Another Victory But Dukes Left Dissatisfied
January 10, 2010 • By Colleen Hayes,
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Despite opening with a 9-0 run, leading the entire game and ending with a 62-50 victory of George Mason, the JMU women’s basketball team felt it lacked a certain energy and momentum in the second half.
“On a personal note, I didn’t have a good floor game,” junior guard Dawn Evans said. “Other than that, we had a great first half. That is the kind of flow and energy we were looking to have all season. When we came up on the second half we didn’t find that same energy and match our intensity we had in the first half.”
Evans, who has been consistently scoring 30 or more points, ended the game with a team-high of 16.
Although the Dukes (12-2 overall, 2-1 in Colonial Athletic Association) felt their performance was lackluster, junior forward Jalissa Taylor managed to record her first double-double of the season with 11 points and game-high 12 rebounds.
Another notable performance came from junior center Lauren Jimenez who was strong under the basket recording 12 points.
“I think Lauren is starting to realize how big of an addition she can be to our team and be that special part that makes up a championship caliber team,” Evans said.
Coach Kenny Brooks echoed his team’s sentiments about its second half performance.
“One of the things we emphasized at halftime was trying to be that team that can go out and put games away, so I was very disappointed that we took our foot off the pedal,” Brooks said. “We sort of relaxed a little bit and they were able to come after us, and I knew they would. George Mason is a very well coached team.”
On a more positive note, the Dukes improved defensively, attacking the boards and forcing turnovers.
“Our defense led to a lot of offense in the first half, which helped us jump out to that 35-14 lead,” Brooks said. “I thought that we made them miss a lot of shots in the first half, whereas in the second half I thought they just missed them.
“There are times where sometimes I feel we are like the Phoenix Suns, where we are just trying to outscore people, when really we need to be like the Boston Celtics trying to stop people, then create some offense,” he continued.
Up next for the Dukes is another conference match-up at Towson on Thursday.
contact Colleen Hayes at hayescp@jmu.edu
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