WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The
William and Mary Tribe women's basketball team posted its seventh win of the
season on Friday night, defeating the visiting Elizabeth City State Lady
Vikings, 81-70, at Kaplan Arena. With
the victory, the College improves its record to 7-5 on the season, while the
Lady Vikings fall to 5-4. Friday night's
game brought a close to the Tribe's non-conference schedule, with W&M
getting seven wins in its 12 non-conference contests.
Junior Emily Correal was terrific for the College on Friday
night, pouring in a career-high 27 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. The double-double was Correal's second
straight and her fifth of the season.
Also notching a double-double was junior Jaclyn McKenna, who poured in
10 points and pulled down 11 boards.
Senior Taysha Pye scored 18 of her 20 points in the second-half, while
junior Janine Aldridge added 11.
The Tribe came out of the gates hot on Friday night, taking
a quick, 13-0 lead over the Lady Vikings.
From the outset, Correal was dominant in the post for the College, as
ESCU had no answer for the junior forward.
In the first 20 minutes, the Venetia, Pennsylvania native scored 16
points and grabbed an impressive nine boards.
The Lady Vikings cut the William and Mary lead to seven with
just over eight minutes left in the half, 21-14. But the College responded with a run of its
own, scoring the game's next 13 points to take back control of the contest,
34-14. As time ran out in the first
half, Aldridge banked home a 3-pointer from just over the half-court line,
giving William and Mary a 41-20 lead at the break.
With Correal dominating in the post, Aldridge continued to
play well on the perimeter, netting eight points in the first frame. All 13 players for the Tribe saw action in
the first half, as the College shot 50% (14-of-28) in the opening 20
minutes. Defensively, W&M held
Elizabeth City State to just 22.9% (8-of-35) in the first half and forced nine
turnovers.
The second half started and it was all Elizabeth City State,
as the Lady Vikings outscored the Tribe 34-16 in the first 10 minutes of the
second frame. William and Mary would not
allow ECSU to complete the comeback, however, as Pye and Correal paced the
Tribe's offense in the second half. For
the rest of the game, the College outscored the Lady Vikings, 21-16, to claim an
81-70 win over Elizabeth City State.
Correal was great from the floor and at the charity stripe
on Friday night, pacing the Tribe with her career scoring output. Correal shot 7-of-12 from the field and an
impressive 13-of-16 from the free throw line.
As a team, the Tribe shot 43.9% (25-of-57) and a fantastic 27-of-34
(79.4%) from the line. Defensively, the
College held ECSU to just 32.0% (24-of-75) for the game and forced 14
turnovers. The Tribe also out-rebounded
the Lady Vikings, 51-42.
Sophomore Kaitlyn Mathieu played well in five minutes of action,
scoring five points and grabbing three rebounds, while freshman MacKenzie
Morrison impressed with four boards and two points in three minutes of
work. Classmate Kyla Kerstetter added
four off the Tribe's bench who outscored the ECSU bench, 32-28.
With the non-conference portion of the 2011-12 schedule now
complete, the William and Mary Tribe women's basketball team will turn it
attention to CAA conference play. The
College will next be in action on Thursday, January 5 when the Green and Gold
will play host to the George Mason Patriots.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Kaplan Arena.
