JMU women’s basketball rallies, wins at Delaware, 74-71

James Madison women’s basketball erased an 11-point first-half deficit at Delaware on Sunday afternoon to take home a 74-71 win in the final road game of the regular season.

The Dukes improved to 16-1 against Colonial Athletic Association foes and 25-3 overall, their sixth straight season of 25 or more wins. The Blue Hens dropped to 8-9 in CAA play, now tied for sixth in the league standings, and 13-15 overall.

Trailing by 11 with 5:13 to play in the first half, JMU mounted a 14-2 run to take its first lead since the 19:01 mark, capped by back-to-back 3-pointers from redshirt-junior guard Jazmon Gwathmey and junior guard Ashley Perez, forcing UD to call a timeout. The Blue Hens, however, regained the lead with a 4-0 spurt to end the half and take a 39-36 lead into the locker room.

With the score tied at 62-62, the Dukes put together a 7-1 run to regain the lead and push their largest advantage of the day at 69-63 with 4:42 left to play. As the teams traded baskets, Delaware pulled within three and a miss by JMU gave the Blue Hens possession with 11 seconds left on the clock.

Following a UD timeout, Madison held strong defensively and forced the Hens into an off-balance 3-point attempt as the clock ticked down. Hannah Jardine’s shot clanged off the rim and into the waiting arms of junior guard Precious Hall as time expired.

Hall led JMU with 24 points, including 22 points in the second half with 15 straight for the Dukes from the 12:44 mark to the 5:16 mark in the second stanza. Gwathmey poured in 21 points, just one off her career high, to round out JMU’s double-digit scorers. She also pulled in a team-high seven rebounds and a game-high three blocked shots, pushing her career total to 120 blocks which moved her into fourth all-time on the JMU career chart.

The Blue Hens were led by Joy Caracciolo, who tallied a career-high 29 points and 10 rebounds. Erika Brown and Hannah Jardine added 18 points and 14 points, respectively, with Jardine sinking of 4-of-6 attempts from 3-point range.

Delaware led the way in overall shooting, sinking 51.0 percent of attempts (26-51) compared to JMU’s 46.0 shooting percentage (29-63). The Dukes, however, capitalized on points off turnovers 17-8 as they gave the ball away just seven times compared to the Blue Hens’ 13 turnovers.

Junior point guard Angela Mickens dished out nine assists on Sunday, pushing her season total to 212 and career total to 404 assists. Redshirt-senior center Lauren Okafor’s six rebounds upped her season total to 275, the 10th-highest single-season total in JMU history.

JMU wraps up the 2015 regular season against Charleston at home on March 4. The Dukes will celebrate Senior Day at the JMU Convocation Center, honoring Okafor and senior forward Toia Giggetts before tip-off at 7 p.m.