HARRISONBURG, Va. - First-place James Madison used a healthy advantage at the free throw line to down Georgia Southern, 85-68, in Sun Belt women's basketball action on Saturday afternoon in Harrisonburg, Va.
The Dukes improved to 13-4 overall and 5-0 in the Sun Belt as the only unbeaten team remaining in league play. Georgia Southern falls to 8-9 overall and 1-4 in the league.
The Eagles closed the first period on a 6-0 run to take a 13-12 lead at the end of the quarter. The Dukes retook the lead in the second and stretched that lead to 10 late in the period, but Nicole Gwynn hit a three right before half to make the score at the break 36-29 in favor of JMU.
The Dukes stretched their lead to double digits in the third quarter, leading 58-46 heading into the fourth. Georgia Southern could get no close than 10 points the rest of the way.
Indya Green led a trio of Eagles in double figures with 20 points, while Nicole Gwynn added 18 points - 15 of which came in the second half. Shanti Simmons notched her second straight double-digit effort as well with 10 points. Peyton McDaniel led all scorers for the Dukes with 29 points.
Eagle of the Game
Green hit 10-of-18 shots from the floor for her 20 points, her third 20+ point performance of the season. She added five rebounds as well.
Stat of the Game
James Madison hit 25-of-30 free throws on the night, compared to the Eagles' 9-of-13 effort from the line. It was the first time a Georgia Southern opponent has made 25+ free throws in a game since December 11, 2023, when Chicago State made 30 against the Eagles.
Quotables
Head Coach Hana Haden on the foul and free throw discrepancy in the contest
"It made it really hard from a lineup perspective, especially with Leah and Indya, because when they picked up theirs, we had to play them opposite of each other more than we would have liked to. And also, it can get in your head mentally as a player. JMU is a good enough team that they're either capitalizing on a miss we made defensively or they were shooting free throws, and that's just tough to absorb on the road against a really good team."
On the offensive momentum the Eagles have shown over the last few games
"We've talked about how there was a stretch where it felt like we were spinning our wheels offensively, but now I think the rubber's starting to meet the road and we're getting some traction. Proud of our fight, proud of the way that we competed and then proud of the way we are executing. We're understanding where the ball needs to go and we're playing inside-out, which is an identity that we started to build on in Phoenix, and it's nice to see us continue to build on that."
Next Up
Georgia Southern returns home for the first time this January to host Texas State on Wednesday for a 6 p.m. Sun Belt contest against the Bobcats.