James Madison 64, Davidson 49
HARRISONBURG, Va. – Junior Sophia Aleksandravicius scored a season-best 25 points and Davidson forced 22 turnovers, but was unable to overcome a 19-7 second-half run by James Madison in falling 64-49 in the first round of the Women’s NIT on Thursday evening at the JMU Convocation Center in women’s basketball.
Davidson concludes it season at 22-10, one win away from the school-record, as it made its second-ever postseason appearance. James Madison (25-7) moves on and will play Wake Forest in the second round.
Aleksandravicius finished with 25 points, 17 of them in the second-half when she kept the Wildcats in the game. She added nine rebounds, two assists and two blocks.
Down 24-20 at the break, the junior got Davidson’s offense rolling by scoring seven straight points to open the new stanza, and a fastbreak bucket by Jasmine Calin after she leaked out on the break gave the ‘Cats a 29-28 advantage with 14:13 to go. It would be the only lead Davidson had for the game.
JMU would score a quick six points and then continue their run to 10-2 for a 38-31 advantage. The spurt continued all the way out to 19-7 giving the Dukes the lead for good at 47-36 with under five minutes to go.
Lauren Whitehurst led the rally with eight of her 14 total points in the run. The Dukes overall had three reach double figures with Tarik Hislop scoring 15 points and Kirby Burkholder 11, nine of them on treys.
The lead was cut to nine at 49-40 on a layup by Aleksandravicius with 4:23 remaining, but four straight free throws by Hislop pushed the lead back to double digits and the Wildcats got no closer than 10 the rest of the way.
Despite starting the game just 3-for-16 from the field, Davidson stayed within striking distance thanks to its solid defense. The Wildcats forced nine turnovers early and trailed just 7-6 after a driving layin by Sarah Davis.
It became 12-6 after the Dukes’ Hislop hit a short jumper, forcing Davidson to call a timeout. The Wildcats though, came right back with two quick buckets from Murray and Aleksandravicius. The ‘Cats leading scorer Murray, who came in averaging just under 15 points, was held to seven points for the game.
Aleksandravicius sparked a mini 8-2 run when she rattled off six straight points and Davidson cut a seven-point Duke lead down to one, 21-20, on a Barbara Sitton fastbreak layup off a Murray steal. Davidson ended up causing 14 first-half turnovers and pocketing three steals.
JMU hit its third three-ball of the half for a 24-20 score at the break.
Davidson, the Southern Conference regular season co-champions with its school-record 17-3 mark, return 12 of its 14 players next year, including SoCon Player of the Year Aleksandravicius and first-team member Murray.
Memphis 60, Chattanooga 59
MEMPHIS, Tenn. --- Despite leading the majority of the game, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team fell 60-59 to Memphis in the first round of the WNIT at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse Thursday night.
After scoring the first two points of the game, Memphis trailed for most of the game before tying it up at 55-55 with 3:48 to play on a layup from Danay Collier. Jasmine Lee connected on the back end of a pair of free throws to give the Tigers the lead.
The Lady Mocs retook the lead on a jumper from sophomore Taylor Hall but give it right back up on a layup from Lee with 1:10 to play. Senior Whitney Hood grabbed her own rebound on the other end and a had a put back to give UTC the lead with 40 seconds to play.
On the Tiger end of the court, Hall committed a foul to put Nicole Dickson at the line. She missed the front end of a one-and-one and in the ensuing scramble for the ball, the officials would call it out on Chattanooga, giving Memphis the ball back with 16 seconds to play. Dickson’s jumper missed and Lee charged in grabbing the board over the back of Chattanooga’s rebounders and her put back would be the difference of the game.
Chattanooga had the ball in the final 6.2 seconds, but the Lady Mocs were unable to get the ball through the press.
After Memphis scored the first points of the game, the Lady Mocs claimed the next six before the Tigers would find the basket again. Memphis got as close as one point, 8-7, before the Lady Mocs went on a 15-0 run and led 25-9 with 10:01 to play in the first. However, the Tigers outscored UTC 18-4 over the next 6:34 to cut Chattanooga’s lead to 29-27 with 1:45 to play in the first.
The Lady Mocs outscored Memphis 8-2 and carried a 37-29 lead into intermission. The Tigers started the second half with a 10-2 run to knot the game at 39-39, the second tie of the game. The Lady Mocs got out front by five twice more down the stretch and led 53-48 on a 3-pointer from junior Kayla Christopher with 7:47 to play.
Memphis scored eight of the next 10 points and grabbed the lead for the first time since the 19:22 point of the first half at 56-55 on a free throw from Lee. Both teams traded buckets to close out the game and the Tigers grabbed the win.
Hood led the Lady Mocs with 13 points and 10 rebounds for her third double-double of the year. Chattanooga’s bench, led by sophomore Faith Dupree’s 10 points and two blocked shots, outscored Memphis 24-2. Hall and Christopher dropped in seven points each and combined for seven rebounds. Junior Kylie Lambert had five points and six rebounds while senior Tenisha Townsend had four rebounds and four assists on the night.
The Lady Mocs closed out the season with a 22-10 mark. Memphis moves to 25-7 overall and will take on Missouri State Saturday in Springfield.