Delaware outlasts JMU women, 72-65

Scoring more second-half points from the foul line than from the floor, #15 Delaware beat James Madison 72-65 in Colonial Athletic Association women’s basketball Sunday night at the JMU Convocation Center.

The Blue Hens won their eighth in a row and remained unbeaten in league play at 9-0 while improving to 18-1 overall.

JMU, which saw its winning streak end at four games, has a 15-5 overall record and a 6-3 CAA record.

The game was played before a crowd of 4,637, a season-high for JMU and the 11th-biggest crowd in school history.

Delaware junior All-America Elena Delle Donne (Wilmington, Del./Ursuline Academy) led all players with 23 points and nine rebounds and hit 13 of 15 free-throw attempts.  Junior guard Lauren Carra (Dunmore, Pa./Dunmore) added 22 points and was 9-for-10 at the foul line.  Also in double figures was junior forward Danielle Parker (Phoenix, Md./Dulaney) with 10 points.

JMU was led by junior guard Tarik Hislop (Silver Spring, Md./Paint Branch) with 17 points.  Sophomore guard Kirby Burkholder (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) added 15 points, and redshirt junior guard Jasmine Gill (Greensboro, N.C./Page) scored 10.

Hislop scored her 1,000th career point with 8:59 left in the first half, becoming the 25th player in school history to score 1,000 points.  Her career total stands at 1,012.

JMU outscored Delaware 57-39 from the floor but the Blue Hens converted 33 of 37 free-throw attempts, including 22 of 25 in the second half when Delaware scored 39 total points.  The Dukes hit eight of 16 foul shots.

Delaware rallied from seven points down, 58-51, with 10:08 to play, as the Blue Hens outscored the Dukes 21-7 in the final 7:18.

Delle Donne scored five straight points to start an 11-1 Delaware scoring run that put the Blue Hens up 62-59 with 4:46 left.

JMU missed four straight shots during Delaware’s run, and the Dukes connected on only three of 14 field-goal tries in the final 7:00.

JMU cut the lead to one, 66-65, on an 18-foot jumper by Hislop with 2:17 to play.  But the Dukes went 0-for-6 from the floor the rest of the way, while Delaware scored all its points at the foul line, where the Blue Hens connected on six of eight tries.