Williamsburg Sun

Tribe to Celebrate New Year in Boston, Taking on Northeastern

 As the calendar flips to January, William & Mary women's basketball looks to set the tone for the rest of 2023 with a victory at Northeastern on Sunday afternoon. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. and will be broadcast on FloHoops as well as regionally in Massachusetts on NESN. 

Stay up to date with all things Tribe women's hoops on social media! Fans can follow along with the team throughout the season by checking out the Green and Gold on Twitter (@WMTribeWBB), Facebook (WMTribeWBB), and Instagram (WMTribeWBB). 

- Three... two... one... Happy New Year! 2023 begins just as the Tribe wants it—playing basketball. W&M wraps up its four-game road swing with its second CAA tilt of the season, taking on Northeastern for the 28th time in program history. Over the last four meetings, the teams have exchanged wins, with the home squad emerging victorious each time. That includes an 83-65 Green and Gold win last February. Now, with the spirit of the holiday in mind, the Tribe is looking to start a new trend, capturing its first win in Boston since 2017.

- - The Huskies come into CAA play riding the success of last season, the first under head coach Bridgette Mitchell. Last year, for the first time in program history, Northeastern opened conference play 5-2 and finished the season in sixth place after being selected last. With Mitchell at the helm, the Huskies also made their second postseason appearance at the WBI, competing at the Clive Beck Center in Lexington, Kentucky last March.

- W&M opened CAA play on Friday with an 89-61 loss at first-time foe Stony Brook. Despite the score, there was a silver lining—sophomore Ruthie Montella, who had been sidelined with an injury for the first 11 games, made her season debut, while junior Kayla Beckwith returned to the lineup for the first time since Nov. 15 after battling her own injury. Beckwith didn't miss a beat, either. In 12-plus minutes, she scored six, hauled in three rebounds, and blocked two shots.

- Big players make big plays and... play big-time minutes. In Friday's CAA opener, four W&M players saw over 20 minutes of game action, while a total of nine players logged at least 12 minutes. So far this season, five members of the Tribe have posted career-highs in playing minutes, including junior Rebekah Frisby-Smith, who has bested her personal mark on four different occasions. Meanwhile, the backcourt duo of Sydney Wagner and Riley Casey ranks in the top-5 among CAA players in minutes played per game (Casey: 34.0, Wagner: 33.8).

- The win at Longwood didn't just snap a then-two-game skid for the Tribe—it also marked multiple career performances for multiple players. Freshman Kayla Rolph posted a personal-best 10 points in 32 minutes off the bench. Frisby-Smith's 11 rebounds, including five on the offensive glass, were the most she's ever hauled in, while Casey matched a career-high six assists. Junior Caitlin Wingertzahn also pulled in eight rebounds to set a new individual mark.

- The kids are alright! As the Tribe moves into conference play, Rolph and fellow freshmen Alexa Mikeska continue to come into their own. Mikeska returned to the starting lineup at Stony Brook, packing her stat sheet with five points, a career-high six rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Meanwhile, Rolph has played 27-plus minutes in the last three games.

- Wagner and Casey are making good use of all those minutes this year. The preseason All-CAA First-Team tandem sits top-10 in the CAA in points (Casey: 16.6, Wagner: 14.8) and 3-point field goals per game (Casey: 2.6, Wagner: 2.3). They're also the only two W&M players to start all 12 games so far this season, and when they both score in double digits, the Tribe is 5-1.

- A consistent offensive spark for the Green and Gold, Wagner has recorded a handful of big-time career marks in the first 12 games of the year. At Longwood (12/18/22), she posted her 20th career 20-point game, the third time she scored 20 or more this season. At Stony Brook, she recorded her 55th career double-digit scoring performance. Wagner has also dished out two or more assists nine times, notched five multi-steal games, and leads the CAA in free throw percentage (.886).

- Casey cemented herself in William & Mary women's basketball lore on Nov. 27, becoming just the second player in program history to record back-to-back 30-plus scoring performances. She did so against George Mason and Army, shooting 53.8% from the field over the two games. Against the Black Knights, she also connected on 6-of-9 shots from behind the arc, matching the third-best single-game 3-point shooting performance by a W&M player.

- W&M is second in the CAA in free throw percentage (.766) and tied for third in 3-point field goals made (6.5/per game). Over the years, the Green and Gold have built a reputation as a deep-scoring threat. Last season, the squad led the CAA in 3-point percentage (.323) and wrapped up the year third in conference in 3-pointers made per game (6.2).

- The Tribe was picked seventh in the CAA preseason standings by vote of the league coaches. Drexel was the preseason pick to win the league with 10 first-place votes.

Original source can be found here