Sometimes even the brightest stars wait too long to shine.
A prolific second half by Virginia Commonwealth University forward Courtney Hurt went for naught Sunday afternoon as James Madison's Dukes, creeping ever closer to an NCAA at-large invitation, hung on to capture a 65-64 Colonial Athletic Association victory at the Siegel Center. Hurt scored 15 of her 17 points and grabbed 13 of her 19 rebounds after intermission.
Her first-half doldrums enabled the Dukes (19-5, 10-3) to carry a seven-point lead into intermission.
"For whatever reason, she seemed to come out with a different mentality in the second half," said Rams coach Beth Cunningham. "I think that's what it was. We weren't necessarily running different things" to create scoring opportunities for the 6-foot-1 senior. "I think it was just a different mental approach. She came out (after intermission) and went to work. If you're going to be successful, if you're going to win, you need that kind of approach for the entire 40 minutes."
James Madison parried VCU's second-half surge with impressive balance. Four Dukes players delivered double-digit offense. One of those, junior guard Tarik Hislop, crammed eight of her 12 points into the final 71/2 minutes. Hislop delivered the game's final points with a pull-up jumper from the right side of the lane with 68 seconds remaining.
VCU's subsequent plea for a miracle went unheeded. A restart from halfcourt with nine-tenths of a second remaining fizzled when Robyn Hobson, open deep in the right-hand corner, was unable to cleanly catch Andrea Barbour's long inbounds pass.
Guard Kirby Burkholder led the Dukes with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Forward Lauren Whitehurst scored 13 and reserve forward Kiara Francisco added 10.
"That's the beauty of James Madison this year — we're truly a team," Hislop said. "Maybe we don't really have a go-to player. But that's OK. On any given night, just about anybody is capable of stepping up and hitting a big shot when we need one."
Forward Nikki Newman, a 6-foot-2 junior, scored only three points for the Dukes. But she played a significant role in her club's ninth consecutive victory over VCU. Newman, JMU's lock-down defender, was matched against Hurt for much of the first half. The game was 23:19 old before Hurt scored her first field goal.
Dukes coach Kenny Brooks called Newman "the best defender and probably one of the best overall players I've ever coached. She thinks one step ahead of the game and she can guard anybody on the floor. She's without a doubt the best four-points-a-game player in JMU history."
Barbour scored 16 points for VCU, which wore pink uniforms in honor of the WBCA's "Play 4 Kay" breast cancer initiative. Wing player Robyn Parks added 10. The Rams missed 6 of 7 3-point attempts and 7 of 16 free throws.
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