No. 9 William & Mary Makes History As Lowest Seed to Reach Championship Game With 76-54 Win Over No. 4 Drexel

No. 9 William & Mary Makes History As Lowest Seed to Reach Championship Game With 76-54 Win Over No. 4 Drexel

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Ben Kane

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Press Conference – William & Mary | Press Conference - Drexel

Washington D.C. (Mar. 15, 2025) – No.9 William & Mary became the lowest seed to ever make the CAA Women’s Basketball Championship game with a 76-54 win over No. 4 Drexel on Saturday afternoon at CareFirst Arena in Washington, D.C. With the victory, the Tribe advanced to the CAA title game for the first time since 1993 and second time ever.
 
William & Mary (14-18) will face either No. 2 Charleston or No. 3 Campbell on Sunday, Mar. 16 at 2 p.m. The championship game will be shown live on CBS Sports Network.
 
After charting a combined 22 points in the first two rounds, William & Mary’s Bella Nascimento nearly doubled her tournament point total with a team-high 20 points against Drexel. The Tribe’s leading scorer rounded out her stat line with four rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks.
 
Monet Dance was at it again, scoring 18 points on a perfect 4-for-4 from deep after tallying a career-best 27 points in Friday’s quarterfinals. One day after setting a season-high with 11 threes in a win over top-seeded North Carolina A&T, W&M topped it by going 12-of-22 from beyond the arc against the Dragons. The Tribe also performed well defensively, recording 9 steals to rack up 23 points of Dragon turnovers.
 
Amaris Baker had the hot hand for Drexel, scoring a team-best 20 points and picking up five steals and four rebounds, while Deja Evans notched a double double with 16 points and11 rebounds. The Dragons scored 26 of their 54 points from the paint.
 


Neither team missed a shot through the first two minutes of action, as Drexel took an early 8-6 advantage. Going 0-for-4 from deep in the Dragons’ quarterfinal matchup, Baker broke her 3-point-scoring drought knocking one down 12 seconds after the tip. After scoring 10 in her previous game, Baker lit up the scoring charts with nine on 3-for-5 shooting from the field to give the Dragons a one-point advantage (19-18) after the first 10 minutes.
 
The Tribe started to take control in the second quarter, going on a 12-0 run to go up 34-21 with 4:03 left in the half. Drexel responded with the final eight points of the period to close within 34-29 at halftime. Nascimento scored 12 points in the first 20 against Drexel shooting 50% from the field.
 
William & Mary came out hot in the third quarter, quickly opening up an 11-point advantage on a Kayla Beckwith layup. Up by nine midway through the period, the Tribe broke the game open with a 13-0 surge that included eight points from Anahi-Lee Cauley to take a commanding 56-39 advantage heading into the fourth.



 
Baker opened the final quarter with a three for Drexel, but W&M answered with treys from Kayla Rolph, Rebekah Frisby-Smith and Dance to go up by 23 with 7:07 left. The Dragons didn’t get closer than 17 the rest of the way.