JMU women’s basketball wins at Charleston, 73-53

Four Dukes scored in double figures for the second straight game as James Madison women’s basketball posted a 73-53 win at Charleston in TD Arena on Sunday afternoon.

The Dukes stayed undefeated in league action (8-0) and improved to 17-2 overall on the season as they tallied their 26th victory against Colonial Athletic Association teams in their last 27 attempts (regular season and tournament). The Cougars fell to 2-6 in CAA play and 4-15 overall.

Junior guard Precious Hall (Tallahassee, Fla./Maclay School) led the way with a team-high 20 points, her 12th 20+ scoring performance of the season. Her three made 3-pointers today gives her 62 for the season, the 10th-highest season-total in JMU history. She is already fifth on the all-time career chart with 162 made 3-pointers.

Redshirt-senior center Lauren Okafor (Hamden, Conn./Hopkins School (Providence)) followed with 17 points and added a game-high 10 rebounds for her eighth double-double of the year. She also added four blocks for the Dukes, her second-consecutive four-block performance. Senior forward Toia Giggetts (Norfolk, Va./Lake Taylor) and junior guard Ashley Perez (Manchester, Conn./Manchester (St. John’s)) each chipped in 10 points to round out the double-digit scoring for JMU.

JMU shot 41.5 percent from the floor, including 33.3 percent from 3-point range. Junior point guard Angela Mickens(Staunton, Va./Robert E. Lee) assisted on seven of the Dukes’ 27 made shots (27-of-65), giving her 146 dishes this season, the 13th most in JMU history.

The Cougars finished the day shooting 35.2 percent from the floor (19-54) and 33.3 percent from long range (2-of-6). They were led by Breanna Bolden, who tallied a game-high 21 points, and Jackie Luna-Castro with 12 points.

Giggetts pulled down nine rebounds, one board short of a double-double, to give her 711 career rebounds, which ranks 12th all-time at JMU. The Dukes finished with a 44-34 rebound advantage. They also used an 18-13 edge in offensive rebounds to outscore the Cougars on second-chance points 19-4.

The Dukes opened the game on an 11-3 run to take the lead, which they would never relinquish, though a 7-2 Cougars run followed to close the gap to three points (13-10, 12:23). JMU then pushed to a 9-0 run and a 12-point lead, their largest of the half (22-10, 9:55), before Charleston closed the first stanza on a 6-2 spurt as Madison headed into the locker room with a 35-28 advantage.

Coming out of halftime, JMU posted a 15-4 run on Charleston to push the lead to 18 points, and the Cougars never got closer than 16 points again in the game. Freshman guard Hailee Barron (Burlington, Vt./Rice Memorial) scored her first collegiate lay-up on Sunday, laying the ball in off a steal and fast break with 10:25 to play in the second half. The basket gave JMU its first 20-point advantage of the afternoon. The Dukes led by as many as 21 points twice, last notched on a pair of Perez free throws with 47 seconds left in the game.

JMU returns home for its next contest, a 7 p.m. game against Elon on Friday, January 30 at the JMU Convocation Center. It marks the lone game for the Dukes over the next 11 days.