FARMVILLE — Kayla Rolph’s career-high 21 points were enough for Wiliam & Mary women’s basketball to hold off South Carolina State’s second half comeback, earning a 70-65 win in the third and final game of the Shirley Duncan Classic in Farmville.
After Kayla Beckwith scored four early points, the Tribe sprinted ahead with Rolph and Cassidy Geddes knocking down 3-pointers before Emma West’s jumper at the 3:52 mark gave W&M a 15-3 lead.
The Bulldogs would score the next six points, but a Sophia LeGoullon triple and two Monet Dance free throws would give the Tribe at 20-9 lead after one.
Rolph would hit three triples in second quarter with the middle one making it 28-16 with 4:30 remaining in the half.
West would knock down another jumper to grow the lead to 19, the largest it would be all day with 3:14 on the clock. The game would head to the half with W&M in front 38-23.
Through 20 minutes the Tribe was 14-of-32 from the floor and 5-for-15 from deep. The five makes from behind the arc were more than they made in each of the first two games of the weekend.
Geddes would quickly hit from deep to begin the third quarter, but the Bulldogs soon began to mount their comeback. The Tribe lead would shrink to three, 47-44, with 1:02 to play in the quarter.
Another Geddes triple and a free throw from Rolph down the stretch of the frame gave the Tribe a 54-47 lead after three.
Bella Nascimento got in on the action from deep early in the fourth before SC State answered with a 3-pointer of their own to make it a 57-52 game with 7:32 remaining.
With the two teams trading blows as the game came down to the wire, Rolph stepped in to help the Tribe maintain their cushion.
The junior scored six points off mid-range jumpers in the final three minutes, with the last one pushing the Tribe lead to 68-63 with 97 seconds to play.
Jana Sallman would salt the game away with a layup as W&M would take the game 70-65, going 2-1 over their three-game weekend in Farmville.
Anahi-Lee Cauley earned a spot on the all-tournament team, scoring 12 in the Tribe’s opener against McNeese with a career-high nine boards. She added eight boards and nine points on Saturday against Longwood before scoring five points today.
The Tribe tied a season-high 10 makes from deep on 27 tries while going 25-of-56 (44.6%) from the floor. SC State shot 7-for-18 behind the arc while shooting 24-of-58 from the floor.
10 different Tribe players scored in the winning effort, with Geddes and Nascimento each adding nine behind Rolph’s 21.
Monet Dance’s five assists on the afternoon were the team-high.
Up Next
The Tribe will have some time off before closing their non-conference slate at No. 7 Maryland on Dec. 19 at 11 a.m. in College Park. The game will be broadcast on BTN+ with a free audio broadcast on the Tribe Sports Network.
