UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — With about 90 seconds left in Thursday’s game, William and Mary forward Kaitlyn Mathieu had a defensive rebound on her fingertips, only to lose the ball to a UNC Wilmington player.
Seconds later, Mathieu committed a foul and Naqaiyyah Teague hit two free throws to build the Seahawks’ lead to three, and No. 9 seed UNC Wilmington held on to beat No. 8 William and Mary 67-65 in the play-in game of the Colonial Athletic Association women’s tournament at Show Place Arena.
“It was really frustrating. I should have had (the rebound). It was my mistake,” said Mathieu, with a slight smile, and her eyes still red as her college career came to an end.
Mathieu had a team-high 19 points and eight rebounds, but five turnovers. Teammate Kyla Kerstetter had 18 points and Jazmen Boone added 11 points and six assists for the Tribe, which ended the season 8-21 under first-year coach Ed Swanson.
The Tribe’s Marlena Tremba hit a free throw with six-tenths of a second left and missed the next attempt in hopes that a teammate could get the offensive rebound for a quick basket, but to no avail as the buzzer sounded.
UNC Wilmington point guard Kelva Atkins (21 points, five assists) put her team ahead for good at 63-62 with two free throws with 2:26 left as the Seahawks made up for a 53-point loss at William and Mary on Feb. 16. Teague’s two free throws made it 65-62.
Johanna McMillan came off the bench to score a career-high 12 points for the Seahawks (5-26), who used just seven players.
“They beat us so badly (last time), I was thinking about retiring the next day,” said UNC Wilmington coach Adell Harris, whose team advances to play No. 1 seed James Madison at noon Friday. “We were embarrassed by that performance.”
The Tribe trailed 15-7 early in the first half Thursday before going on a 10-0 run to take a lead of 21-17 on a basket by reserve Latrice Hunter with 9:33 left in the first half. William and Mary led 37-36 at halftime as Kerstetter had 12 points.
But the Seahawks had 19 offensive rebounds and won the battle of the boards 46-36.
“We lost the game, I think, on second shots, especially in the second half,” Swanson said. “Every time they got that second shot the last 10 minutes, they seemed to put it back in. It was a back-breaker and we could never recover from that. They played a little tougher than us today, and going into the offseason, that is something we need to improve.”
NOTES
Mathieu was named to the All-CAA third team late Wednesday and Tremba was named the CAA Rookie of the Year. …
Boone was named to the All-Defensive and All-Academic team, and teammate Kerstetter was also named to the All-Academic team. … Tremba had eight of her nine points in the first half.
UNCW 67, W&M 65
UNC WILMINGTON (5-26): Flowers 4-8 2-2 10, Teague 4-8 2-2 10, Mobley 4-15 2-2 10, Atkins 8-26 3-3 21, Reeves 1-5 0-2 2, McMillan 4-5 0-0 12, Cain 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 26-68 9-11 67.
WILLIAM AND MARY (8-21): Mathieu 8-16 2-5 19, Boone 4-13 3-5 11, Hofstaedter 1-1 0-0 3, Kerstetter 6-14 2-2 18, Stewart 0-2 0-0 0, Kestler 0-0 0-0 0, Tremba 3-7 1-2 9, Hunter 2-5 1-2 5.
Half: W&M 37-36. 3-point goals: UNCW 6-16 (Teague 0-1, Mobley 0-1, Atkins 2-9, McMillan 4-5), W&M 8-18 (Mathieu 1-3, Hofstaedter 1-1, Kerstetter 4-9, Stewart 0-2, Tremba 2-2, Hunter 0-1). Rebounds: UNCW 46 (Flowers 15), W&M 36 (Mathieu 8). Assists: UNCW 11 (Atkins 5), W&M 16 (Boone 6). Fouls: UNCW 13, W&M 12. A: 543.
