Dukes Prevail Over UNCW in 65-48 Victory

Sunday, February 18

Harrisonburg, Va.

2 p.m.

James Madison University

14-118-8 | CAA

UNCW

2-139-17 | CAA

UNCW

JMU

2/18/2018 5:27:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va. – James Madison women's basketball used a 10-0 run at the end of the third quarter to pull away from UNCW for good as the Dukes defeated the Seahawks 65-48 on Sunday, maintaining their hold on first place (14-1 CAA, 18-8 overall) of the Colonial Athletic Association standings.

Trailing 35-34 after four made UNCW 3-pointers coming back from halftime, Head Coach Sean O'Regan called a timeout to settle the Dukes. On the next possession, junior Aneah Young got the offense going with a jumper in the paint on which she was fouled and converted the and-1. The play sparked an overall 31-13 JMU run to finish the game.

Sophomore Kamiah Smalls led the way in scoring for the 13^th time this season with her 25^th double-digit point performance of the year (17). Sophomore Lexie Barrier joined her in double figures with 13 points.

COMMANDING THE PAINT
JMU outscored UNCW 38-18 in the paint as well as 17-6 in second-chance points. The Dukes also blocked a combined 10 Seahawk shots while UNCW was unable to block a shot in the contest.

FROM THE LINE
The Dukes went 7-7 from the line for the second-straight game. This is only the second time this season JMU has been perfect from the charity stripe.

BOX OUT
JMU accounted for 43 rebounds, making it their 15th 40+ rebounding game of the season. The Dukes last had 40 or more on Feb. 9 against Northeastern. Smalls, Cooper-Williams and Young all led the Dukes with seven boards each. JMU outrebounded UNCW 43-35.

BLOCK PARTY
JMU tallied 10 blocks in the game, led by Kayla Cooper-Williams with four. Devon Merritt denied three, Logan Reynolds swatted two, tying a career-high, and Lexie Barrier blocked one.
Cooper-Williams now has 58 blocks on the season (129 career), moving into third place for blocked shots in a single season ahead of Lauren Okafor who had 57 in 2014-2015. The redshirt sophomore already holds the school record with 71 from her freshman campaign.

STILL OF THE AFTERNOON
90117

(See the full gallery here).

CONSISTENCY
Senior Hailee Barron appeared in her 127th consecutive game, tying JMU Hall of Famer Tamera Young for the second longest streak in JMU history. She needs to appear in one more game for sole possession of second all-time. She is also tied with Young on the all-time games played chart, holding 10^th place.

PLAYING FOR KEEPS
JMU led for 37 minutes, with the largest lead of 19 points coming at the 3:34 mark of the 4th period. UNCW only led for two minutes of action, never getting further than +1, as the lead changed a combined six times with two tied scores.

PINK GAMES
JMU is now 7-0 in Play4Kay Pink Out games under Head Coach Sean O'Regan, having gone 4-0 this season. The Dukes are still in the Kay Yow Cancer Fund free throw challenge, which fans can support by pledging per made free throw during the month of February – the Dukes have hit 72 thus far in the month of February. To find out more and donate, please visit pledgeit.org/jmu-play4kay.

UP NEXT
The Dukes travel to Drexel for their final road trip of the regular season on Friday, Feb. 23 for a 7 p.m. contest. This will be the first of two trips JMU makes to Philadelphia in the next two weeks, as the CAA Tournament will be hosted by the Dragons March 7-10.