#23 JMU women’s basketball loses to #8 Maryland, 80-64

Despite junior guard Precious Hall’s (Tallahassee, Fla./Maclay School) career-high seven 3-pointers, No. 23 James Madison women’s basketball fell 80-64 to No. 10/8 Maryland on the first day of the San Juan Shootout at the Mario Morales Coliseum on Friday.

JMU dropped to 4-1 on the season while Maryland improved to 6-0 on the year.

Hall led the day for both teams with 29 points, including all of the Dukes’ made 3-pointers. Senior forward Toia Giggetts (Norfolk, Va./Lake Taylor) dropped in a season-high 18 points.

JMU scored the first bucket of the day off a jumper by Giggetts, but Maryland posted a 7-0 run to take a 7-2 lead heading into the first media timeout. The Dukes closed the gap to one point at 11-10 with 13:08 left in the first half, but the Terps mounted an 11-0 run to push the lead out to the first double digit lead of the day.

Maryland went on to continue that run to a 20-5 mark and led by as many as 16 points with 6:23 to play in the first stanza. Madison settled in with a brief 6-1 run to close the gap, and the Terps held a 40-27 lead heading into halftime. JMU got as close as nine points twice in the second half, but were unable to get any closer.

The Dukes committed 13 turnovers to the Terps’ 10 in the first half, allowing Maryland to outscore JMU 18-5 off giveaways, but they settled in for the second half of play and committed just five compared to UM’s 12 and outscored them 13-5 in points off turnovers.

As a team, JMU shot 37.5 percent from the floor, including 42.4 percent in the second stanza. Maryland shot 52.9 percent overall with a 60.9 percent completion in the second half. The Terps also held an advantage in rebounds, 40-28, though the Dukes held the edge in offensive boards, 13-12.

JMU lead in percentage at the charity stripe, shooting 81.8 percent from the free throw line compared to UM’s 77.8 percent, but Maryland went to the line 27 times (21-27) off 21 JMU fouls while the Dukes went to the line just 11 times (9-11) off 11 Terrapins fouls.

The Dukes wrap up the San Juan Shootout on Saturday with Houston at 5 p.m. Eastern time before returning home for Richmond at the JMU Convocation Center.