in the paint to push the lead to 36-27, but Stony Brook quickly shrunk that advantage to three with 7:58 to play, causing a William & Mary timeout.
The Tribe regrouped and responded led by Nascimento who hit triples on back-to-back possessions to make it a 43-35 game. Another trifecta from the junior transfer pushed the W&M advantage to 48-37 with 4:50 to go in the frame.
Kayla Beckwith made her presence felt, blocking three shots in a 90-second span and converting in the paint. Geddes added a free throw moments later, and W&M had the largest lead they would have all game, 51-38.
Beckwith finished the game with five blocked shots, tying her career-high, in just 13 minutes of play.
SBU came storming back again to end the third, however, embarking on a 12-3 run in the final 3:22 of the quarter, as the Tribe took a 54-50 lead to the final stanza.
The team’s traded buckets early in the fourth, with Stony Brook tying things at 60-60 with exactly 6:00 remaining in regulation before W&M was held scoreless over the next 4:15 while the Seawolves went on an 8-0 spurt.
Frisby-Smith converted an and-one opportunity to make it a 68-63 game with 1:36 left, but Stony Brook cashed in on their free throws down the stretch to escape with a 74-68 win.
The Seawolves shot 10-for-15 from the field in the last 10 minutes to propel them to the victory.
Despite the loss the 12 conference wins ties for the most in program history, while the back-to-back 12-win seasons mark the first time ever W&M has won 11 or more conference games in back-to-back years.
W&M finished 39% from the floor and 7-for-27 from deep on the afternoon, while SBU tallied 44% and 4-for-17 from three. The rebounding battle was dead even at 39 apiece. Alexa Mikeska led the Tribe with nine boards on the day.
Up Next
William & Mary will take on either Hampton, Hofstra or UNCW in the second round of the CAA Tournament at the Entertainment and Sports Arena in Washington, D.C. The game will be at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday with W&M’s opponent being the winner of the 12 seed vs. 13 seed matchup. The contest will be broadcast on FloHoops. Visit tribeathletics.com/tickets to see the action in person.
