From CAA Reports
UPPER MARLBORO, Md., March 9, 2012 - Second-seeded James Madison used a 9-0 run late in the second half to pull away for a 64-54 victory over No. 7 George Mason in the quarterfinals of the Virginia 529 Colonial Athletic Association Women's Basketball Championship at The Show Place Arena on Friday night.
JMU (24-6), which is seeking its third consecutive CAA title, advances to Saturday's semifinals at 2:30 p.m. against #3 Drexel, which beat #6 Virginia Commonwealth 65-61 in Friday's final quarterfinal game. It's the eighth year in a row that the Dukes have reached the semifinals. Mason dropped to 15-16 after the loss.
Saturday's semifinals will be regionally televised by The Comcast Network and its affiliate, CSN-NE in New England, and by Comcast/Charter Sports via CSS
Atlanta. Viewers in the Harrisonburg,
Va., area with Comcast Cable can find the game on channel 18. For a list of
Comcast mid-Atlantic channels visit the Comcast listings here.
All-CAA junior guard Tarik Hislop led JMU with 16 points and also made a career-high six steals. CAA Defensive Player of the Year junior Nikki Newman recorded her third double-double of the season with 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds and All-CAA sophomore guard Kirby Burkholder added 12 points.
Mason got a game-high 22 points and seven rebounds from All-CAA guard Taleia Moton and junior Amber Easter contributed 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
The Dukes led just 47-46 with 6:22 remaining after a Moton three-pointer when they reeled off nine unanswered points. Jasmine Gill began the run with a short jumper in the lane and Burkholder sank a pair of free throws. Hislop followed with three straight points and a Toia Giggetts jumper gave JMU its largest lead, 56-46, with 2:35 to go.
Mason climbed back to within 59-54 on five straight points by Janaa Pickard, but could get no closer as JMU made 8-of-10 free throws over the final 1:11.
In a competitive first half that featured seven lead changes, Mason scored the final five points of the period to take a 26-22 advantage at the break. Moton and Easter combined for 19 of the Patriots' 26 first-half points, while Newman paced the Dukes with eight points.
JMU scored eight of the first 10 points to open the second half and took the lead for good on a Burkholder layup with 16:35 remaining.
The Dukes shot just 33.9% from the floor for the game, but outscored the Patriots 24-12 at the free throw line. JMU was 21-of-26 from the charity stripe in the second half after making only 3-of-11 over the first 20 minutes.
Mason made just 30.6% of its field goal attempts and was also hurt by 18 turnovers.
