Boxscore
File Photo Courtesy of Mark Campbell

NEWARK, Del. -- Junior guard Corinthia Benison (at right) scored nine of her 11 points in a two-minute span down the stretch as the University of Delaware held off a William & Mary rally and pulled away in the final three minutes for a 62-51 Colonial Athletic Association women's basketball victory Wednesday night at the Bob Carpenter Center.

Tesia Harris posted her second straight 20-point effort with a game-high 22 points to go with eight rebounds and four steals and Ariene Jenkins and Jocelyn Bailey each contributed 10 points as the Blue Hens (12-11, 4-8 CAA) snapped a two-game losing streak.

Jenkins, who also had six rebounds, missed most of the second half when she suffered a concussion after a collision near the William & Mary basket with just over 15 minutes left to play. Her status for Delaware’s game at Old Dominion this Sunday was uncertain.

William & Mary (11-12, 4-8 CAA), which lost its third straight game, got 14 points, nine rebounds, and four three-pointers from Courtney Portell while Taysha Pye came off the bench to add 13 points before fouling out with 1:23 left.

Tiffany Benson, who entered the game averaging 12.7 points and 11.2 rebounds per game, was held to just eight points and seven rebounds before fouling out with 2:25 left to play. The Tribe committed 28 fouls for the game.

After Delaware had led the entire second half, William & Mary battled back and pulled to within a single point at 50-49 on a layup by Benson with 2:46 left. But Delaware's Benison got hot and William & Mary missed its final five shots from the field as the Hens pulled away.

"It's a great win for us," said Delaware head coach Tina Martin. "This young team has to fight for every win, and tonight, especially without Ariene, we came up with a big one. It feels good to get back over .500, and I think we're getting better with every game."

Harris netted 15 of her 22 points in the first half, including an NBA-range three-pointer just before the halftime buzzer that send the Hens into the lockerroom up 34-29. She has now hit for 20 or more points three times in the last four games and is the first UD player to score 20 or more points in consecutive games since former WNBA player Tyresa Smith reached the milestone in seven straight games in February, 2007.

The Tribe committed 21 turnovers and managed to hit just 18 of 55 shots from the field (32.7 percent), including an ice-cold 8 of 28 in the second half. William & Mary also misfired on 15 of 19 three-point attempts. Delaware struggled as well from the field (24 of 65) and the foul line (11 of 23) but held a 47-42 advantage on the boards.

Delaware led 12-7 midway through the first half, but William & Mary sped away on a 15-0 run over the next six minutes and took a 22-12 lead when Portell drained a three-pointer with 6:45 left. The Hens missed eight straight shots during the span to fall behind.

However, as cold as the Hens went for that stretch, they were just as hot to end the half as Harris scored 11 points over the final 2:31 of the stanza with three three-pointers, including the one just before the buzzer to give the Hens the five-point advantage at the break.

The Hens never trailed in the second half and went up by as much as seven points twice, the second time at 48-41 on a layup by Harris with 8:20 remaining. The Tribe chipped away at the lead and narrowed the gap to one point at 48-47 with 3:25 left, and after a Benison layup pushed the lead back to three, cut it back to one at 50-49 on Benson’s final bucket.

The rest of the game belonged to the Blue Hens, who held the Tribe scoreless until two free throws by Portell with 30 seconds left to play. Benison took control down the stretch as her layup pushed the lead to five points and her conventional three-point play increased the lead to 57-49 with 1:23 left. She added two more free throws with 54 seconds left to push the lead to 12 points at 61-49.