(Dover, Del.) – Despite trailing by as many as 19 on three separate occasions in the fourth quarter, the Delaware State women's basketball team (1-6) battled back ferociously  to outscore the William & Mary Tribe (5-1) 20-7 in the final seven minutes of Tuesday evening's contest, but it was not enough as the Lady Hornets fell 65-59 at home.

With this defeat, the Lady Hornets failed to register their first home win of the season, whereas W&M continued its best start to a season since 1998-99.

Trailing 16-15 at the end of the first quarter, DSU was limited to 20 points over the next 20 minutes, including going 3-for-8 (.375) from the field and committing nine turnovers in the second quarter.  William & Mary, meanwhile, tallied 35 points during this stretch, headlined by a 19-point (9-of-19) effort in the third quarter.

"We weren't really able to knock down shots like we were in the fourth quarter really," said head coach Barbara Burgess of team's struggles. "Just little mistakes and not really playing together is what I think got us."

Nevertheless, DSU's strong finish began by ripping off nine unanswered points, thanks to guard Mikah Aldridge scoring seven of 11 points of the night during this stretch.  Forward/center Nikkei Blackburn managed to chip in by scoring Delaware State's next four points to make it a 60-52 contest at the 3:15 mark. After a Jenna Green trey to put W&M back up by 11 with 2:51 remaining, guard N'Kayah Kersey answered by scoring the game's next seven points, capped off by draining a pair at the line to bring DSU within four with 22 seconds left. 

The Hornets actually had a chance to make it a one-possession game with a steal by guard Bri Justice with 15 seconds to play.  Unfortunately, a bad pass by the sophomore out of Richmond, Va. right after she came away with the ball not only resulted in a Ali Engelhart steal for William & Mary, but it was DSU's costly 24th turnover of the night.              

"We had a group that started really playing together and believed that we could win," stated Burgess of her team's fourth quarter comeback.  "When you believe, anything is possible. We started just hustling, doing some things that we don't normally do and that's trapping and causing them to cough the ball up. So I saw some good things from that."

At game's end, four DSU players scoredin double figures, which is the most of any game this season for the Lady Hornets.  Leading the way was guard/forward NaJai Pollard tallying her first-career double-double with 14 points (6-of-10) and 10 boards, to go along with a game-high three blocks.  Blackburn also turned her best performance of this season, registering her first double-double of the season with 10 points (4-of-6) and a team-high 11 rebounds. For the Tribe, guard Marlena Tremba – the team's leading scorer (15.6 ppg) coming into Tuesday's contest – finished with a game-high 21 points (7-of-16), which also featured a 4-for-10 (.400) effort from long distance.

Coming up, the Columbia Blue & Red will look to bounce on the road this Saturday against Fordham.  DSU is 0-2 all-time against the Rams.

Stingers

Guard N'Kayah Kersey scored a season-high 13 points (4-of-9), including draining a season-high two 3-pointers… DSU shot 38 percent (20-of-53) from the field, whereas William & Mary went 27-for-69 (.391)… The Tribe won the battle on the boards (40-37), thanks in part to forward Alexandra Masaquel registering a double-double of 10 points (5-of-11) and 12 boards… William & Mary scored 17 points off 24 DSU turnovers, while the Lady Hornets outscored the Tribe in points off the bench (21-20)… This is the first time two Lady Hornets have registered a double-double in the same game since Amber Bogard (17 points – 10 rebounds) and Tierra Hawkins (20 points – 10 rebounds) did it in a 90-84 loss to Binghamton on Nov. 15, 2014… Delaware State is now 0-5 all-time against the Tribe.