The Story
Tribe Basketball Double-Header: A Tale of Two Teams
On Wednesday, the Tribe men’s and women’s basketball teams played in back to back games starting with the women taking on Longwood at 5:00 p.m. and followed by the men battling Richmond at 7:30 p.m.
The women’s team defeated the 1-6 Longwood Lancers to grab its third straight win. The Tribe was coming off of a blowout win at Virginia Tech last week and a double overtime victory over Norfolk State on Monday. With the win, the Tribe improves to 4-2 on the season.
The Tribe got off to a bit of a slow start, but the intensity of their full court press led by junior Janine Aldridge wreaked havoc for the visiting Lancers. William and Mary forced 12 turnovers in the first half. Scoring was pretty even the first few minutes of play, but the Tribe would go on an 11-2 run with Aldridge, sophomore Kaitlyn Mathieu, junior Jaclyn McKenna and freshman Kyle Kerstetter all contributing points. The Lancers responded with a 7 point run of their own. Longwood’s 6’4” junior center Heather Tobeck dropped in some shots down low, and with 9:04 left in the first half, William and Mary led 23-16. McKenna kept the offense energized with a quick lay-up followed by a 3-pointer to put the Tribe up 28-19. The Tribe settled back into a 2-3 zone to prevent Tobeck from continuing to score in the paint. The game plan worked, and the Tribe ended the half solidly. Junior forward Emily Correal made two free throws, senior Taysha Pye scored on a jumper, and Aldridge added two free throws of her own to close out the half with William and Mary leading 36-25.
It was all Tribe in the second half. Pye got things going with a 3-point play off a drive to the basket and a foul. The senior guard would end the game shooting 7-for-10 for a team-high 15 points. Senior point guard Katherine DeHenzel scored her first points of the game at the beginning of the half and would finish with 11 points and 3 steals. McKenna continued to score down low for the Tribe, and she would bag 11 points and 5 rebounds before the final buzzer.
All 13 players on the Tribe’s roster saw action in this game. The four freshmen showed great promise after each contributed points to the Tribe’s score. Both MacKenzie Morrison and Anna Kestler scored their first collegiate points, while Jazmen Boone scored 4 points and dished out 2 assists in her four minutes of action. Kerstetter finished with 8 points and 4 steals while displaying her defensive skill and quickness throughout the game.
The Tribe led by double digits the entire second half, and Longwood never had a chance to diminish the deficit. The Tribe shot 54% from the field and out-rebounded the Lancers 51-28. Coach Debbie Taylor said she was pleased to see her team “dominate the glass” since they have been focusing on that as a team this season. William and Mary would finish the game with made baskets by Correal, Kerstetter and Boone, winning 76-43 over the Lancers.
The Tribe will look to keep their momentum alive when they face #24 Delaware this Sunday, December 4 at 2:00 up in Newark. Coach Taylor said this game is “a huge opportunity for us to play a ranked team, and we’re going to have to play like a mature basketball team.”
William and Mary will return to Kaplan Arena on Thursday, December 15th when they take on North Carolina A&T at 4:30.
Following the women’s game, the Tribe men faced longtime rival Richmond Spiders. Presenting possibly the toughest matchup so far this year for the Tribe (although VCU will have something to say about that after making it to the Final Four last year), the Spiders are a team that is usually in discussion for an at-large bid to the Big Dance in March. Their 29-win season last year propelled them to a #12 seed in the NCAA tournament, and they managed advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. On the other hand, William and Mary went 10-22 last season with only four CAA wins.
Thus, it’s no real surprise that Richmond (5-2) won by a final score of 92-61. It didn’t help the Tribe that Richmond shot lights out from behind the arc, going 15-for-29 on the night.
Kendall Anthony came off the bench for the Spiders to knock down 5 three-pointers. Meanwhile, the Tribe only managed to match Anthony’s 5 three-pointers as a team. But there were no excuses for Tribe head coach Tony Shaver after the game.
When asked about Richmond’s three-point shooting, Shaver said “Shooting 62%...to do that with nobody guarding them was pretty good. Their shooting display was amazing but clearly we weren’t very good defensively.” In comparison, the Tribe shot just 40% from the field compared to Richmond’s 62%.
The game got out of hand quickly, and the Tribe found themselves down 50-24 at the half; they couldn’t stop Richmond from draining the three nor did they have an answer defensively for the Spiders’ center Derrick Williams. Williams only scored 10 points, but his inside presence made things difficult for the Tribe.
The second half was a better effort, however, as the Spiders only outscored William and Mary by five points. “[In the second half,] we came out fighting more aggressively, so we need to do that for 40 minutes,” said Tribe forward Tim Rusthoven.
Rusthoven led the Tribe with 15 points and 8 rebounds as the 6’9” sophomore fought hard under the basket all night. It was his first start of the year after being injured at the beginning of the season.
Two other Tribe players reached double-digits in scoring. Junior guard Matt Rum worked for 31 tough minutes to finish with 13 points, and freshman guard Marcus Thornton came off the bench to give the Tribe 10 points.
Aside from the three point shooting, another staggering statistic that’s indicative of the blowout is that Richmond’s bench outscored William and Mary’s bench 52 to 20. “I’m embarrassed by our play…I’ve got to get this team to respond better than we are right now,” said Shaver.
Meanwhile, the squad is still burdened with injuries. Senior JohnMark Ludwick remains inactive, while fellow senior Quinn McDowell, Rusthoven, and sophomore Fred Heldring are still recovering. “A lot of guys are just getting back from injury, I think that has something to do with [the poor shooting]. But once we get rolling, I think this team can turn it around,” said Rum.
The Tribe travels to Atlanta on Saturday to take on CAA opponent Georgia State"William and Mary’s first conference game of the year. As Rusthoven put it, “A new season starts on Saturday.” Luckily for the Tribe, there is still time to bounce back and make this a respectable 2011-2012 campaign.