JMU Tops Towson, 64-49
Rob Washburn
Boxscore | Championship Central
UPPER MARLBORO, Md. (March 13, 2015) – Top-seeded James Madison posted impressive scoring runs at the start of each half and never trailed in a 64-49 victory over #8 Towson in the first quarterfinal game of the CAA Women’s Basketball Championship Friday afternoon at the Show Place Arena.
The Dukes (27-3), who advanced to the semifinals for the 11th year in a row, will meet either UNCW or Elon at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Towson, which picked up its first CAA Tournament win since 2009 on Thursday, finished its season with an 11-21 record.
Junior guard Precious Hall, the 2015 CAA Player of the Year, led four JMU players in double figures with 19 points. Senior center Lauren Okafor added 14 points and junior guard Ashley Perez chipped in 11 points off the bench. Point guard Angela Mickens tallied 10 points, five rebounds and five assists and set JMU’s single-season assists record with 226.
Senior guard Ciara Webb recorded a double-double for Towson with 11 points and 10 rebounds and sophomore Briana Bush scored 11 points in 22 minutes off the bench. The Tigers also got 10 points apiece from LaTorri Hines-Allen and Dominique Johnson.
JMU came out on fire, jumping out to a 16-2 lead in the opening 4:36 of the contest. All five Dukes’ starters scored during the stretch, with Okafor and Mickens each contributing five points.
Still trailing by 12 with just under 11 minutes left in the half, Towson battled back with a 12-2 run. Johnson keyed the surge with a pair of long three-pointers, including one from the right side that made it 24-22 with 5:28 to go. Hall drained a trey from the top of the key to slow the Tigers’ momentum and the Dukes took a 33-28 advantage into halftime.
The Dukes took control by starting the second half on a 10-2 run, which included six points from Hall and four from Okafor that gave JMU a 43-30 lead with 14:49 remaining. Towson never got closer than nine points the rest of the way as the Dukes’ defense limited the Tigers to 29.6% field goal shooting, including 1-of-11 from 3-point range, and forced 10 turnovers in the final 20 minutes.