WBB Game 7: ODU (5-1) @ W&M (6-1)
This Thursday the Monarchs will play our old rivals, the Tribe of William and Mary. There is a bit of a debate on exactly how many times we have played W&M through the years. ODU will tell you that this game will mark the 65th time that we have faced the Tribe since the 1969-70 season. However if you look at the William and Mary records, they will tell you that this is the 95th meeting in school history. They go back to the March 25, 1931 as the team's first meeting. Either way, it shows a long history of playing each other.
William and Mary was picked to finish 3rd in the preseason poll for the CAA. This season they are 6-1 (including 3-0 at home). Which is nice. Yes their RPI is currently ranked 171, which is fair. But the quality of the team's schedule really shows with it's SOS: 336. (It's not a tough schedule)
@ Army W 77-65 Record: 2-5 RPI: 278
Vs MD Eastern Shore W 78-50 Record: 0-5 RPI: 271
@ ECU W 78-68 Record: 3-5 RPI: 269
@ Richmond L 73-76 Record: 5-3 RPI: 18
Vs UMBC W 76-48 Record: 1-6 RPI: 320
Vs Hartford W 61-44 Record: 0-7 RPI: 288
@ Delaware St W 61-44 Record: 1-4 RPI: 169
Vs ODU Record: 5-1 RPI: 56
Tribe's Starting Five
10 Hodgson, Eva G 5'9" So 18.7 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 3.9 apg, 2.7 spg, 52.9 FG%, 38.7 3P%, 1.000 FT%, 29.6 mpg
25 Rogers, Gabby C 6'1" Jr 7.4 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 1.4 apg, 52.3 FG%, 0.00 3P% 1.000 FT%, 19.7 mpg
30 Reynolds, Victoria F 5'10" Sr 12.1 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 1.9 apg, 2.0 spg, 43.3 FG%, 25.0 3P%, 78.1 FT%, 26.1 mpg
20 Bellamy, Bre G/F 6'0" Fr 9.0 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.3 apg, 49.2 FG%, 45.5 3P%, 0.00 FT%, 25.4 mpg
11 Pollard, Nyla G 5'9" Jr 5.3 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 4.1 apg, 38.9 FG%, 29.4 3P%, 66.7 FT%, 29.1 mpg
Top Bench
1 Wagner, Sydney G 5'6" Rd So 9.1 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 1.0 apg, 41.1 FG%, 33.3 3P%, 55.6 FT%, 18.6 mpg
21 Eichner, Bailey G/F 6'1" Jr 4.6 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 1.0 apg, 45.8 FG%, 0.00 3P%, 76.9 FT%, 16.7 mpg
5 Gilliam, Chaniqwa G 5'8" Fr 2.9 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 1.9 apg, 50.0 FG%, 0.00 3P%, 85.7 FT%, 15.1 mpg
Nyla Pollard is from Princess Anne High School and Chaniqwa Gilliam is from Lake Taylor high school. Harper Birdsong (G 5'10" Rd Jr) is from Nansemond-Suffolk.
With Pollard and Hodgson they have two floor generals. Together they average 8 apg Currently the team is tied for 29th in the nation in assists per game. With Wagner and Hodgson are the team's main three point shooters. They are a pretty good free shooting team and good fundamentals. They don't turn the ball over much. Last season Hodgson was the CAA rookie of the year and this year Bre Bellany has been nominated for CAA rookie of the week twice. She is a fine player who does a little bit of everything. Head coach Ed Swason recently collected his 500th career win with the Tribe. This isn't the W&M Tribe that some fans still think of when we used to dominate. Swanson has done much better recruiting over the years.
Inside the stats....
..............W&M.......ODU
PPG........73.7..........66.2
OPPG.....57.6..........55.2
FG%.......45.7..........39.1
OFG%....38.2..........37.1
3P%........31.5..........31.2
O3P%.....31.1..........24.3
3PMG.....5.9............7.3
FT%........83.3..........58.9
FTMG......12.1.........10.5
RPG.........33.6.........41.0
ORPG......36.9.........37.2
APG.........17.3.........12.0
TPG.........14.1.........12.5
SPG..........10.4........9.2
BPG..........3.4.........3.8
Ast/TO ratio:
W&M: 1.2 ODU: 1.0
Monarchs Starting Five
05 Morris, Victoria 13.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.8 apg, 37.5 FG%, 43.8 3P%, 75.0 FT%, 28.0 mpg
03 Wayne, Ajah 11.7 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 1.7 apg, 2.0 spg, 37.8 FG%, 24.0 3P%, 53.3 FT%, 29.0 mpg
23 Young, Amari 10.3 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 0.8 apg, 2.8 spg, 1.0 bpg, 44.9 FG%, 0.00 3P%, 56.3 FT%, 30.2 mpg
11 Edwards, Taylor 8.7 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 3.0 apg, 1.5 spg, 35.8 FG%, 22.2 3P%, 52.2 FT%, 23.3 mpg
25 Scott, Ashley 0.3 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 0.3 apg, 25.0 FG%, 0.00 3P%, 0.00 FT%, 14.0 mpg
The fact that Morris is draining 43.8 of her shots from beyond the arc is incredible. That currently puts her in a three way tie for 69th in the nation. I know you look at the team's FT percentage and sort of go....yuck. (We are currently ranked 319 out of 348 teams) But there are some good free shooters on this team. For example, Aziah hasn't missed once, Amaya is shooting a 83.3 clip, Victoria is shooting 75.0%, and Mariah Adams is shooting 71.4%. The problem is of course, they haven't gone to the line enough.
Also I am really excited about freshman Marie Reichert's play this season. No....please don't talk about her 41.7 FT% percentage. It's the fact that she leads the team in blocks (10) and offensive boards (20). In fact, she is responsible for 17.6% of the team's total offensive boards. Throw in a 55.6 FG%, and she is showing signs of becoming a reliable scorer too. Impressive for a freshman this early in the season. Give her a few years in the weight room and I think she will be a solid player for our team down low.
Hopefully this will be a fun game for ODU. For a lot of ODU fans this will be the second game in three nights at the Kaplan. Hopefully the results will be better than the men's game. The ODU women haven't won in Williamsburg since the 2013 season.
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