Box score (PDF)
HARRISONBURG, Va. – Kirby Burkholder scored a career-high 27 points, and James Madison connected on 10 of their 16 attempts from 3-point range to top Georgia Southern 93-44 in women's basketball action Monday afternoon in the JMU Convocation Center.
MiMi DuBose led the Eagles (1-10) with 12 points, and Aishya Wofford collected seven points and three rebounds. Alexis Sams (right) and Anna Claire Knight each scored six.
Burkholder connected on 6-of-9 shots from long distance and added eight rebounds for the Dukes (6-6). Precious Hall made 4-of-7 from the 3-point line to finish with 12 points, and Tarik Hislop posted 14 points and six assists.
"I thought we lacked the aggressiveness and the physicality that we need to compete against a team of this caliber, and it's disappointing because those had been positive characteristics that defined our team over the last few games," said Georgia Southern coach Chris Vozab. "There were various sequences in the game when we executed our offensive sets well, and that's something we'll need to carry into conference play and through the rest of the season."
Burkholder scored the first 11 points of the game for the Dukes as JMU jumped out to an 11-2 lead. After a Wofford layup made the score 15-6, the Dukes scored eight straight points to push the margin to 23-6 on a Hislop layup with 8:47 left in the period.
Knight made three straight jumpers for the Eagles to trim the lead to 15 points, but Hall hit consecutive triples and Toia Giggetts scored on a layup to give the Dukes a 40-17 advantage, their biggest of the half.
Sams hit a long triple from the wing for the Eagles and Burkolder capped the half with a pair of free throws as JMU went into the locker room with a 42-20 lead. GSU shot 50 percent in the frame but managed just 16 field goal attempts after committing 14 turnovers. The 22-point margin was the Eagles' largest halftime deficit of the season.
A Burkholder 3-pointer ignited a 9-1 JMU run to open the second half, and the lead would balloon to 91-41 on Destiny Jones' conventional 3-point play with 1:03 to go. The Eagles finished the game with 25 turnovers, while JMU had just seven. The Dukes shot 55 percent in the second period and made half their field goal attempts for the game.
It was the final non-conference game of the season for GSU. The Eagles cap a six-game road trip at Southern Conference opponent College of Charleston Saturday, Jan. 5.
Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics and twitter.com/GSAthletics, and its new "Eagles GATA" mobile app for Android and iOS.
