JMU tops W&M

Dukes rebound with win Sunday after poor performance against George Mason Friday

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Coach Kenny Brooks was in a much happier mood Sunday night than he was Friday night.

JMU dominated the College of William & Mary for most of the game en route to a 71-58 win Sunday at the Convocation Center.

The Dukes jumped out to a 25-8 lead after a few 3-pointers from red-shirt senior guard Jody LeRose and red-shirt junior guard Mary Beth Culbertson. Meanwhile, the Tribe struggled from the floor, shooting only 16.7 percent midway through the first half.

"We stressed defense all day [Saturday]," Brooks said. "I thought we were terrible on defense Friday night [against George Mason]."

William & Mary made several small runs in the second half, but could not cut the lead to less than 7 points.

Against the Tribe, the Dukes got the ball inside to freshman forward Meredith Alexis and sophomore center Denae Dobbins. LeRose and Culbertson hit the outside shots. JMU also hit 22 of 27 free throws and played solid defense.

"We're starting to get better and starting to click, Brooks said. "It's a good time because you are heading into the [conference] tournament."

Sunday's success was completely opposite of Friday's 85-69 loss at George Mason University. Although JMU shot 48.3 percent from the field, the team only made nine of 23 free throws and had a lackluster effort on defense.

"I thought this was our worst defensive effort of the year," Brooks said. "I felt like we didn't do a good job containing their penetration, nor did we do a good job of rotating out to their shooters.

"We weren't really in this game," he added.

JMU opened with an early 10-7 lead by driving the lane and getting the ball inside. However, the Dukes' zone defense helped the Patriots find open shooters on the perimeter. George Mason used that advantage to build up a 40-31 lead at the half.

LeRose said the Dukes' transition defense hurt them, as well as not communicating with each other.

"They ran isolation plays for [guard Jen] Derevjanik and [forward Vernessa] Neamo, and we didn't help or drop [on defense]," LeRose said. "We left the shooters wide open.

"They countered our turnovers, and that's when they made their run," she added.

The Patriots opened the second half just as strong, increasing their lead to as many as 22 points midway through the half.

JMU's demise in the second half came at the free-throw line.

"We struggled [Friday] from the line," Dobbins said. "Our shots weren't falling."

Miss after miss hurt the team's confidence, Brooks said.

"It's terrible," he said. "I think when you start missing like that, it becomes contagious. I don't know what it was."

Brooks also faulted his team's job of getting the ball inside to the post that led to its eventual defeat Friday.

"That was the game plan — take advantage of our strength and our height inside, and I thought we did a good job of that periodically, but we weren't consistent with it," he said.

When JMU got the ball inside against George Mason, Dobbins and Alexis took advantage of their size. Dobbins, who has earned a starting job, finished with 13 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. Alexis scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. LeRose added 16 points.

JMU next travels to Norfolk to play Old Dominion University Thursday.