Second Quarter Run Sends JMU Into WNIT Third Round
HARRISONBURG, Va. (March 24, 2019) – An 18-1 closing run to the second quarter was all James Madison needed to ease past visiting USF, 71-54, in the second round of the WNIT.
The win sent James Madison (27-5) to the third round of the WNIT for the third consecutive season; the Dukes will host Virginia Tech on Thursday, March 28, at 7 p.m. ET, with a berth in the WNIT quarterfinals on the line.
Trailing USF 25-24 with 5:48 remaining in the second quarter, James Madison was led by a red-hot Jackie Benitez into the half. Benitez, the sixth player of the year in the CAA, knocked down 3-pointers on three consecutive JMU possessions to give the Dukes a 33-25 lead. Madison Green would add a jumper to push the lead to 10 before Benitez converted a traditional 3-point play to make it a 38-25 game with 2:15 left in the second. After USF split a pair of free throws, Devon Merritt knocked down jumpers on back-to-back JMU trips down court to make it a 42-26 game at the half.
USF (19-16) would close within seven points, 52-45, at the end of the third quarter, but James Madison would allow the Bulls no closer, extending the lead to as many as 20 points in the fourth.
Benitez finished the game with a career-high 26 points, going 9-of-18 from the field and 7-of-15 from 3-point range. Kamiah Smalls returned to the JMU lineup after missing the last game due to injury and picked up from her regular-season efforts, adding 17 points.
James Madison’s defense locked down after the first quarter, holding USF under 10 points in both the second and fourth quarters, the 42
nd and 43
rd times in 128 quarters the Dukes have held an opponent to 10 or fewer points in a quarter this season. JMU held USF to 31.7-percent shooting for the game and just 2-of-14 shooting from 3-point range.