CAA Day 1 Recap: After a Difficult Season, UNCW Finds One More Moment
Kayla Silver’s calm leadership helped guide the Seahawks through adversity and into one more postseason moment.
The season hasn’t been easy for the UNC Wilmington women’s basketball team.
Injuries thinned the roster. Lineups shifted. Losses piled up. By the time the Seahawks reached the Coastal Athletic Association tournament in Washington, D.C., both their confidence and depth had been tested.
Still, they arrived with something intact.
Hope. And 40 more minutes to fight for their season.
Inside CareFirst Arena on Wednesday afternoon, UNCW discovered another reason to battle and another moment worth seizing.
No matter how long their stay in the tournament lasts, the Seahawks will always have the afternoon they squeezed past Northeastern, 51–50, in the opening round.
With the clock bleeding toward zero and the tension thick enough to feel in the air, Angelina Pelayo stepped to the free-throw line with 2.7 seconds remaining. The arena quieted. Pelayo exhaled.
Swish.
Then again.
Swish.
Two free throws. Two steady strokes that became the difference. Pelayo calmly made four free throws in the final 41 seconds to help the Seahawks erase a late three-point deficit and keep their season alive.
Pelayo finished with 10 points, matching Mary Ferito, while Kylah Silver powered the Seahawks with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
But the numbers only told part of the story.
When Northeastern’s final shot missed and the buzzer sounded, relief swept over the Seahawks. Smiles spread as they celebrated a win that meant more than the final score.
UNCW head coach Nicole Woods placed crowns on the heads of Silver and Pelayo as teammates cheered and laughed around them.
For a team that had endured so much, the moment felt earned. It was proof that perseverance can still deliver small but powerful rewards.
The win snapped a six-game losing streak that closed the regular season and pushed UNCW into a second-round matchup with No. 5 seed Monmouth on Thursday at 2:30 p.m.
More importantly, it reinforced something Woods believes has defined her team all year.
“Resiliency,” Woods said afterward. “That’s the word that I think of when I think of us. We got hit a couple of times and knocked down, but we got back up when it mattered most.
“I think we were up seven in the fourth quarter, and they took the lead. We could have easily crumbled and just ended our season. But they dug down and got this win. I’m super happy for them. I’m super proud of them.”
For Silver, the moment carried its own meaning. After missing all of last season while recovering from injury, the redshirt sophomore has been UNCW’s steady presence throughout the year.
She played in a career-high 30 games and posted career bests with 377 points, 183 rebounds, and 48 assists.
Silver’s positive attitude and work ethic helped guide the Seahawks through turbulent stretches, including the loss of leading scorer Rori Cox, a third-team All-CAA selection. Cox, still recovering, sat behind the Seahawks’ bench on a scooter on Wednesday afternoon, offering encouragement and words of wisdom to her teammates.
UNCW’s motivation, according to Silver, was simple.
“I think it was just Mary saying it’s win or die,” Silver said during the postgame press conference. “I knew that I just had to give it all on the court. Coach said there might be no tomorrow. Forty minutes is all we had. So I had to just give everything that I had for those 40 minutes to my team.”
Before celebrating her team, Woods also acknowledged Northeastern.
“First off, hats off to Northeastern,” Woods said in her opening postgame remarks. “Priscilla Edwards Lloyd does an amazing job with them. They took it to us in the first quarter, and I thought they were prepared. They clearly knew the game plan against us and did a great job.”
Morgan Matthews led Northeastern with 15 points, and Nariyah Simmons added 11, but their furious fourth-quarter comeback fell just short. The Huskies, who finished the season 7-23, trailed by six in the fourth before a 9-0 run capped by a Justice Tramble layup with 1:56 left gave them a 50-47 lead.
The game mirrored UNCW’s tumultuous season.
Despite going scoreless for nearly four minutes in the fourth quarter, the Seahawks persevered and found a way.
Resilience had tested them all year. On this afternoon, it finally rewarded them.
The Seahawks lingered on the court a little longer than usual, smiles replacing the tension that had filled the final seconds.
And for at least one day, the Seahawks could savor the feeling: another game, another film session, another chance to extend their season.