Women's Basketball Falls Short, 59-53 at Virginia

Tuesday, December 20

Charlottesville, Va.

7:00 PM

James Madison University

7-2

Virginia

10-2

James Madison

Virginia

12/20/2011 11:23:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Photo Gallery

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Dec. 20, 2011 -- The James Madison women's basketball team let a 12-point lead slip away in a 59-53 loss at Virginia Tuesday night at John Paul Jones Arena.

JMU, losing for only the second time this season, now has a 7-2 record.

Virginia, which has been receiving votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, improved to 10-2 overall and 6-0 at home. The Cavaliers won their fourth straight game.

The Dukes led for most of the game and were up 34-22 at the 18:01 mark of the second half. However, Virginia chipped away at the lead and was down by only six, 48-42, with 8:22 to go.

In the final 8:03 Virginia outscored JMU 17-5. In that span the Cavaliers connected on seven of 11 shots from the field while JMU hit only one of 11 attempts.

Virginia used a 13-5 scoring run to take a 55-53 lead with 2:26 left. JMU was unable to regain the advantage as the Dukes committed turnovers on their next three possessions.

JMU was led in scoring by redshirt junior guard Jasmine Gill (Greensboro, N.C./Page), who scored 12 of her team-high 19 points in the first half Junior guard Tarik Hislop (Silver Spring, Md./Paint Branch) added 14 points. Junior forward Nikki Newman (Harrisonburg, Va./Turner Ashby) was the Dukes' top rebounder with seven.

Virginia guard Ataira Franklin scored a game-high 22 points, and forward Chelsea Shine and guard Ariana Moorer each added 12 points. Shine and Moorer finished with eight rebounds apiece.

Game Notes:

First Half
* Virginia guard China Crosby went down with an injury just 36 seconds into the game
* JMU jumped out to 7-0 lead, with its first five points coming off UVa turnovers
* Virginia scored eight straight to take its first lead, 8-7, at 14:23
* The lead changed hands three times on the next three possessions
* JMU used 8-2 run to build 18-12 lead at 9:18; Jasmine Gill scored five of those points
* Cavaliers cut lead to two, 18-16, at 7:48 with back-to-back baskets by Ataira Franklin and Ariana Moorer
* Dukes outscored UVa 10-4 to take their largest lead of the half, 28-20, at 2:58; Gill started the run with a long three-pointer, and Tarik Hislop scored five straight points to close out the run
* JMU matched its largest lead at half, ahead 30-22
* Teams combined for 27 first-half turnovers (UVa 14, JMU 13)

Second Half
* Dukes scored the first four points of the half for a 34-22 lead at 18:01
* With JMU still leading by 12 (36-24 at 17:17), Virginia used a 13-4 run to get within three, 40-37, at 10:57. Ataira Franklin scored 10 of those points, including a three-pointer that capped the run

And More
* JMU had 23 turnovers and Virginia 22 turnovers