WASHINGTON — The William & Mary women’s basketball team used a complete team effort to take care of eighth-seeded Hofstra on Thursday afternoon in the second round of the Credit Union 1 CAA Women’s Basketball Championship, 76-65, at CareFirst Arena.
The Tribe advances to take on regular-season champion, N.C. A&T, at noon on Friday in the nation’s capital. The game will be broadcast on FloCollege with a free audio broadcast on the Tribe Sports Network.
From the jump W&M looked comfortable on the offensive end with a pair of 3-pointers from Kayla Rolph giving them an 8-2 at the 7:42 mark of the first.
Hofstra would respond, tying the game at 8-8 two minutes later.
The Tribe answered by closing the quarter on a 10-4 spurt, using buckets from Bella Nascimento, Rolph and Natalie Fox to make the lead 18-12 after 10 minutes.
After Nascimento nailed a quick jumper to start the second the Pride battled back, eventually taking the lead 21-20 with 7:07 remaining in the half. From there the quarter was a back-and-forth affair.
Neither team would lead by more than three, with the Tribe taking a 36-33 lead into the halftime break. W&M continued to use balanced scoring in the second with Nascimento’s seven in the frame leading five different Tribe scorers.
After 20 minutes Hofstra was 52% from the floor but had taken 11 less shots than W&M due to an 11-3 difference in turnovers.
The Tribe quickly slid into the driver’s seat in the third with a Cassidy Geddes floater giving the ninth-seeded Green and Gold a 48-40 lead at the six-minute mark.
Hofstra would narrow the margin to five before the Tribe used three straight triples from Rebekah Frisby-Smith, Monet Dance and Geddes to hold a comfortable 57-46 lead after three.
The Geddes trey gave the Tribe an extra shot in the arm, coming as the quarter buzzer sounded and banking in off the glass from 26 feet.
W&M rolled that momentum over in the fourth quarter, going on a 12-5 run to lead 69-51 with 4:01 remaining in regulation.
Anahi-Lee Cauley was the main catalyst of the Tribe spurt, scoring all eight of her points in the final quarter. The Pride tried to mount a comeback, but it was too little too late as the Tribe survived and advanced with a 76-65 win.
Illustrating the balanced W&M offensive attack, all eight players who touched the floor made multiple field goals, led by Nascimento’s 18 points.
Dance and Rolph joined her in double figures with 12 and 11 respectively, followed by Fox’s nine and eight each for Frisby-Smith and Fox.
Dance also added a career-high eight rebounds on the afternoon while Nascimento had five of the Tribe’s 20 assists on the day.
Up Next
The Tribe will take on N.C. A&T in the first CAA quarterfinal on Friday at noon inside CareFirst Arena. Back in Williamsburg a watch party will be held at Anna’s Brick Oven with the doors opening at 11 a.m.
