JMU women’s basketball nipped by Vanderbilt in OT, 89-85

After a furious challenge in regulation and a strong effort in overtime by James Madison women’s basketball, Vanderbilt guard Christina Foggie hit a game-tying 3-pointer and assisted on the go-ahead layup 27 seconds later in the first overtime period to help the Commodores hold off the Dukes for an 89-85 victory at the JMU Convocation Center Wednesday evening.

The loss halts Madison’s three-game winning streak and drops it to 8-3 on the season. Vanderbilt won its sixth straight to improve to 9-2 on the year.

Trailing by three with 1:58 remaining in overtime, Foggie received a handoff on the left side of the court and pulled up for three to tie the game at 81. After a JMU turnover, Foggie found a cutting Heather Bowe for a layup that put the Commodores in front for good of a game that featured eight tie scores and five lead changes.

The Dukes were paced by junior forward Toia Giggetts (Norfolk, Va./Lake Taylor) who had a career-high 25 points, including four of her team’s eight in the overtime session. She finished with a double-double with 14 rebounds, nine of which came on the offensive end, and two assists. Four other Dukes finished in double figures as senior guard Kirby Burkholder (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) had 15 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Sophomore guard Precious Hall (Tallahassee, Fla./Maclay School) had 14 points while redshirt-junior center Lauren Okafor(Hamden, Conn./Hopkins School (Providence)) had 13 points, four rebounds and three blocks, and redshirt-sophomore guardJazmon Gwathmey (Bealeton, Va./Liberty) chipped in 10 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two blocks.

Foggie finished with a game-high 29 points to go with four assists, two rebounds, a block and a steal. Guard Jasmine Lister contributed 16 points, six assists and four rebounds and center Marqu’es Webb came off the bench to score 15 points and add eight rebounds.

The final minutes of regulation were thrilling as each time held the lead in the final two minutes. A pair of free throws by Giggetts with 2:16 remaining gave the Dukes a 71-70 lead, their first lead since midway through the first half. A little over a half minute later, Gwathmey extended the lead to three with a jumper in the paint, but Lister responded with a game-tying just 16 seconds later.

With 46 seconds to go in the second half, Webb rolled in a layup to put her team up two, but Giggetts drilled a pair of free throws to even the score with 34 seconds left on the clock. Foggie again put her team in front with a hard drive to the basket at the 18 second mark, but Giggetts was again able to tie the score as she pulled in an offensive rebound and stuck it back to send the game into overtime. The Commodores got a couple of good looks at the end of regulation, but could not get them to fall.

Each team shot well from the field as JMU put in 44.9 percent of its shots while Vanderbilt connected on 44.6 percent. Vandy was 8-for-20 from 3-point range for a 40 percent clip to just 25 percent for Madison. The Dukes held an 11-rebound advantage on the boards (46-35), including 18 offensive boards for 21 second-chance points. JMU also outscored Vanderbilt 36-30 in the paint, but were outdone in bench scoring 34-15.

The loss snapped JMU’s streak of eight straight wins when a game went into overtime. The last time the Dukes lost in a game that required extra time was on Jan. 28, 2010 in a 69-62 loss at home to Hofstra.

The Dukes take an 11-day break for the Christmas holiday before returning to the Convocation Center to host the JMU Invitational on Dec. 29. JMU welcomes in Ohio, Norfolk State and UMBC for the two-day, four-game tournament. It opens the event against Ohio at 2:30 p.m.