Women’s Basketball Bounces Back by Thumping The Tribe 59-44

By Ethan Marsh, Reporter

WILMINGTON, NC - After Friday’s disaster of a loss to Drexel, The UNCW women’s basketball team was looking to rebound. The Seahawks did just that on Super Bowl Sunday amidst cold wet conditions outside by convincingly taking care of the William & Mary Tribe 59-44 in Trask Coliseum.
This well-contested matchup marked the 67th time the Seahawks and Tribe have opposed one another in a game, and the Seahawks win shortened the Tribe’s lead in the overall record to 34-33 after William & Mary beat UNCW 77-65 in their first matchup this season. This game was in the middle of the women’s basketball team's three-game home stand. This game also happened on the 2016 Alumni Day and three Alumni were honored. The Women’s team took part in an autograph session in front of the team’s bench after the game concluded.

This matchup had a good flow that went in the Seahawks favor. The William & Mary Tribe only led once in the matchup and tied it only three times. Other than that, the UNCW Seahawks led the entire time. It was a close matchup as it was back and forth in the 1st quarter and William & Mary committed many fouls. It stayed close as the score was at a 25-23 Seahawks lead during halftime. The Tribe managed to tie it for the third and last time at 29-29 in the third quarter before the Seahawks used the rest of the third quarter to develop their lead and maintained the lead in the fourth quarter. Part of the lead increasing to 13 at the end of the third quarter was due to Sophomore Guard Madison Raque’s 8 straight points, including two 3 pointers to go into into the fourth quarter. The Seahawks kept at a steady pace outscoring the Tribe 15-13 in the 4th quarter to maintain the lead and win by 15.

Senior, Point Guard Shatia Cole led in scoring with 17 points that made her 10th straight game of scoring in the double figures and made one of the game’s three pointers. This points total increased Cole’s points per game average to 12.8 on the season. Sophomore, Guard Madison Raque followed her with 14 points and scored two of the game’s three pointers. Junior, Point Guard Jasmine Steele was in third with points making 10 of them, including two of the five three- pointers made in the matchup. This made Steele’s 5th straight game in Double figures. Cole, Raque, and Steele altogether were responsible for 41 of the 59 points scored for UNCW. Junior, Guard Amber Reeves made 8 points herself, which made the play of the game in the 2nd quarter by making a steal from the Tribe and driving down to the other side of the court and driving it in for the score.

This win improved the UNCW Women’s Basketball team’s overall record to 7-15 and 3-8 in the conference. The Seahawks will next play the third and final game of their current three-game home stand Friday, February 12th at 7pm.