JMU women win at Georgia State, 65-49

JMU survived a second-half Georgia State rally as the visiting Dukes posted a 65-49 win in Colonial Athletic Association women’s basketball Sunday afternoon.

The Dukes (10-7, 4-1) won their third straight game and posted their seventh victory in their last eight games.  The Panthers (9-7, 1-4) lost for the fifth time in their last six contests.

JMU senior guard Tarik Hislop (Silver Spring, Md./Paint Branch) scored a game-high 20 points, freshman guard Precious Hall (Tallahassee, Fla./Maclay) tallied a career-high 18 and junior guard Kirby Burkholder (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) added 17.  Hall also topped her career high with a game-high eight rebounds, and Burkholder finished with seven rebounds.

JMU outscored Georgia State 27-12 in the final 9:39 to secure the win.  Hislop (10 points), Hall (7) and Burkholder (6) combined to score 23 of the Dukes’ final 25 points.

The Panthers, who had trailed by 10 points at the 14:53 mark, had closed the gap to one, 38-37, with 10:50 to play.  GSU’s Kayla Nolan scored the final six points in an 11-2 Panther run that got Nolan’s team within a point of the Dukes.

JMU scored six unanswered points to go up 44-37 at 8:41.  Then, leading 49-45 with 5:57 remaining, the Dukes converted three consecutive three-point plays to build a 58-45 lead with 3:36 to play.  Hislop had two of those, one at 5:25 and the second at 4:42, and Burkholder had the third, at 3:36.

Georgia State got no closer than 13 the rest of the way.

The Panthers’ top scoreres were Nolan with 13 and Cody Paulk with 12.

Turnovers and low shooting percentage characterized the opening half.  The teams combined for 25 turnovers (13 by JMU, 12 by GSU), and each team shot only 24 percent (JMU 6-25, GSU 7-29) from the floor in the first period.  JMU, however, was a perfect 10-for-10 at the foul line, where Burkholder (6-6) and Hall (4-4) provided all of the Dukes’ points.

JMU took an 18-6 lead after outscoring the Panthers 14-2 over a span of 7:17.  The Dukes finished off the run with 10 unanswered points to build their largest lead of the half.

Georgia State responded by scoring the game’s next seven points to close within five, 18-13, with 3:16 left but got no closer.  The Panthers trailed 23-17 at intermission.