Our W&M correspondent Bob Flynn takes a look at the dynamic Eva Hodgson.
When William & Mary coach Ed Swanson first saw Eva Hodgson in AAU games, he could tell she was special. He just didn’t know how special.
“But you knew she had all the qualities and the make-up to be a Division I point guard,” he said.
We’d even put her in the mix for CAA Player of the Year.
The reigning CAA Rookie of the Year went from averaging 10.2 points her freshman season to 20.0 this year (through the first half of the conference schedule). The 5-9 guard is second in the league in field-goal percentage (56.1). Her free-throw percentage (91.7) is tops in the CAA, and fifth best in the nation. From the 3-point line, she’s at 45.2 percent (third in CAA, 10th in nation). Last year, her percentages were 45.7, 84.1 and 42.4, respectively.
Swanson expected her scoring to improve two or three points a game, not nearly double.
“She’s had some pretty remarkable games this year,” he said.
It started with a then career-high 27 points in a season-opening win at Army. Three games later, she topped that with 29 in a loss at Richmond. She set a Division I program record with 34 in Friday night’s victory at Elon. She’s produced nine 20-point games this season, and has recorded double-figures in points in a school-record 21 consecutive games.
Even Hodgson can’t explain it, other than putting in a lot of work in the offseason.
“My sister will ask me, and I’m like, I don’t know what to tell you,’ “she said. “She’s like, ‘What do you do to flip the switch,’ and I’m like ‘I don’t know. It just happens.’ ”
Oddly enough, her scoring didn’t stand out to Swanson in the recruiting process.
“In the AAU times we’d seen her against top-flight competition, I wouldn’t say she was a big-time scorer,” he said. “I thought she had a real good stroke at the high school level and in AAU, but I didn’t see her take it all that much. I thought she was a reluctant shooter, a reluctant scorer.”
He quickly saw from working with her in practice last season that she could score if needed. Last year’s offense revolved around Bianca Boggs, who graduated, so someone would need to step up. And while Hodgson is the team’s leading scorer this season, the offense does not go through her. Senior Victoria Reynolds is having a career year, averaging 15.2 points, and has attempted 14 more field goals this year than Hodgson. Sydney Wagner, a redshirt sophomore third on the team in scoring at 8.3 ppg, is averaging 20.1 minutes to Hodgson’s 32.5, but has taken more 3-pointers (101) than Hodgson (93).
“To be our leading scorer, I’m not sure how far she really is ahead with shots taken,” Swanson said. “She’s really been efficient. … Leading the conference in field-goal percentage is really hard to do from a guard’s spot.”
Hodgson, from Rindge, New Hampshire, says shooting is one aspect of her game she wants to improve.
“I do decent with shooting, but you can always do better,” she said.
That attitude is behind her success.
“I think her work ethic is probably her best attribute, that she wants to be good,” Swanson said.
Former Tribe teammate Misha Jones, who graduated last year, agrees.
“During her first couple summer practices, it was clear she was talented, but the most impressive thing about her was her work ethic,” Jones said.
However, Hodgson’s game is about more than scoring. She’s also averaging 3.6 rebounds and 4.0 assists. A good point guard makes everyone around them better, which Swanson said is the case with Hodgson.
“Vic’s having an absolutely fantastic year,” he said of Reynolds. “I think Eva has a lot to do with that. I think Gabby (Rogers) is having a better year. Eva has something to do with that. Nyla (Pollard) is having a good year. I think Eva has something to do with that.”
Hodgson, whose parents played college basketball at the Division III level as did two of her four brothers (all older), takes pride in that part of her game.
“I really try to focus on being an engaging point guard and keeping all my teammates involved,” she said a few days after her first career double-double at W&M with 20 points and 11 assists in a win over the College of Charleston. “If I can do that, then it also takes pressure off me.”
Another example of her value to the team came late in the third quarter of a loss to Northeastern. She picked up her third foul at the 5:23 mark with the Tribe holding a three-point lead. She sat the rest of the quarter, and the Tribe were outscored 15-5. She scored 12 points in the fourth quarter, including consecutive 3-pointers to tie the game with a little more than five minutes left, but the Tribe never regained the lead.
Drexel coach Denise Dillon has seen up close what Hodgson can do.
“She does such a good job controlling tempo,” Dillon said. “I feel like Ed feels comfortable with her leading the team out there. … They seem like a good team together. She’s definitely an extension of him out on the floor.”
Those leadership qualities were evident in her recruiting.
“We liked how vocal she was on and off the floor,” Swanson said. “How she communicated with her teammates, with her coaches. That’s not in every point guard.”
Two of the things that attracted Hodgson to W&M were its lack of history in women’s basketball, which has never been to the NCAA tournament, and Swanson.
“The school itself has so much history, but I saw so much potential and opportunity with Coach Swanson coming in and kind of changing the program,” she said.
Those are two of the same things he sees in her every day.
Photo courtesy of William and Mary Athletic Communications