Foundation is now set despite change of style

WILLIAMSBURG — Erin Dickerson Davis’ first season as William & Mary women’s basketball coach was an unqualified success. The former Wake Forest assistant inherited a program 10-20 the season before and guided it to an 18-13 mark as the Tribe won 12 of its final 15 Coastal Athletic Association games to tie for fourth place.

“I’m very grateful for last year’s group because they laid the foundation for what we’re building at William & Mary,” she said. “We know what it feels like to win.

“Last year we were unsure we could do that.”

CAA coaches appear unsure the Tribe can repeat last year’s performance, picking W&M ninth among 14 teams in preseason polling.

For sure, the Tribe is different stylistically than the group that finished last season. All-CAA first-team selection Riley Casey (18 points per game) and secondteam pick Sydney Wagner (16.2 ppg) graduated, taking the Tribe’s 3-point-dominant identity with them, and post standout Bre Bellamy (7.6 ppg, 6.0 rebounds per game) is also gone.

But the cupboard is hardly bare as nine returners join six newcomers. Starting at 5 p.m. today at home against Norfolk State at Kaplan Arena, the Tribe will forge a new identity that might include employing waves of fresh players in a rotation 11 or so deep. Last year’s group was thinner, but because Davis favors a fast pace, this year’s deeper team might be more her style.

Post player Nylah Young, a 5-foot-11 grad student, transferred from Hampton, where she averaged 14.1 points and 6.0 rebounds and scored more than 20 points eight times in earning all-conference honors.

Young could be joined in the starting frontcourt by Anahi-Lee Cauley, an athletic 6-foot sophomore who played the past two seasons for Villanova — a Sweet 16 team a year ago. Returning to the frontcourt after a redshirt season is former Hampton High standout Dani McTeer, a 6-footer who averaged 6.5 points and 4.6 rebounds in making the All-CAA rookie team two years ago.

A quartet of players 6-1 or taller -— Caitlin Wingertzahn (4.5 ppg, 2.7 rpg), Kayla Rolph (4.1 ppg, 3.2 rpg), Kayla Beckwith (3.0 ppg, 3.7 rpg) and Madison Magee (3.0 ppg, 2.4 rpg) — add depth inside for a Tribe team that will be more post-oriented.