Blistering Shooting, Balanced Attack Leads Blue Hens Over William & Mary, 60-51
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• Photo Courtesy of Mark Campbell
NEWARK, Del. -- Junior guard Jocelyn Bailey (top right) led the University of Delaware's most balanced attack in nearly a year Thursday night as she scored 17 points to lead four scorers in double figures and collected a career-high five steals to lead the Blue Hens to a 60-51 Colonial Athletic Association women's basketball win over William & Mary at the Bob Carpenter Center.
Sophomore forward Danielle Parker, sophomore guard Lauren Carra, and junior guard Vanessa Kabongo (bottom left) each contributed 12 points apiece to the Delaware attack as the Blue Hens (10-5, 3-1 CAA) won for the fourth time in the last five games and stayed within a game of first place in the CAA standings. Parker pulled down a game-high eight rebounds for the Hens, who shot 51.2 percent from the field (22 of 43) for the game and collected a season-high 12 assists, the most by a UD team since last Feb. 28 vs. James Madison.
A huge showdown looms for Delaware this Sunday, Jan. 16, as the Hens host league-leading Old Dominion (10-5, 4-0 CAA) at 2 p.m. at the BCC. The Hens lost all three meetings to the Monarchs a year ago by a combined total of just four points, including a 50-49 loss in the CAA Tournament semifinals. VCU (9-5, 4-0 CAA) is also tied for the CAA lead heading into the weekend.
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William & Mary (1-13, 0-4 CAA) continued its tough luck season as the Tribe lost its seventh straight game despite fighting back from a 20-point second half deficit. Taysha Pye led the Tribe with 19 points and seven rebounds but committed 10 of her team's 20 turnovers. Taylor Hilton added 10 points while Emily Correal contributed eight points and seven rebounds.
“We played really well tonight,” said Delaware head coach Tina Martin, who became the program’s winningest coach last week vs. Northeastern when she won her 267th career game at UD. “That's how we got that 20 point lead. We shot the ball well, we defended well, and for this group, we played as well as we've probably played all season. William and Mary has three bona fide scorers and they've jumped on everybody the first 10 minutes of every game in conference. Thankfully, our kids came out and played really, really well. This is a very solid win against a very veteran team. I don't care about their record. But anybody that takes Virginia Tech into two overtimes (in a 94-78 loss) and has the lead in three games in conference play, this is a good win for us.”
Delaware, which bounced back from a 59-56 loss at rival Drexel Sunday afternoon, continued its dominance over the Tribe, downing William & Mary for the fourth straight time and improving to 13-4 all-time, including a 7-1 mark at the Bob Carpenter Center.
The Blue Hens put four scorers in double figures for the first time this season and for the first time since last Jan. 28 when five Delaware players hit double digits in a 72-49 win over Towson.
While Delaware was on fire from the field, the Tribe was just as cold as they converted just 19 of 60 shots from the field (31.7 percent), including only 2 of 10 from beyond the three-point line. William & Mary hit just 7 of 34 first half shots as the Tribe fell behind 35-18 at the break.
After William & Mary scored the game’s first basket 28 seconds in, Delaware took control and never looked back, jumping out to a 35-18 halftime lead and pushing the margin to 20 points two minutes into the second stanza. Bailey, Kabongo, and Carra each scored eight first half points as the Hens hit on 14 of 24 field goal in the opening 20 minutes and used an 8-0 run, highlighted by a Carra three-pointer, to push the lead to double digits.
Delaware extended the lead to 39-19 on a Kabongo jumper with 18:10 left, but the Tribe followed with a 15-3 run to get back into the game, pulling to within seven points at 42-35 on a DeHenzel three-point play with 11:18 left.
After a Kabongo jumper broke the run, William & Mary got even closer as a three-pointer by Hilton and a layup from Pye narrowed the Delaware lead to five points at 45-40 with 7:31 remaining. But the Tribe would never get closer at Parker connected on back-to-back layups in an 18-second span and Bailey followed with two free throws and a layup as part of an 8-0 run that pushed the lead back to 53-40 with 4:20 left.
William & Mary pulled to within eight points on another Hilton triple with 2:35 remaining, but Bailey answered with a three-point play 15 seconds later to put the game away.
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