Gabby Rogers’ junior season was a success, as she became a solid starting center for the Tribe.
Before her season came to a screeching halt and an abrupt end Thursday, March 12, at the CAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, Gabby Rogers played some solid ball.
Had the coronavirus pandemic not forced a sudden cancellation that afternoon as Drexel prepared to play UNC-Wilmington, Rogers might’ve helped her teammates make a decent run at a championship. The Tribe only had its winningest season in 100 years of William and Mary women’s basketball, going 21-8, and only set a school record of 12 conference wins before its untimely end. And a good bit of that success owed itself to Rogers, her sharp-eyed court vision as a center, her good hands-on passing ability and her excellent skill in rebounding the ball, which greatly helped sophomore guard Eva Hodgson, the offensive powerhouse of the team
With Rogers as the starting center in all 29 games, the Tribe saw good performance from the junior, now a rising senior. Rogers improved decently from her sophomore season, in which she started slightly fewer games (26 starts out of 30 games) and averaged 5.0 points and 3.2 rebounds per game, to go along with 11 assists, 10 blocks and 18 steals.
During this past season, as a junior, Rogers saw her season totals rise to 6.1 points and 4.2 boards per contest, with 26 assists, 20 blocks and 18 steals on the season. Like the 2018-19 campaign, Rogers finished the 2019-20 season with five double-digit games. But unlike the previous season, she retained a stronger presence in the starting lineup, as one of three players to start all 29 games (alongside Hodgson and senior forward Victoria Reynolds, now graduated).
She made some big plays with Hodgson and on her own in several important games, two of which I had the pleasure in covering for The Flat Hat. I saw good performance from Rogers in a few high-leverage moments during these games.
At East Carolina (Nov. 12, 2019), Rogers helped the Tribe pull away in the third quarter against the Pirates, giving William and Mary its first 3-0 start since 1987-88 — a good sign for the Tribe at the start of a historic season. As I wrote in the Flat Hat recap, Rogers started a 7-0 run for the Tribe with a layup in transition, followed by a right-wing three from Reynolds and a two-point jumper from Hodgson. Rogers got the team going after halftime, and the Tribe won the game by double-digits, 78-68. Rogers finished with six points, shooting 3-of-4 from the field, and added two assists and a rebound.
And versus Elon (Feb. 28) at home, Rogers made a strong play with Hodgson that put the Tribe well ahead of the Phoenix for the duration of the game. Following a tie of 8-8 — the lone tie of the game — Rogers made a great pass to Hodgson on a fast break, which Hodgson converted into a three-point play with a driving layup and a free throw. This excellent assist by Rogers started the play, helped the Tribe pull away for the rest of regulation and propelled the team to a solid 74-61 win.
A much-needed triumph after a hard-fought, 84-74 overtime loss against Drexel (Feb. 21) and a bounce-back, 78-60 win against Delaware (Feb. 23), the win against Elon gave the Tribe its 20th victory of the season and moved it a step closer to its historic, 21-win final record.
Beyond what I saw and covered for The Flat Hat, Rogers started the season out strong with a good performance against Army (Nov. 5, 2019), in which the Tribe took home an impressive 77-65 win from West Point, N.Y. She finished the season opener away from Kaplan Arena with a solid all-around performance, which continued to characterize her for the most of the season: 10 points on 4-of-9 shooting, four rebounds, two assists and two blocks.
Rogers set a season-high scoring record for herself with an excellent performance against Delaware State (Nov. 11, 2019), in which the Tribe took home a dominant 73-52 victory. Scoring 16 points, she shot 7-of-10 from the field, completed three assists, and also grabbed five rebounds and five steals.
Like all Tribe women’s basketball fans, who were sadly shocked by the sudden cancellation of the CAA championship, I can only imagine what might have been the performance by Rogers and company had the tournament gone forward. I’m confident they would’ve at least beaten Delaware (12-17, 8-10 CAA) in the quarterfinals and moved to the semifinals against either James Madison (25-4, 16-2 CAA) or Elon (14-16, 8-10 CAA) — preferably Elon, who the Tribe had beaten 74-61 in the penultimate game of the regular season.
Delaware had a bad record — down in seventh place out of all 10 schools in the conference — and had lost to Rogers and the Tribe twice during the regular season. Both by double-digit margins: 68-58 in the first matchup (Jan. 24) and 78-60 in the second (Feb. 23).
Had the Tribe been able to play during the quarterfinals, I know that Rogers, Hodgson, Reynolds and the rest of the team would’ve made a run at a championship. Their season was that historic, was that deserving of a storybook ending — which it sadly never had.
I saw good performance all-around from Rogers this past season — as strange and disappointing an ending it was with COVID-19 — and I hope head coach Ed Swanson will continue to develop her as a rebounder and a playmaker next season when, hopefully, Tribe women’s basketball will return.
I look forward to seeing Rogers — the rising senior center from Dallas — play this next season, and I expect her to become even more of a leader, alongside Hodgson, with the graduation and departure of Reynolds.