WILLIAMSBURG, VA -- As cold as the University of Delaware women’s basketball team started out in Sunday’s Colonial Athletic Association matchup with William & Mary, the Tribe came out just as hot and never cooled down.

The result was a 73-62 setback for Delaware at the Kaplan Arena Sunday, snapping the Blue Hens’ four-game winning streak.

The Blue Hens, who had won 10 of their previous 11 games, lost for the first time since a 55-41 setback at UNC Wilmington back on Jan. 6 and dropped to 13-3 (5-2 CAA). Melissa Czorniewy led the Hens in scoring for the fourth straight game with 16 points while Tyresa Smith added 12 points, seven rebounds, and five steals, and Geneva Livingston (at right), playing just her second game after an off-season knee injury, recorded a career-high 10 points.

Delaware fell behind 8-0 in the first three minutes and the game and misfired on 12 of its first 15 shots from the field on the way to a 10-point halftime deficit from which it could never recover. The Blue Hens hit just 20 of 60 shots from the field for the game (.333) and connected on 5 of 15 three-pointers while committing 15 turnovers. Delaware, which swept the Tribe a year ago, lost to William & Mary for just the third time in 11 all-time meetings.

William & Mary (8-8, 4-3 CAA), which won its second straight game, placed four starters in double figures as guard Dani Kell dropped in a game-high 26 points, including hitting all four of her three-point attempts, Lizzie Schiel added 18 points, Kyra Kaylor dropped in 13 points to go along with a game-high 11 rebounds, and Devin James contributed 11 points and nine rebounds. Guard Sarah Stroh scored just three points and committed 10 of her team’s 22 turnovers, but dished out 10 assists.

The Tribe shooting was lethal against a Delaware team that entered the game ranked No. 3 in NCAA Division I in scoring defense (51.7 points per game) and No. 4 in the CAA in field goal percentage defense (36.6 percent). William & Mary’s 73 points was the most scored against Delaware since Old Dominion’s 78-74 overtime win over the Blue Hens in last year’s CAA title game.

William & Mary hit on 15 of 22 shots from the field in the first half (.682), connected on 12 of 22 in the second half (.545), and finished the game hitting on 27 of 44 shots, a percentage of 61.4. Delaware had held 46 straight opponents under 50 percent shooting since Old Dominion shot 57 percent in the 2004 CAA semifinals and the Tribe’s 61.4 percent mark was the best against the Hens since Maine shot 62.5 percent (40 of 64) back on Feb. 8, 1998.

“We didn’t bring it in the beginning,” said Delaware head coach Tina Martin. “And then we played the whole game trying to catch up and never could. You have to come out ready on the road in this conference and we didn’t. We’ll go back to work this week and get things figured out.”

Despite the slow start, the Blue Hens made it interesting in the second stanza. After trailing by as much as 17 points (25-8) in the first half and by 10 at the break, Delaware rallied in the second half, closing the gap to three points at 55-52 with 6:32 remaining when Livingston drained a three-pointer. The Tribe built the lead back to eight but the Hens countered again, using a jumper by Czorniewy with 3:18 left to narrow the margin to 64-60.

But it was all William & Mary down the stretch. Kell followed with a layup to begin a 9-0 run and a Czorniewy turnover resulted in a three-pointer by Schiel to push the lead back to nine at 69-60. Kell then added two free throws with 1:44 left to up the lead to double digits.

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