JMU women beat NC State, advance in NIT

The James Madison women’s basketball team topped North Carolina State 72-66 in the second round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament Sunday afternoon at the JMU Convocation Center.

The Dukes earned a round of 16 game against Fordham and will host the Rams in a 7 p.m. contest on Wednesday, March 27.  Fordham beat Boston University 58-44 Saturday night to advance to the third round.

JMU improved its record to 24-10, while North Carolina State ended its season at 17-17.  It marks the eighth straight season that the Dukes have won 24 or more games.

Four Dukes scored in double figures, led by senior guard Tarik Hislop (Silver Spring, Md./Paint Branch) with a game-high 19 points.  Junior guard Kirby Burkholder (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) added 14 and tied for game rebounding honors with nine. Sophomore forward Toia Giggetts (Norfolk, Va./Lake Taylor) scored 16, and freshman guard Angela Mickens (Staunton, Va./Lee) came off the bench to tie her career high with 10 points.

Mickens and Hislop each handed out four assists.

N.C. State had three players score in double figures and two others finished with nine points.  Redshirt sophomore guard Len’Nique Brown (San Antonio, Texas/Wagner) scored 13, junior guard Myisha Goodwin-Coleman (Lorton, Va./Edison) and junior center Markeisha Gatling (Raleigh, N.C./Athens Drive) each tallied 12.  The Wolfpack got nine points each from senior guard Marissa Kastanek (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Southeast) and junior forward Kody Burke (Northridge, Calif./Notre Dame).

Gatling was N.C. State’s leading rebounder with nine.

In a game that had four ties and 11 lead changes, JMU took the lead for good on a jumper by Hislop that put the Dukes up 44-43 with 8:59 to play.  That started an 18-4 scoring run that gave JMU its biggest lead, 60-47, with 3:32 on the clock.  Four JMU players scored during that stretch, with Giggetts and Burkholder each tallying six and Hislop scoring five.  Mickens scored the other point and had two steals and three assists, including one when she tipped the rebound on her own missed free throw to Hislop, who buried a 3-pointer.

N.C. State, buoyed by four 3-pointers on 4-for-5 shooting from beyond the arc in the final six minutes, got as close as four, 70-66, on Goodwin-Coleman’s 3 with 18 seconds to play.