STATESBORO - First-place James Madison pulled away late to notch a 77-60 over host Georgia Southern in Sun Belt Conference women's basketball action on Wednesday evening at the Jack and Ruth Ann Hill Convocation Center in Statesboro.

James Madison (18-5, 10-0 SBC) remained the only team unbeaten in league play this season with the win, while Georgia Southern (9-13, 2-8 SBC) dropped its fourth game in a row.

The Dukes opened up an 11-point lead 15-4, in the game's first eight minutes, but the Eagles responded with an 8-0 run and the first quarter ended with JMU leading by five, 17-12.

The Eagles cut the JMU lead to one, 23-22, on a Bukky Akinsola jumper with 6:14 left in the second quarter, but the Dukes embarked on its 14-1 run with an Ashanti Barnes layup with 3:15 remaining in the frame. JMU also hit 11-of-13 free throws in the quarter.

In the second half, Georgia Southern winnowed the JMU lead down to five, 47-42, midway through the third quarter but the Dukes stretched that lead back to 15, 59-44, at the end of three, then closed out the victory by shooting 53.8 percent in the final period.

Indya Green led the Eagles on the night with 14 points, while McKenna Eddings added 12 points and Nicole Gwynn added 10 points. Four Dukes reached double figures on the night, led by 15 points from Ashanti Barnes.

Player of the Game
Green finished the game with 10 rebounds as well, notching her fifth double-double of the season. She added a pair of steals as well.

Stat of the Game
James Madison enjoyed a 49-33 edge on the glass against the Eagles, including a 15-7 edge in offensive rebounds.

Quotables
Head coach Hana Haden on the game against the first-place Dukes tonight
"JMU is undefeated in the Sun Belt and at the top of the league for a reason. That is a really, really good team. They just made us pay on every mistake, capitalizing on every opportunity and every breakdown that typically happens in a game like that. Going into the game, we wanted to take care of the ball, rebound and keep them off of the free throw line. We did one of the three - only 11 turnovers, which is huge for us after having 20-plus turnovers over the last three games. I'm proud of our effort to take care of the ball, but we put them at the free throw line still too many times. And it's hard to win when we're getting outrebounded like we did tonight."

Next Up
Georgia Southern hosts Marshall on Saturday, February 1, in a 1 p.m. Sun Belt Conference