Late Hislop three lifts JMU to dramatic win

Senior guard Tarik Hislop (Silver Spring, Md./Paint Branch) hit a 3-pointer with 2.9 seconds left to boost James Madison (8-7, 1-1) to a 68-65 win over Northeastern (9-5, 2-1) in Colonial Athletic Association women’s basketball Sunday afternoon at the JMU Convocation Center.

JMU won for the fifth time in its last six games and the Dukes won at home for the fourth time in their last five outings.

Northeastern saw its winning streak end at three games.

Hislop’s game-winner came after Huskies junior forward/center Jewel Tunstull (Brooklyn, N.Y./Midwood) tied the game at 65-65 on a layup with 32.9 seconds remaining.

Junior guard Kirby Burkholder (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) led JMU with 20 points, all scored in the second half, and 10 rebounds for her sixth career double-double.  She connected on 6-of-10 attempts from 3-point range.

Hislop scored 19 points and increased her career total to 1,498.  She moved into sixth place on JMU’s all-time scoring list, passing Shanna Price (1999-2003), who scored 1,496.

Northeastern’s Tunstull finished with game highs of 23 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots.  Also in double figures for Northeastern were redshirt senior  guard Kashaia Cannon (Providence, R.I./Bay View) with 14, senior guard Deanna Kerkhof (Wallaceburg, Ontario/Ursuline College) with 12 and senior forward Christine Huber (North Babylon, N.Y./St. John the Baptist) with 10.  Huber also had eight rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots.

Northeastern led for most of the first half, was up by many as six points on three occasions and entered halftime ahead 28-26.

Two free throws and a 3-pointer by Burkholder helped the Dukes claim a 31-30 lead at the 16:17 mark of the second period.  But over the next eight minutes the lead changed hands eight times and was tied on four occasions before JMU pulled out to an eight-point (64-56) advantage with 3:30 remaining.

The Dukes outscored the Huskies 18-8 in a span of 6:37 to take that lead.  Burkholder hit two 3’s and JMU got four points each from redshirt freshman guard Jazmon Gwathmey (Bealeton, Va./Liberty) and sophomore forward Toia Giggetts (Norfolk, Va./Lake Taylor).

But Northeastern responded by outscoring JMU 9-1, a run that began with two free throws by Huber with 3:15 to play.  Tunstall scored five of the nine, including a putback at 2:05 and the tying basket at 32.9.

 

NOTES:

* JMU’s 10 3-pointers tied a season high (Dec. 31 vs. Georgia Southern) and was two short of the school record of 12 in a game.

* JMU’s eight 3-pointers in the second half tied a school record.  It’s happened three other times; the last time was March 13, 2011 in the first half vs. Delaware.

 

JMU Coach Kenny Brooks:

On the game plan for the final shot  “We wanted to take the last shot, go (to the basket) with about seven seconds to go.  Kirby Burkholder (the first option) was coming off a double screen.  We wanted Tarik (the second option) to get closer to the lane (instead of taking a 3) and hit one of her patented shots.”

“Northeastern is a very good basketball team.  They have so many tools.  They’re going to beat a lot of people.”

 

Tarik Hislop on her game-winning basket:

“Originally we were looking for Kirby (Burkholder), but they were denying her.  It was more or less a desperation shot.”