Top-seeded James Madison had four players score in double figures and rolled to a 70-51 victory over #9 Georgia State in the first quarterfinal game of the 2011 Virginia 529 College Savings Plan CAA Women’s Basketball Championship on Friday afternoon at The Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro, Md.
Three players finished with 14 points to lead Dukes, including center Lauren Jimenez, who also added 10 rebounds in the win. Senior guard Dawn Evans had 14 points and handed out five assists while guard Courtney Hamner scored many of her 14 points on 3-of-3 shooting from three-point range. Sophomore guard Tarik Hislop went 11-for-12 from the charity stripe en route to posting 13 points and sophomore Nikki Newman came off the bench to tally a career-high 15 rebounds on the afternoon.
Senior forward Angelique Burtts and redshirt junior forward Chan Harris paced the Panthers with 15 points apiece, while sophomore forward/center Cody Paulk pulled down a team-high seven boards.
JMU led just 7-5 early in the first half, but Evans drained a trey at the 16:29 mark to spark a 9-2 run over the next five minutes that was capped with a long-range bomb from Jimenez to put the Dukes up 16-9. Redshirt junior Lauren Whitehurst sank a pair of free throws to extend the JMU’s advantage to 21-11 with 8:07 remaining before the Panthers posted a 7-1 run to cut the lead to 22-18 on a Jerlisa Taylor layup with 4:22 left in the half.
However, the Dukes responded with an 11-1 spurt to close the half. Jimenez knocked down back-to-back jumpers and JMU got five straight points from Hamner to enter intermission with a 35-19 advantage.
Georgia State battled back early in the second half as Paulk poured in a jumper and Burtts followed with GSU’s only trey of the game to trim the lead to 39-27 with 17:21 remaining.
Evans scored five points in JMU’s ensuing eight-point run as the lead grew to 47-27 at the 14:54 mark. The Panthers were never able to put any kind of run together and climbed no closer than 16 points down the stretch as the Dukes cruised into their seventh straight CAA semifinal.
JMU finished 19-of-47 (40.4%) from the field and won the battle of the boards by a 47-35 margin to improve to 24-7 on the season.
GSU, which ended the season 12-19, shot just 30.5% (18-of-59) from the floor and was 1-of-10 from three-point range.
James Madison advances to Saturday’s CAA semifinal where it will face the winner of today’s second quarterfinal between #4 VCU and #5 Hofstra. Tip-off is set for 12:00 p.m. tomorrow.
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