Harrisonburg, VA – The James Madison Dukes may not be the same women’s basketball team they once were, but they didn’t show any signs of weakness on Friday as they defeated the Hofstra Pride, 93-57.
The Pride dropped their third consecutive game after winning their previous three contests to fall to 7-6 on the season and 0-2 in conference play. James Madison improved to 9-4 and 2-0 in CAA play.
“We got looks,” said head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey. “But, I think when you’re getting hit, you’re being coming at pretty aggressively, you have to focus and finish. We didn’t finish.”
Ashunae Durant and Sandra Dongmo both finished with double-doubles on Friday evening. The latter compiled her second career double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Durant recorded her eighth of the season as she finished with 16 points and 10 boards.
Hofstra’s shooting woes continued in Harrisonburg. James Madison was able to capitalize on the Pride’s scoring droughts that lasted for several minutes at a time throughout the tilt. The blue and gold finished the first half converting just 22 percent of their shots and 2-of-13 from beyond the arc.
The Dukes came out of the gate fast. Halfway through the opening frame, Hofstra trailed 15-6 because of several strong shots from leading scorer Precious Hall (23 points, 7 boards).
“You know Precious is going to do what Precious is going to do,” said Kilburn-Stevskey. “(James Madison) has a lot of talent over there, they’re trying to find themselves, too.”
Hofstra overcame an early nine-point deficit by being opportunistic. The physical James Madison team committed 26 fouls (14 in the first half), which allowed Durant to go 4-for-4 and Luciano 2-for-2 to trim the Dukes’ lead to 25-16 at the end of one quarter.
Hall picked up where she left off in the second quarter. Despite Olivia Askin hitting two of her nine attempted three-balls, Hall would knock down three three-pointers to widen the gap.
In the midst of James Madison’s scoring spree, the Pride failed to capitalize on several open shots and layups. Most notably, Kilburn-Stevskey’s ‘sparkplugs’ – Sydni Epps and Aleana Leon – struggled to find offensive consistency, going 0-for-7 and 1-for-2 from the field, respectively.
“I thought (Aleana’s) mindset was better in this game,” said Kilburn-Stevskey. “She hasn’t had the offensive production and that spark she normally provides for us, but she played good defense in the beginning. Eventually, she got into foul trouble and sat for a while.”
Leon’s four fouls were one of the things that opened the door for the Dukes to increase their lead. Lexie Barrier hit a buzzer-beating shot to finish the first half up 43-28.
The second half was James Madison’s chance to pull away. They did that with the help of four that players finished in double figures. After Hall, Amber Porter, Kamiah Smalls and Barrier totaled 17, 14 and 14 points, respectively.
Their efforts pushed the Dukes’ advantage to 20 with over six minutes remaining in the third quarter. Trailing by that much forced the Pride to take more risks they normally wouldn’t take with long jump shots and three-pointers.
Freshman Ana Hernandez Gil stayed hot, knocking down 3-of-5 three-pointers in nine minutes played while Durant added to her free throw total – she has attempted a team-high 90 on the season.
The Dukes placed the finishing touches in the final quarter. Although Sandra Karsten (five points) hit a three-pointer and Dongmo added to her rebound total, the deficit was too much to overcome.
Quiet evenings from Luciano, Epps, Leon and Marianne Kalin proved to be the downfall as well as being out-rebounded 50-40 in four quarters.
“There’s a percentage of shots that we were contested that we missed and there’s going to be a large percentage of shots that we just missed,” said Kilburn-Stevskey. “They stifled us.”
The women’s basketball team returns Jan. 13 on the road against Towson.
