By Nick Pipitone
Down ten at halftime to James Madison University, after shooting 17.2-percent in the first half, Pride women's basketball was in danger of dropping its second straight conference game and missing out on another opportunity to prove itself against one of the CAA's better teams. That is when head coach Felisha Legette-Jack gathered her team and reminded it about not just the basketball game at hand but, as she likes to call it the "big picture".
"We have a special day coming up tomorrow [Martin Luther King, Jr. day]. He was a man that decided to make a difference, he stood for something," Jack said. "I asked our kids to stand up for something today. This is your team, coaches come and go. You got to decide that you're going to stay here and make something happen. If you want to do something, this is the time."
Jack said that after she left the locker room, the players converged and talked for a little while before coming onto the court. Sure enough, the Pride returned in the second half and played an inspired 20 minutes, out-shooting and out-hustling the Dukes to overcome the ten-point deficit and secure a 65-53 home win and the team's second-best start in its Division I history.
After losing to Old Dominion University 71-57 this past Friday in Norfolk, VA, the Pride (9-5 overall, 4-1 CAA) won a key game against the surging Dukes (11-3, 3-2) that is inarguably a statement to the rest of the conference.
The emphatic 12-point win puts the Pride in a three-way tie for second-place in the conference with a home match-up with the University of North Carolina Wilmington (10-4, 4-1) looming this Friday.
A quarter of the way through its conference schedule, the Blue and Gold are continuing to make noise in the CAA, beckoning for the opportunity to join the ranks of other well-established teams.
"I think that our kids are focused on whoever we play and it just happened to be JMU," Jack said. "I think [head coach] Kenny [Brooks] is doing a great job with his team and building that program. But I can't think about what he's doing, I have to stay focused on what we're doing here and that's leaving something special for others to see."
The Pride struggled through the first half, frequently committing turnovers and missing shots, frustrated by a stingy JMU defense. Junior Dukes guard Shirley McCall scored 19 of JMU's 27 first half points, shooting 8 of 11 from the field and playing the entire quarter.
In the second half, though, the Blue and Gold closed the gap quickly. By the 8:09 mark it captured its first lead off a pair of Vanessa Gidden foul shots and then pressed the Dukes, who shot 25-percent in the half. The Pride, conversely, was 66.7-percent from the field.
"Once we started making a few buckets, that got us going," junior guard Cigi McCollin said. "That gave us confidence for people to take the shots and they were falling. I think the more we attacked them and the more we felt comfortable with our shooting it just happened for us."
With just over a minute remaining and the Pride holding a seven-point lead, sophomore guard India Ali snagged a steal on the defensive end and was fouled. After hitting both free throws, the team was up 60-51. Ali's steal was the finishing touches on a fanatical second half for the Pride, as it out-scored JMU 48-26.
Gidden, the junior center, scored 23 points, one shy of her career-high, and posted her fifth double-double of the season. Nineteen of the team-high 23 points came in the second half.
NEWS AND NOTES
The Pride upped its mark to a perfect 6-0 when holding a team to less than 60 points...Junior forward Lizanne Murphy, who led the conference with 14 double-doubles last season, was three points shy of getting her first of the year. She is averaging 9.5 points and 8.6 rebounds this season...Junior Dukes guard Shirley McCall finished with a career-high 30 points, smashing her previous mark of 20 and her season average of 14.4. Jack said that going into the game the team prepared for sophomore guard Tamera Young and junior guard Lesley Dickinson and was considerably surprised by McCall. "Although she scored 30, she could have scored 40. We still came out victorious."...After this Friday's home game against UNC Wilmington, the Pride travel to Atlanta to face Georgia State (6-7, 1-3). GSU, along with Northeastern University, is in its first season in the CAA...This past Sunday's game against JMU is the lone time the Pride will play the Dukes this season.