This Week in Distaff Wrenball

Things I've learned this holiday break:

• Women's college basketball is played in quarters rather than halves
• People get really exercised by differences of opinion about the Star Wars canon
• I'm capable of reading more than half of a book before realizing that I've already read it once before
• My procrastination skills are even more advanced than I thought they were
• I have a very high tolerance for beginner ukelele, and my daughter has a very low tolerance for me saying "Lukulele, I am your Father"
• Armed white right-wing loons have a higher life expectancy than 12 year-old black boys with toy guns 

Sorry about that last one. Didn't mean to get all political up in here.

The first one, though, came to my attention when I saw that W&M's women's hoops program just knocked off two-time defending CAA champs JMU. I had it somewhere in the back of my head that the Tribe ladies were just about as bad historically as their male counterparts, so the win over the Dukes struck me as a bit of a surprise.

That's an understatement.

W&M's women's squad is off to 10-2 start, with wins over Clemson and ODU. The Lady Tribesters are undefeated outside of Richmond, falling only to VCU and the University of Richmond. This, from a team that hasn't had a winning season since 2007-8. And that hasn't had a start this good since, well, ever, if we're talking about Division I ladies hoops.

The 1977-8 Tribe women jumped out to a 10-1 start on their way to third place in something called the VFISW. But success has been much harder to come by in recent years. Even though last season's team got close with a harbinger 15-16 mark, W&M hasn't had a winning record since 2006-7. The Tribe hadn't beaten JMU since 2009-10, losing by 40 twice in the past two seasons.

5'9" Junior guard Marlena Tremba paces Coach Ed Swanson's team with 14.5 points and nearly four assists per game. 5'10" junior forward and Honolulu native Alex Masaquel gets 12.3 points and 8.5 boards each outing, and 6'4" sophomore center Abby Rendle scores 11.1 points and grabs 6.9 rebounds while blocking more than three shots each game.

There's something in the air in Williamsburg, a hoops-borne infection. There's a long way to go, but #1bid4wmtribe may have more meaning than we've known.