The College of William & Mary’s Tribe (11-16, 4-12 CAA) stepped into a lion’s den on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2010 as they fell to the Lady Monarchs 70-52. After a recent loss at home to James Madison University, the Lady Monarchs (15-11, 13-3 CAA) were hungry for a victory to give them better position in the upcoming Colonial Athletic Association Tournament.
Lady Monarch head coach Wendy Larry saw the Dukes’
victory over the Lady Monarchs as a sign that the team could
take their loss at home to Virginia Commonwealth University
on Jan. 17, and turn it into a road victory when they play[ed]
again on Sunday, Feb. 28. [insert score here & what happened,
etc. hopefully we win!]
“VCU came in here and did the same thing to us, so now we
have an opportunity to go to their house, try to get better, play
a lot better than we played here against them, and then try to
have some momentum going in to our last home game against
Towson,” Larry said.
The Lady Monarchs leading scorers were junior guard
Jasmine Parker with 17 points, senior forward Jessica Canady
with 15 points, sophomore center Tia Lewis with 11 points and
freshman guard Jackie Cook with 10 points.
Entering the game against the Tribe, Canady needed 21
points to be one of the 26 Lady Monarchs in the program’s
history who have broke 1,000 points.
When asked about how she felt about only needing six points
to break 1,000 after the game ended, she said, “I did?”
“You try not to talk to people about things like that because
you don’t want to add pressure to them,” Larry said. “We never
really bring that up until it happens because it is a great accomplishment
and she’ll be on a very short list with some of the
great players we’ve had here. We honestly hope she busts it
up.”
Throughout the game there was an aggressive and physical
woman-to-woman defense. With just under 12:00 minutes
in the first half, there was a great rebounding effort between
junior guard Kquanise Byrd and Cook.
Byrd took a shot, missed, and the ball was quickly recovered
for a layup by Cook, keeping the Lady Monarchs in the lead 15-
8. Minutes later there was a nice combination between junior
guard Shadasia Green and Lewis, as Green threw a flawless
pass to Lewis for two points in the paint.
The Lady Monarchs were up 21-16.
Throughout the first half, the Lady Monarchs were consistent
in their scoring. Senior forward Jessica Canady went
3-of-5 in field goals, and was one of the top scorers with nine
points. Cook went 4-of-5 and also had nine points.
The first half ended with a fancy layup from Green, with the
Lady Monarchs in the lead 37-22.
The second half was pleasing and had nice breakaways.
With 10 minutes left in the second half, William & Mary
brought the game to a five point deficit after a 6-0 run.
The Lady Monarchs’ junior guard Jasmine Parker broke the
streak scoring five straight points to get a 10 point lead back.
“I think as a team we needed something to boost us back up,
[because] we were starting to slide away a little bit and were
pulling away from each other,” Parker said.
“Against a team that rebounds like William & Mary, you
have to score to compete with their effort in the glass,” Larry
said. At the end of the game, William & Mary totaled 41
rebounds to the Lady Monarchs’ 39.
The game ended after Lewis scored 2 points in the last
2 seconds of the game, sealing the 70-52 Lady Monarch
victory.
“I think we gave Old Dominion too many easy points
tonight,” William & Mary head coach Debbie Taylor said.
“We’re a very young team and we’re learning by doing this
year. But to beat Old Dominion everybody’s [got to] show up
and everybody’s [got to] do their job.”
The most prominent Tribe player was sophomore guard
Janine Aldridge. At the end of the game she had 23 points
while the second highest scorer on William & Mary had only
7 points.
“I’ve been working hard on my shots because I’ve been on
this roller coaster where I’m hot one night and then…I wouldn’t
even be close,” Aldridge said. “I’m just trying to come in and
help out the team.”
The Lady Monarchs clinched the CAA regular season title
on Saturday against rival VCU 67-65. The Lady Monarchs will
finish the regular season at home against Towson University on
March 3 which is senior night.
