Dukes hitting their stride

Several players stepping up during current winning streak

Drew Wilson / senior photographer Sophomore center Denae Dobbins makes a jumpshot during Friday night's game against George Mason University.

Before the Dukes even played a regular season game, Coach Kenny Brooks said he contemplated throwing in the towel.

"At the beginning of the season, I was borderline depressed," Brooks recalled. "Balls were going all over the gym, and I was thinking, 'Are we going to be able to do anything right?'"

Of course, Brooks never really planned on quitting, but he wondered how and when the team finally would gel together.

With JMU midway through its season, the Dukes (7-9, 2-3 in the conference) are playing as a team and have put a string of solid games together.

"Everyone has stepped it up and hit their stride," Brooks said. "You look at our team early — we had never played with each other. It was a team trying to learn each other, and we had to do that onstage. We didn't have the luxury of having [some of the younger players] playing behind someone where they could start learning. We just had to throw them all together.

"We were trying to find our groove and find our niche, and I think we are starting to do that now," he added.

JMU is coming off a 53-51 win against Norfolk State University last night. The Dukes had won two straight before losing to the College of William & Mary, 71-68, Sunday.

The Dukes' success has been a result of not just one person stepping up, but a collective effort by several players, according to Brooks.

Red-shirt junior guard Mary Beth Culbertson has been one of the players who has stepped up her game, especially in the absence of red-shirt senior guard Jody LaRose, who has missed the last five games because of injury.

"It was just an opportune time when she stepped up her game," Brooks said. "She has gotten her confidence back and has done a tremendous job for us as of late."

Culbertson is averaging 14 points a game over the last four games she has played (she didn't play against Norfolk State last night) and earned a starting job after a breakout performance against Old Dominion University Jan. 9, in which she scored a career-high 20 points.
However, Brooks said that Culbertson has been helping the team all season.

"Mary Beth is just now becoming noticeable to [the fans] because she has started to score points," he said. "But, she's been playing well for us all year long just doing some of the little things. At the beginning of the year, she did a tremendous job with her assist-turnover ratio at a time when we were really turning the ball over."

Culbertson said the ODU game helped build her confidence.

"I had been struggling with my shot," she said. "Defensively, I had been playing all right. But offensively, I just needed a little boost. Playing that game really helped me get into stride for other games."

Another player who had a breakout game was sophomore center Denae Dobbins, who scored a career-high 12 points off the bench against George Mason University last Thursday.

Dobbins missed the entire preseason with stress fractures in her leg, and only was cleared medically to play two days before the season opener. Brooks said that the setback was unfortunate because he could tell Dobbins had improved since last season.

Brooks said he and Dobbins had a talk in early December after she was frustrated with her production and her playing time a few games into the season.

"We sat down and talked, and I told her 'You're not going to be in playing shape until midseason,'" Brooks said. "I told her she had to just keep working hard until she hit that point. I think she is starting to hit that point.

"We took her slow, and as a result, it's worked," Brooks added. "Now she's starting to hit her stride during the most important part of the season."

Dobbins said, "I've been feeling good and I've been practicing well for a couple of weeks. So I guess it came together that game."

Perhaps one of the main reasons that the Dukes have started hitting their midseason stride is the more consistent play of freshman point guard Andrea Benvenuto. She had a career-high nine assists against W&M Sunday.

"She's becoming more comfortable with this level and style of play, which is different from Canada," Brooks said. "The more and more she gets comfortable, the better off she will be because it allows us to move [freshman forward] Lesley Dickinson to her natural position."

Brooks said Benvenuto has handled the transition nicely. "She's been up and down, but I think she has progressed," he said.

Benvenuto said, "Coach Brooks has helped me to be more confidence with the basketball when people are pressuring me. I think I felt more confident [last Thursday], and that allowed me to play one of my better games."

Culbertson, Dobbins and Benvenuto are just a few examples of players achieving the team's goal of getting better day by day, Brooks said.

"As long as we continue to progress like this, we are going to get better and have good results, and I think the future will be really bright," he said.

The Dukes travel to face the University of North Carolina-Wilmington Thursday. The Seahawks are 6-9 overall.