Richmond Edges Tribe, 68-64

11/20/07 10:00PM

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - After opening the season with a pair of victories, the William and Mary women’s basketball team lost its first contest of the 2007-08 campaign with a 68-64 defeat to Richmond on Tuesday night at Kaplan Arena in Williamsburg.

Senior Kyra Kaylor led the Tribe (2-1) with a team-high 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting, while classmate Devin James totaled 17 points in 38 minutes of action. Sophomore Tiffany Benson also had a big effort and finished with 10 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and a pair of steals.

W&M held a narrow advantage on the boards, 37-34, and forced the Spiders (2-3) into 19 turnovers. Both teams tallied a similar shooting percentage, as the College connected on 41.5 percent (27-65) of its attempts compared to UR’s 41.0 percent (25-61).

Richmond sank its first three attempts from the field to start the game and built an early five-point advantage, 7-2. However, the Tribe fought back and took its first lead of the contest, 12-11, following a three-pointer by James at the 13:10 mark. The Pipersville, Pa., native played incredibly well during the opening seven minutes as she scored nine of the College’s initial dozen points.

While the Spiders edged ahead by three shortly thereafter, the Tribe rallied back with a 13-2 run during a five-minute span. Kaylor contributed four points during the stretch, while junior Courtney Portell punctuated the impressive run with a three-pointer.

Following a timeout, Richmond utilized a trio of three-pointers to narrow the margin to just one, 29-28, but the Tribe took a 36-32 advantage into the locker room.

At the break, W&M was shooting 48.4 percent (15-31) from the field and held a 16-14 advantage on the boards. Addi-tionally, the Tribe forced the Spiders into 13 turnovers during the opening frame. Individually, James had a game-high 13 points, while Kaylor had eight points on 4-of-5 shooting.

Although UR quickly cut the lead to one early in the second half, the Tribe responded with a 6-0 spurt that was fueled by two Kaylor baskets and a layin by Benson. However, Richmond countered with a 7-0 run to knot the score at 42-42 with 15:33 showing on the clock.

The teams battled back and forth during the next 10 minutes, as the squads traded the lead nine times. UR finally appeared to break the game open with a 10-2 run and led 61-54 with less than five minutes remaining. However, Portell sank a three-pointer and freshman Katy Oblinger went coast-to-coast for a layin to cut the margin to just two, 61-59, with 3:39 to play.

W&M got as close as one, 63-62, following a layin by Kaylor with 1:48 left and had a chance to take the lead but was unable to convert on the offensive end.

The Tribe will return to action again when it plays at Radford on Friday at 3 p.m.

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