Tribe Women to Open CAA Championship Against Hofstra, Thursday at 7:30 PM

W&M Looking for Fourth Tournament Win in Last Four Years

03/10/10 10:01PM

HARRISONBURG, VA - William and Mary heads to the 2010 Virginia 529 College Savings Plan CAA Women’s Basketball Championship on Thursday as the 11th seed, and will face No. 6 Hofstra in the first round at 7:30 p.m. It is a rematch of last year’s first-round game, when the Tribe upset Hofstra, 63-62. The quarterfinal round also sets up to be a mirror of last season, with No. 3 VCU awaiting the winner of the Tribe and the Pride. W&M and Hofstra have already met twice this season, with both winning on their home court.

Complete Game Notes
Championship Central

Top Storylines
• Taysha Pye led five W&M players to earn all-conference honors Wednesday night at the pre-tournament banquet, nabbing second-team All-CAA accolades after averaging 16.6 points per game and 18.3 in conference play.
• Also earning all-conference recognition was freshman Emily Correal, as part of the All-Rookie team, and senior Tiffany Benson, named to the All-Defensive team for the third year in a row.
• Robyn Barton and Lindsey Moller were each named to the honorable mention All-Academic team for the first time, marking the first time sicne 1988-89 that W&M has had a pair of All-Academic members in the same season.

All-Conference Recap
W&M had five players earn some form of all-conference recognition Wednesday night, the most pre-tournament awards in school history and tied with the 1992-93 and 1993-94 for the most overall (those squads had two and one players, respectively, on the all-tournament team). Taysha Pye was named second-team All-CAA, while Emily Correal was named to the All-Rookie team and Tiffany Benson earned All-Defensive accolades for the third year in a row. Robyn Barton and Lindsey Moller were each named honorable-mention All-Academic, the first time since 1988-89 that W&M has had two All-Academic members in the same season.

Player of the Week
Taysha Pye came off the bench to lead all scorers with 21 points against Drexel, shooting 9-14 and dishing out four assists to help her team to the victory. In recognition of he efforts, she was named CAA co-Player of the Week on Monday.

Senior Night Surprise
Senior Robyn Barton got her first start of the season last Thursday against Drexel, and made the most of it. She shot 4-6 from the floor and 3-5 from beyond the arc for a season-high 11 points in the first half, and added a career-high four assists to go with three rebounds to lead the team to victory.

Down but Not Out
W&M closed a 12 point deficit on Feb. 28 in the second half against James Madison, the third time this season that the Tribe has battled back from a double-digit gap to either tie or lead the game. There have also been two very close calls, taking a Towson lead from 11 to 1 on Feb. 14, and in the first game against Drexel, taking an 18-point gap down to a single point.

Bouncing Back
Taysha Pye scored a game-high 26 points at JMU on Feb. 28, after being held to single-digits for just the fourth this season in the game before. In fact, in the next game after scoring less than 10 points, Pye is averaging a robust 19.75 ppg.

In a Class of Her Own
Tiffany Benson, after four offensive rebounds and a block on Feb. 28, now owns the top three season totals for offensive rebounds in school hsitory, and the top four season totals for blocks as well. In fact, she has led the CAA in offensive rebounds each of the past three years.

Try, Try, Again
With 27 field goal attempts against the Dukes on Feb. 28, Taysha Pye now has each of the top three games in terms of field goals attempted, including 26 against both JMU on Feb. 11 and Delaware on Feb. 4.

Career Night at ODU
Janine Aldridge tied two career-highs on Feb. 25 at Old Dominion, leading all scorers with 23 points and pulling in five rebounds.

Senior Leadership
All three of the Tribe’s seniors also contributed strongly to the team effort against the Monarchs. Robyn Barton had four points, two rebounds, and an assist; Kelly Heath tied her career-high with four assists and no turnovers, and Tiffany Benson made six blocks and pulled down eight rebounds.

All-Players Record
Tiffany Benson’s six blocks against ODU lifted her past the 250-block plateau, and also past W&M men’s alum David Cully ‘96, who previously held the Tribe all-players record with 248 career blocks.

Shooting to the Top
With 11 three-point attempts against Delaware, Janine Aldridge became the school record-holder for three-pointers in a season with 196 attempts, surpassing the 193 attempted by Courtney Portell ‘09 in 2007-08.

Iron Woman
Freshman Emily Correal broke the W&M freshman record games started when she was introduced before the James Madison game on Feb. 28, with 28 starts on the season, before giving way to the senior class against Drexel.